Salary: £26,640 - £30,173

Contract type: Temporary until January 2027

Reporting to: Head of Visitor Experience

Department: Visitor Experience

Who are we?

We are Scotland’s design museum. Designed for everyone, firing imaginations and sparking curiosity in design across Scotland and around the world. At V&A Dundee we are on a mission to inspire and empower through design.

Design shapes our world, it's part of everyday life and it's everywhere. We are a museum with energy and have a vision of the future where everyone is inspired through design and recognizes its far-reaching impact in our lives.

We are a welcoming place for people of Dundee to explore design and to use as an everyday part of their city, as well as inviting visitors from around the world. We are part of the V&A family of museums that celebrate creativity in all its forms from across centuries, for everyone.

Role profile

Reporting to the Head of Visitor Experience, the Visitor Services Supervisor will help ensure the smooth day to day running of the visitor experience at V&A Dundee. The position sits as part of V&A Dundee’s Duty Management team, facilitating the effective day to day running of the museum and specifically focused on all aspects of coaching the visitor assistant team.

Whilst assuming full duty management responsibility of the building, the Duty Management team put the visitor journey at the heart of everything they do, ensuring the delivery of a consistently world-class, 5-star experience, for everyone who comes to see us. They supervise the smooth running and support the Head of Visitor Experience with the continued development and improvement of all functions that sit within the visitor operations remit. These functions include, but are not limited to, ticketing and box office, gallery staffing and object invigilation, and events delivery. A high degree of flexibility and a proactive approach are key to this exciting role, which will help V&A Dundee reach its commercial targets whilst also ensuring its visitors receive a 5-star experience.

Duties and Responsibilities

General Operational Duties

• Coach and mentor Visitor Assistants on all areas of the museum. Escalating any performance issues from staff promptly and effectively in line with V&A Dundee procedures

• Ensure that that the Museum is maintained to the highest standards, reporting issues arising to the relevant departments, following up reported issues to ensure work is carried out and public areas are safe, clean and tidy

• Undertake any other duties as may be reasonably required to ensure efficiency throughout the Operations Department

• Have excellent working knowledge of the Visitor Experience operational functions, and the cascading of relevant operational training to colleagues, including POS System operation, Ticketing Systems, SOPs and Service Delivery

• Ensure a good knowledge of Museum programming and relaying this to customers and staff

• To ensure a thorough working knowledge of existing facilities throughout the Museum, to provide accurate and efficient guidance to customers and communicate this knowledge to visitor assistants and volunteers

• Consistently look for ways to improve our service and actively feedback constructive ideas

• Promote equality and diversity in all aspects of your work by developing and maintaining positive working relationships, ensuring that colleagues are treated fairly and with respect/dignity and actively contributing to developments that support the Museum’s strategy for widening access, inclusion and diversity

• Manage V&A Dundee’s Visitor Experience Recognition Programme, ensuring all members of the team are aware and brought into the programme to help promote inclusivity and internal camaraderie

• Handle customer enquiries and complaints in a timely and professional manner, both in person and via other communication channels

• Contribute to all cash handling processes, along with the supervision of the banking procedures and the security of the cash room and safes, in line with insurance regulations

• Must be trained in and act as a Fire Warden & First Aider for V&A Dundee

• Undertake any other duties as requested by the Head of Visitor Experience

Coaching

• Coach and mentor our team of Visitor Assistants, ensuring that they have adequate training and development opportunities so that they can confidently upsell tickets, memberships, gift aid and consistently deliver the best possible experience for all of our visitors

• Coach and mentor our tour guides, ensuring that team members feel supported when delivering tours

• Coach and mentor our visitor assistants so that they are able to take enquiries via phone and email

• Lead on coaching a team of visitor assistants to undertake surveys

• Lead on the coaching of any engagement activity that may be implemented as part of the museum offer

• Promote V&A Dundee’s continued commitment to consistently delivering a world-class, 5-star experience for all, identifying training opportunities and supporting a learning and development matrix for the Front of House team, ensuring the visitor experience team are confident in delivering this on a daily basis Duty Management/Building & Security Operations

• Oversee the daily operation of the public facing areas of the museum, striving to achieve the highest standards of customer service and ensuring the delivery of a consistently world-class, 5-star visitor experience, in line with Visit Scotland’s quality assurance grading, for everyone who comes to see us

• Act as a key holder, performing opening and closing procedures. This will include occasional out of hours emergency response, as agreed with the Head of Visitor Experience

• Ensure the highest standards of cleanliness and facility conditions, performing regular audits and escalating problems that deviate

• Oversee the daily management and security of the Gallery spaces, reporting any maintenance issues and object damage

• Conduct pre and post-shift briefings for the Front of House staff, ensuring that they have the necessary information to support our visitors, and gathering feedback and ideas to help improve the visitor and staff experience

• Have excellent working knowledge of the Visitor Experience operational functions, and the cascading of relevant operational training to colleagues, including POS System operation, Ticketing Systems, SOPs and Service Delivery

• Maintain open lines of communication between departments, cascading relevant information including, but not exclusive to, updated exhibition messaging and object rotation, ticketing and membership offers, learning and event activity, and any other new initiatives or development opportunities

• Uphold and promote health and safety policies and procedures, ensuring the safety of all of our staff and visitors and full compliance

• Identify and suggest changes to standard operating procedures to improve efficiency and working practices

• Actively seek visitor feedback and communicate any information directly to relevant departments

• Respond to visitor enquiries as needed, and resolve any complaints in a calm, professional manner, de-escalating any potential conflicts

• Lead on and coordinate the response to emergency situations, including but not limited to, first aid incidents, building evacuation, adverse weather and problem visitor scenarios

• Work closely with the Head of Visitor Experience and the Events Coordinator, to support the delivery of all events, assuming Duty Management responsibility on a roster basis, and ensuring that all events are delivered safely

• Oversee cash handling processes, along with the management of the banking procedures and the security of the cash room and safes, in line with insurance regulations

Person specification

Essential

• Must be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of visitor needs and of a museum/visitor attraction environment

• The post holder must be a member of the PVG scheme or be willing to join the scheme prior to commencing employment

• Excellent IT skills including Microsoft Word and Excel

• Experience of delivering exceptional customer service

• Strong organisational, communication and administrative abilities

• Proven ability to be resilient and effectively responsive to unexpected or adverse situations

• The ability to act with tact and diplomacy with individuals from a variety of situations and backgrounds

• Flexible approach to the job

Desirable

• Previous work in a museum, gallery or visitor attraction

• Knowledge of First Aid, Health and Safety, and Licensing issues

• Experience working with Spektrix