Organisation: The National Trust for Scotland
Location: Hill of Tarvit, Cupar, Fife, KY15 5PB
JOB PURPOSE
Hill of Tarvit contains an Edwardian mansion and estate, located near Cupar in Fife. The property includes a beautifully preserved house designed by Sir Robert Lorimer, extensive formal gardens, woodland walks and the unique Kingarrock Hickory Golf Course.
This is an exciting and dynamic leadership role that offers the opportunity to enhance the visitors experience – bringing the 1920s to life – whilst developing Kingarrock’s unique historic golf offer. The role combines heritage, innovation and visitor engagement, giving you the chance to create memorable experiences.
You will be responsible for the onsite operations of Hill of Tarvit & Kingarrock Hickory Golf Course. Delivering performance standards and targets to ensure enjoyment of the property by visitors and members is maximised and key commercial, events, financial and development objectives are achieved to make the property sustainable. You will lead a management team responsible for delivering an overall visitor service strategy and caring for the site.
This is a complex role. With a strong background in operational management, you will be required to juggle staff management, property maintenance and health and safety alongside providing innovative ways for visitors to engage with the site. Leading visitor engagement on a site with many distinct visitor types will be challenging – you need to engage with but not alienate current visitors whilst increasing both visitation and dwell time in each area as well as increasing secondary spend.
You will encapsulate the Trust’s values of brave, caring, curious, inclusive and vibrant and enable good communication across the site to ensure a joined‑up service provision.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES
Leadership – whole estate vision
* Lead the vision to turn the estate into an immersive Edwardian experience – from golf attire to tearoom aesthetic.
* Responsibility for opening and closing and security of buildings and collections, emergency procedure implementation, duty management and providing relief cover as required.
* Collaborate with an experienced team of gardeners and be supported by a Fife collections care team.
* Manage the golf assistants, catering visitor services assistants and visitor services supervisors; take responsibility for recruitment, induction, rota management, staff and volunteer development, and performance management so they are fully equipped and motivated to undertake their duties.
* Recruit, retain and reward the volunteer team, an essential part of the property workforce.
* Create a culture of “exceeding visitor expectations” to ensure high standards of delivery and a consistently warm welcome within the visitor experiences at all properties, recognising the differing visitor journeys for holiday makers, mansion visitors, event attendees and golf players.
* Collaborate with other leads in the Fife cluster to make Fife a visitor destination and increase dwell times for the benefit of all sites.
* Develop and manage food & beverage income from grab and go to planned function catering and bring to life the tearoom concept.
Audience & stakeholder development
* Increase visitor numbers at Tarvit through marketing, events, partnerships and working with stakeholders including representing Kingarrock at marketing and networking events and conferences.
* Upsell membership and events using face to face and other means of interaction such as social media.
* Develop and implement strategies to enhance public engagement and access to the natural heritage across the sites.
* Increase audience reach through events, interpretation and community engagement initiatives.
* Use expertise to influence and develop internal and external policy statements and positions.
* Absorb visitor feedback from ASVA, TripAdvisor and local surveys and put improvements in place.
* Work with the community engagement manager on a community engagement plan for the site.
* Look after tenants, holiday cottage visitors and wedding guests.
* Develop golf partnerships for both international visitors and corporate events, including the R&A and the Old Course, St Andrew’s.
* Develop and manage new travel trade and hospitality experiences with the central team.
* Collaborate with the local access forum on core paths and links with nearby villages.
Nature
* Work with the head of natural heritage, the gardens & designed landscape manager & head gardener to manage the site for nature conservation, including exploring becoming a site of special scientific interest.
* Lead the development and implementation of appropriate management frameworks – e.g. a woodland management plan.
* Manage and oversee surveys of wildlife and habitats and feed this knowledge into management decisions, marketing of natural heritage and further development of our voice.
* Organise and implement all ecological monitoring with work feeding into national and international monitoring schemes.
* Maintain and manage habitats and wildlife with the aim of protecting species and increasing biodiversity.
* Provide information to visitors to encourage more visitors and help people get more out of their visit.
Health & Safety
* Take ownership of the safe operation of the mansion house – including fire risk management to protect holiday makers and tenants and security of the site’s collections.
* Plan and deliver regular compliance checks and evidence these as required.
* Be responsible for out of hours calls from holiday guests as well as fire & intruder alarms.
* Work alongside the operations manager and health & safety advisor to ensure visitor safety across all sites through risk assessments, proactive maintenance and emergency response planning.
* Oversee the upkeep of paths, signage, gardens and visitor facilities, ensuring high‑quality visitor experiences.
* Work with the estates surveyor to uphold repairing standard, agricultural landlord responsibilities and licences to occupy.
* Create management tools for maintaining estate infrastructure (e.g. paths, gates, signs, vegetation management) to achieve ecological, visitor services and safety outcomes.
* Train staff to ensure understanding and responsibility for health & safety on site.
Living the Trust’s Values
* Brave – Be willing to take innovative and bold approaches to conservation and engagement.
* Caring – Show dedication to the protection of Scotland’s natural and cultural heritage – including our sporting history – and to the communities engaging with it.
* Curious – Seek new opportunities to enhance visitor experiences and learn about emerging conservation practices.
* Inclusive – Foster an open and welcoming environment for all visitors, stakeholders, and team members.
