Engagement manager, westonbirt the national arboretum, forestry - united kingdom, tetbury, gloucestershire

westonbirt, the national arboretum is the world's finest example of an arboretum laid out in the picturesque style. as a result of its international importance it is entered on the english heritage register of parks and gardens as a grade 1 landscape. it was founded in the early 19th century by robert holford, a plant collector and visionary. in 1956, the arboretum came into the care of the forestry commission to conserve and continue the legacy for future generations.

today the arboretum holds one of the most complete tree collections in europe consisting of over 15,000 specimens and 2,700 taxa (species or distinct varieties). the arboretum is also one of the largest pay-to-enter visitor attractions in the southwest, welcoming over half a million visitors per year. our mission is to connect people with trees to improve the quality of life. the onsite businesses generate a turnover more than gbp8m which enables the arboretum to operate on a break-even basis.

the operation of the arboretum was transformed in the past decade is now complemented by high-quality visitor facilities, from visitor arrival at the biffa welcome building, through to the award-winning stihl treetop walkway, catering, and retail. we host a range of events; particularly a 4-night concert series as part of forestry england's national forest live programme, a 12-night christmas lights trail and sporting activities. in 2022 we are staging for the first-time open-air cinema and a children's environmental literature festival 'wild wonder at westonbirt'.

our vision is to be a world leader in trees, inspiring people through conservation, education and participation. in conjunction with our friends charity we are developing a portfolio of programmes and projects that will help us to deliver this ambitious vision. these are a mix of infrastructure and activity programmes aimed at delivering both public benefit and commercial outcomes.

we're recruiting two new roles, this one to lead our engagement activities (and the other to lead our visitor attraction operations). if successful, you'll have the opportunity to build on the work of others but with the unique benefit of the greater focus that the new roles will allow. there are exciting opportunities for greater engagement and business development and the new post-holders will be key to leading the delivery of relevant programmes; this could be your opportunity to leave a legacy.

you will be a member of the arboretum's senior leadership team reporting directly to the director. you will collaborate with other senior leaders including the friends leadership team to help set direction for the arboretum and promote cross team working.

you will lead the marketing and communications, learning, volunteering, community and interpretation teams.

as engagement manager you will be responsible for encouraging existing and new audiences to visit the arboretum and once here to more deeply engage, encouraging participation and learning, a deeper appreciation of our work and ultimately changing lives and behaviours. you will identify hard to reach audiences and develop programmes that encourage and enable them to engage with us. you will be key to our mission to connect people with trees to improve the quality of life.

as part of our vision and master-planning process you will lead on developing our learning programmes and facilities for all ages; volunteering development; projects to develop a digital audience and also onsite interpretation and associated spaces. you will gain a good understanding of our tree conservation, biodiversity and research programmes and develop the means to engage our audiences with them.

you will collaborate widely and learn from others, particularly our partner bedgebury pinetum in kent, other forestry england sites and the wider arboreta and botanic garden network. you will develop connections with organisations ranging from research institutions to community groups.

download from the weblink the applicant pack for more detail on the arboretum and the role.

More jobs