Directorate Services Manager

National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty; Swindon; Hybrid; GBP 34,000 - 40,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Substantial pension scheme up to 10%

Free entry to National Trust places

Season ticket loan

EV car lease scheme

Perks at work discounts

Holiday allowance up to 32 days

Job summary

National Trust is seeking an experienced Executive Support professional to provide high-level support to our Director of Experience and Revenue. This role demands advanced diary management, sound judgement, and a calm, organised approach in a fast-paced, complex environment.

Based at our Heelis head office with hybrid working, you will balance office presence with home-working and site visits, coordinating priorities and ensuring time is used effectively.

Qualifications

• Significant experience providing executive support to senior leaders with calendar management and prioritisation.
• Ability to manage shifting priorities and make sound scheduling decisions under pressure.
• Strong attention to detail and organisational skills in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building with stakeholders across the organisation.
• Discretion when handling confidential information and sensitive data.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and collaboration platforms to support productivity.

Responsibilities

• Provide high-level support to the Director of Experience and Revenue, ensuring their time is planned and managed effectively.
• Manage a highly complex diary, anticipate conflicts, and negotiate priorities to maximise value.
• Coordinate meetings and events, prepare schedules and supporting information for executives.
• Maintain strong relationships with internal stakeholders and act as a trusted point of contact.
• Handle sensitive information with discretion and professional conduct.
• Support occasional travel planning and preparation as required by the directorate.

Skills

Diary management

Prioritisation

Decision making

Attention to detail

Organisation

Communication

Tools

Microsoft Office

Collaboration tools

Job description

We're looking for an experienced Executive Support to provide high-level support to our Director of Experience and Revenue.

This is a demanding and fast-paced role supporting an exceptionally busy Executive Director with a complex and constantly changing schedule. Success in this role depends on outstanding diary management skills, excellent judgement, strong attention to detail and the ability to remain calm, organised and professional when priorities change at short notice.

You’ll be highly experienced in supporting senior leaders, enjoy working in a reactive environment and confident making decisions, managing competing demands and ensuring time is used effectively.

Internally you’ll be known as Directorate Services Manager. The salary for this role is £34,000 - £40,000.

What it's like to work here

You'll join a collaborative Business Services community that values different perspectives and lived experiences. Working closely with our Director of Experience and Revenue, their leadership team and colleagues across the organisation, you’ll ensure priorities are coordinated and time is managed effectively.

Your contracted place of work would be our head office Heelis, in Swindon. Our hybrid working policy means you can balance office and home working with site visits and meetings at other National Trust places. We'll talk about this in more detail at interview, but you should expect to be at a National Trust site for 40-60% of your working week.

Occasional travel and overnight stays will be required.

What you'll be doing

You'll provide support to the Director of Experience and Revenue, ensuring their time is planned and managed effectively so they can focus on leading a large directorate.

No two days are the same, you'll need to be comfortable dealing with changes, responding quickly to emerging priorities and navigating a high volume of requests, often balancing competing demands and tight deadlines.

A significant part of the role will involve managing a highly complex and fluid diary, regularly reviewing priorities, making difficult scheduling decisions and responding quickly to changes. You’ll need to understand organisational priorities and use sound judgement to ensure the Director's time is focused where it adds most value.

You'll coordinate meetings and events, prepare schedules and supporting information, manage correspondence and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders across the organisation. You'll act as a key point of contact, ensuring communication is clear, timely and professional.

You’ll need to anticipate issues, resolve challenges quickly and remain calm and organised under pressure. You'll be comfortable handling sensitive information and working with a high degree of discretion.

While this role doesn’t currently include line management responsibilities, these may be introduced in future if additional administrative support is added to the team. Please see the accompanying role profile for full details.

Who we're looking for

• Significant experience providing executive support to a senior leader, including complex diary management and prioritisation.
• Confidence and judgement to manage priorities, negotiate requests and set expectations.
• Highly organised, with strong attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple deadlines.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment where priorities change frequently.
• Calm, resilient and professional under pressure.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills, with experience working with senior stakeholders.
• Sound judgement and discretion when handling confidential information.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office and collaboration tools, with the ability to learn new systems quickly.

The package

The National Trust has the motto 'For everyone, for ever' at its heart. We’re working hard to create an inclusive culture, where everyone feels they belong. It’s important that our people reflect and represent the diversity of the communities and audiences we serve. We welcome and value difference, so when we say we’re for everyone, we want everyone to be welcome in our teams too.

• Substantial pension scheme of up to 10% basic salary
• Free entry to National Trust places for you, a guest and your children (under 18)
• Season ticket loan
• EV car lease scheme (for roles that meet the salary criteria)
• Perks at work discounts such as gym memberships, shopping discount codes, cinema discounts
• Holiday allowance up to 32 days relating to length of service, plus holiday purchase scheme, subject to meeting minimum criteria.

National Trust place

Heelis, Kemble Drive, Swindon, SN2 2NA

Documents

Directorate Services Manager Grade 7.pdf

Requirements

Compliance.Eligibility to Work in the UK

Additional information

Closing Date: 01 November 2026

First Interview Dates: 04, 05 & 09 November 2026

Second Interview Date: 13 November 2026

Equal Opportunities Statement

The National Trust celebrates diversity and is committed to creating a fair and equal society, free from discrimination. You can read more about our commitment to inclusion and diversity here .

Safeguarding Statement

The National Trust is committed to a safe recruitment processes to help the organisation attract and appoint the right staff/volunteer for the role and responsibilities as set out in the vacancy advert. We will not accept applicants who are not suitable to work with children, young people or adults at risk. If you have any questions around your suitability for this vacancy, please contact the people service centre.