* Vibrant – Bring energy and enthusiasm to the role, ensuring that the sites remain dynamic and inspiring places to visit.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS, EXPERIENCE & KNOWLEDGE
Skills, Experience & Knowledge – Essential
* Direct experience of managing multi‑strand visitor/commercial services in a hospitality, retail, catering, heritage or tourist‑attraction context.
* Experience in Catering & Hospitality.
* Management of volunteers.
* Understanding of Sports – hickory golf course.
* Experience of working and communicating with complex and multiple stakeholders.
* The ability to remain calm in challenging and unexpected situations.
* Possess excellent communication skills (written and oral).
* Computer literacy with excellent ability of MS software.
* Excellent leadership and influencing skills.
* Excellent understanding of report writing and financial management.
* Well‑developed time management and organisation skills.
* Experience in using social media to promote the site, its experiences and events.
* Being able to demonstrate our values: caring, inclusive, brave, curious & vibrant.
Qualifications – Essential
* NVQ3/BTEC/City & Guilds/HND/Degree or equivalent experience.
* Ability to work ‘hands‑on’ – including in the kitchen/retail and admissions areas – alongside the team members, demonstrating the customer service skills required of all staff.
* Experience in a retail and sales environment.
* Hold a valid and recognised SQA Licensing Qualification e.g. Scottish Personal License Holder’s Certificate and Personal License.
* Intermediate Food Hygiene Certificate or above.
* Current driving licence.
Qualifications – Desired
* IoSH managing safely.
This role is one for which the duties, responsibilities or accountabilities of the role require you to undertake a criminal records check, specifically a Basic Disclosure.
DIMENSIONS AND SCOPE OF JOB
Scale – Mansion house – grade A listed mansion house, containing the Sharp’s collection, Fife textile store, two residential tenancies and a holiday let. Holiday lets – in the wider estate there are three standalone 4* cottages with exceptional occupancy rates. Residential – Scotstarvit cottage sits in the wider estate. Functions – from elopements to marquee weddings to funerals, there are multiple opportunities to hire the mansion and estate by external parties. Travel Trade – working with Welcome to Fife and the Fife Chamber of Commerce, the Fife properties are enjoying an upturn in destination tourism. Events – A vibrant events programme is in development, growing this is within the scope of this role, as is developing the site as a hospitality venue not just for weddings but for corporate days out and exclusive hire events. The site has also been a successful filming location in recent years and with the filming manager this opportunity should be extended. Leading visitor engagement on a site with many distinct visitor types will be challenging – you need to engage with but not alienate current visitors whilst increasing both visitation and dwell time in each area as well as increasing secondary spend. Built structures – responsibility for a litany of listed buildings from the A‑listed stable and C‑listed structures including the Edwardian laundry, the summer house, workshops and glasshouses. Golf course – the only remaining dedicated hickory course in Europe, the designed landscape is also a hive of sustainable conservation. 80% of our golfers come from the international tourist market. We have collaborated with Elmwood College and the University of St Andrews to give talks on sustainable golf courses. Woodland walks – the estate comprises 113 ha, with paths including the centenary walk. We welcome around one thousand dog walkers every week. Health & safety – as outlined earlier, the estate requires complex compliance checks and routine monitoring to ensure the safety of staff, visitors, residents and holiday‑makers.
A significant amount of time spent in the role is non‑desk‑based and the role-holder can expect to be actively present in most areas throughout a working week (as well as, on occasion, being off‑site for meetings, etc.).
Will be required to work flexible working patterns and hours, including evenings, weekends, and public holidays. As part of the role and as a senior member of the team, there will be an expectation that the post holder would attend work at short notice if operational needs demand and circumstances allow.
People Management
* Direct line management of two Visitor Services Supervisors, a greenkeeper and a team of seasonal Visitor Services Assistants. Whilst staffing resource is lean, there is a very loyal and vibrant volunteer base who form a crucial part of the Tarvit team.
* Ensure staff performance is managed and supported with a proactive approach to training and learning.
* Working closely with property, cluster and Regional and National colleagues and external supporters, suppliers and stakeholders.
* Working with volunteer groups, e.g. planning, Conservation volunteer events and liaising with external corporate and charitable groups.
* Will have regular (daily) interaction with members of the public of all ages and abilities.
* Will have frequent interaction with suppliers and contractors, including procurement and appropriate selection according to Trust requirements (e.g. insurance levels).
* Developing and maintaining sound relationships with local stakeholders.
* Occasional leading and participating in multi-disciplinary project teams consisting of in‑house staff and external consultants/contractors.
* Attending meetings, training and updates such as the cluster lead meetings, budget meetings and keep professionally informed.
* Tenant and stakeholder management will also be part of the postholder’s duties. There are currently four holiday lets and two residential tenancies on the site. With tenants and holiday makers entering and leaving the mansion house, you will need to balance and manage protection of the mansionhouse and its collections with fire risk management and sleeping risk.
Finance Management
* Work within an approved budget for approximately £400k income and £550k expenditure annually. Actively seeking new opportunities for profitable income streams.
* Support budget development and take responsibility for adhering to budget and setting weekly targets for income.
* Develop local KPIs which help your property team connect to the targets of the Trust.
* Will be a frequent user of the Trust’s computerised purchasing and weekly reporting systems.
* Being the onsite client for projects – working with contractors and monitoring project costs and progress.
* Weekly banking and adherence to the Trust’s Cash Handling Procedures.
Additional Responsibilities
* The duties/responsibilities/accountabilities of the role require you to become a member of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme.
* Acting as a first aider and Premises license holder.
* Will be a key holder.
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