Visitor Centre Manager & Curator

12-month Fixed Term Contract with potential for extension Waterlines Heritage Centre stands in restored buildings located within Lybster Harbour and first opened its doors in 2001 as a visitor centre, museum and café. The centre predominantly celebrates the history of fishing on the North East coast of Scotland with displays and exhibits dedicated to the herring boom of the 19th and early 20th century. However additional exhibits also celebrate local wildlife with camera’s providing a live feed of birds nesting on local cliffs and there is also a great display of casts of fossils found in Caithness Quarries. Waterlines has enjoyed success as both a tourist attraction and a centre for the community engaging with local schools and community initiatives before closing its doors during Covid. Following a short re-opening last summer, Waterlines is now looking to re-open on a permanent basis. With a new board of trustees, lots of ideas and funding in place this is a great opportunity to join the team and play a crucial role in the site’s success. Joining as Visitor Centre Manager you will manage the day to day running of the centre with a key focus on ensuring each visitor’s experience is memorable for all the right reasons. You will provide a warm and friendly welcome, efficiently process ticket and/or shop purchases and talk with visitors about the visitor centre and its displays. Another key focus for your role will be to support with events and education, engaging school groups, developing family activities and planning and hosting events. Initially the café will be open for hot beverages, cold drinks and a cake slice or two and this space will also be utilised as a small shop selling local crafts. Key Responsibilities will include: * Deliver exceptional customer service by welcoming our visitors, answering their questions and generally helping them make the most of their visit. * Practical visitor related tasks including taking entry fees and donations as well as selling shop and café products, this will include operating the till * Process and prepare daily takings for banking and complete financial paperwork on a monthly basis * Provide insight, small talks and/or tours to visitors about the displays * You will reach out to and engage with local schools and community groups * Working with the board of trustees you will plan, prepare and run event and educational activities. * Contributing to social media, you will spot opportunities for engaging content, provide photo’s from visits or new displays and create campaigns to advertise special events * Whilst the centre benefits from a main fixed display, other areas have room for improvement and the opportunity for the creation of new displays or changing content to attract repeat visitors is an exciting part of this role that will see you coming up with new themes, sourcing content and putting together displays. * Deal with telephone and email enquiries * Keep the inside and outside space of the building presentable * Ensure the cleanliness, upkeep and safety of the centre is maintained * Acting as key holder you will open and close the building and be responsible for ensuring the site is safe and secure. This will include understanding emergency procedures and helping in any evacuation in case of an emergency. Sound Interesting? To carry out this role they are seeking someone with a positive, pro-active and can-do attitude who can demonstrate good communication skills and previous customer service experience. You will need to be confident engaging with the public as you step into this varied role sharing knowledge, organising events and creating engaging content! A Passion for Caithness, its history or history in general will also be beneficial. This role will initially be a 12-month fixed term contract in line with available funding with the hope that it can be extended. You will be contracted to work 32 hours per week, 20 of which will be fixed to cover core opening hours and ensure the site is open to visitors at advertised times. The remaining 12 hours are flexible so you can determine the additional hours you will need each week for activities such as planning out and setting up new exhibits or organising and hosting special events. We are also open to hiring this role on a shared basis between 2 part-time members of staff so if you would be interested in this role and can offer 16 hours a week please do apply