Visitor Experience

We welcome millions of visitors each year to the houses, gardens and parks in our care, and 10s of millions more in the countryside and green spaces we protect. Great visitor experiences are in our nature and we want to make sure that absolutely everyone feels warmly welcome at the National Trust time after time.

It’s our Visitor Experience teams that make sure this happens and that everyone can enjoy nature, beauty and history in the ways they want to. Roles here cover everything from our helpful, knowledgeable Welcome and Service Assistants and Managers through to imaginative Programming & Partnership Officers and Experience Managers. They are creative, imaginative, inclusive and committed to great service. If you are genuinely curious about people, want to help them get the most out of a visit and make them smile – you’ll fit in wonderfully here.

And it’s a really exciting time to join us. We’re evolving new visitor activities, facilities and experiences to grow and diversify the range of people who can access and enjoy nature and the historic environment. Whether you’re greeting regular members by name, developing sport-based, playful or nature engagement experiences for families, or involved in working with artists and collections specialists to bring our stories to life, your passion and enthusiasm will be infectious. As you brighten up some of the nation’s most precious places, we’ll make sure your career shines.

Typical roles

We have lots of different opportunities in Visitor Experience across the places we care for, and our regional and central offices. These include Customer Service Assistant, Service & Welcome Assistant and Manager, Senior Visitor Experience Officer, Programming and Partnership Officer, Visitor Operations & Experiences Manager, Experiences & Partnerships Curator – and that’s just to name a few.

Visitor Operations and Experience Manager

In this role, you’ll sit at the forefront of developing our visitor experience as you inspire your team to exceed visitors’ expectations. You’ll live our inclusive service values and be restlessly committed to high quality presentation and access across the visitor journey. You’ll also develop imaginative visitor programmes creating reasons to return and different ways for different people to enjoy themselves here.

Welcome and Service Assistant

As the public face of the properties in our care, you’ll provide a warm, friendly welcome, offer information about the property and make sure each visitor has an enjoyable and memorable visit.

Programming and Partnerships Officer

Develop a dynamic programme of changing events, activities and experiences for visitors. You will develop them directly yourself with your property team and working with community or commercial partners.

The things we do for you

We want you to learn, discover and develop your career. And we’ll do everything we can to offer you the training, support and development that you need to achieve your goals. This could, for example, include helping you to study for a professional qualification appropriate to your career, trying something new or moving into a different business area. We’ll work with you to plan your development in a way that’s right for your needs.

Investing in you

Induction. Your learning in the Trust starts with your induction. Whatever role you're here to do we'll explain what to expect, show you where to go and make sure you understand your new environment before you get going.

Personal career progression development programme. One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to development. Tailored to you our ‘Grow Your Own Career’ approach is in place to help you identify where you see your career heading, and the best ways to get there.

Learning resources. We all learn in different ways and respond to different styles. It’s what works for you, whether that’s on-the-job training, flexible e-learning or one-to-one support. And in an organisation of our size and diversity, there’s plenty of room to develop and places to go.

Future Engage and Deliver leadership programme. If you’re in a management role we’ll support you to become a better leader through our ‘Future Engage and Deliver’ leadership programme. The programme is designed to make sure you’re well-equipped with the skills and confidence to lead your teams to deliver our plans.

Professional subscriptions. If you need to hold a qualification for your role, from either a legal or professional point of view, we’ll cover the cost of your membership fee. We’ll need to see that it’s part of your continuous professional development, though.

Employee volunteering. Volunteers are the lifeblood of the National Trust and many other charities. That's why we'll give you every opportunity to get involved with some volunteering outside the Trust. It's also a brilliant way to try new things, learn new skills and meet new people. So we'll give you up to five paid days per year to do your bit.

Secondments. Secondments are an excellent way for you to gain and practise new skills in real life situations, preparing you for a potential next career move. They usually last from three to 12 months – ideal for temporary or project roles.

Visitor experience people

Olivia

Visitor Operations and Experience Manager

I love working for the National Trust, as I get to work with like-minded people where we all share a passion and commitment for people, history and places. Working within Visitor Experience in the Trust can be very rewarding and if you work hard and demonstrate your passion, the Trust is a great place to help you think about your future and where you want to take it.
Robynn

Experiences and Partnership Curator

As an Experiences and Partnerships Curator my whole job is about listening to our visitors: what people love about coming to our places, what they want to see more of and where we could do better! We work with a huge variety of places which are able to provide an enormous range of different experiences to our visitors. A great day doing my job is when you’ve supported a property team to create a new experience that has enabled someone to find relevance and connection to a story or a family to build treasured memories at one of our places.
Dan

Head of Visitor Operations

I love my job. I love the diverse range of people I work with every day. I love the passion that you find in every corner of the organisation. I love the breath-taking places we look after. I love the cherished memories we create for our visitors. I love knowing our beneficiaries will be walking along our pathways with loved ones, taking in wonderful views and deep breaths of clean air… and that I am a part of making that happen. It’s a genuine privilege.