Visitor Experience & Engagement Manager

Wellcome Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 36,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

The Wellcome Trust is seeking a Visitor Experience & Engagement Manager to lead a team delivering high-quality, interactive visitor experiences at Wellcome Collection. You will drive engagement, accessibility and collaboration with curatorial and digital teams, while ensuring safe, welcoming operations.

You will coach and develop staff, champion inclusive practice, and oversee duty manager responsibilities, ensuring outstanding visitor journeys from pre-visit to post-visit engagement.

Qualifications

• Experience leading teams in visitor-facing, public environments.
• Ability to coach, mentor and develop staff to deliver exceptional visitor experiences.
• Commitment to accessibility, diversity and inclusion in a public venue.
• Experience with health and safety, safeguarding and incident response in a venue context.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of Visitor Experience and Engagement Facilitators, Hosts and Apprentices.
• Drive visitor engagement and accessibility, champion inclusive practice and improve visitor experiences.
• Recruit, train and develop colleagues, supporting professional growth through coaching and learning.
• Collaborate across Wellcome with Curatorial, Public Practice, Collections and Digital teams.
• Act as Duty Manager, overseeing daily venue operations and safety.

Skills

Leadership

Team development

Visitor engagement

Accessibility

Communication

Job description

Salary: £36,320– £45,400Closing date: Monday 26 October 2026Contract type: permanent - 34 hr weekInterview dates: 1 stage (w/c 23 November 2026) In personThe Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation. We improve health for everyone by funding science, leading policy and advocacy campaigns, and building partnerships. We committed to spend £16bn in the ten years to 2032, funding new discoveries in life, health, and wellbeing, and taking on three global health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health.These challenges need the bold science we support, but they won’t be solved by science alone.We are looking for a Visitor Experience & Engagement Manager to join our team.Where in Wellcome will I be working?You will be working as part of the Visitor Experience & Engagement team within the Strategy, Enterprises & Operations department reporting to the Head of Visitor Experience & Museum Operations.The Visitor Experience & Engagement team is key to ensuring visitors engage with everything Wellcome Collection has to offer through a high-quality, interactive and multi-layered experience. This includes every stage of the visitor journey, from pre-visit information and planning to in venue interaction and engagement, and post-visit communication and feedback.What will I be doing?You'll lead and support a team of Visitor Experience and Engagement Facilitators, Hosts and Apprentices, creating an environment where people can thrive, develop their skills and deliver outstanding visitor experiences. Key responsibilities include:Lead, coach and develop a team of Visitor Experience and Engagement Facilitators, Hosts and Apprentices, creating an inclusive and supportive culture where people can thrive and deliver exceptional visitor experiences.Drive visitor engagement and accessibility, championing inclusive practice and continuously improving how visitors experience Wellcome Collection, its exhibitions, programmes and services.Recruit, train and develop colleagues, building capability across the team and supporting professional growth through coaching, mentoring and continuous learning.Collaborate across Wellcome with teams including Curatorial, Public Practice, Collections and Digital to help shape exhibitions, events and public programmes from a visitor-focused perspective.Use visitor insight and feedback to enhance services, lead projects and initiatives, and support innovation in visitor experience and engagement.Act as Duty Manager, overseeing the day-to-day operation of the venue, including visitor flow, incident response, health and safety, safeguarding, event support and the delivery of a safe, welcoming and seamless visitor experience.Is this job for me?We're looking for a confident and inclusive leader who is passionate about creating exceptional visitor experiences and helping teams succeed. You'll have experience leading and developing teams in a visitor-facing, customer-focused or public environment, alongside duty management, venue management or wider operational leadership experience. You'll be committed to accessibility, diversity, inclusion and creating welcoming experiences for a broad range of audiences, with the ability to manage health and safety, security and incident response responsibilities.We're particularly interested in people with a coaching-led management style who can inspire, motivate and develop others, while building strong relationships with colleagues and stakeholders across the organisation. You'll be an excellent communicator who remains calm under pressure, makes sound decisions in a fast-paced environment and enjoys solving problems.Experience in a museum, gallery, library, heritage, cultural or public engagement setting would be advantageous, but is not essential. Most importantly, you'll be someone who enjoys leading people, improving experiences and helping visitors connect with ideas that matter.To apply for this role please submit an updated CV and answer 2 application questions to demonstrate that you meet the minimum requirements for the role.Minimum Criteria:Leads by example with the determination to hold yourself accountable to your team, colleagues beyond your team, the organisation and our visitors.Maintains the ability to build a positive working culture through a strong coaching and collaborative management approach, where team members feel valued and trusted.Understands what motivates people, celebrating achievement at every opportunity, actively challenging poor performance when required, supporting and ensuring improvement.Has the ability to foster an experimental outcome-based culture that values learning and continuous improvement and empowers the team to take ownership and responsibility for themselves.Will contribute to a diverse and inclusive culture across the organisation, working across departments.Applications Questions:Using examples please provide evidence to demonstrate that you meet the minimum criteria for this role as outlined in the job description? (Up to 500 words)Using short summaries please provide specific details of up to two different initiatives or projects you have been directly involved in that are relevant to this role. For each initiative or project please use up to 250 words to describe your role (e.g. team leader, team member), the purpose of the activity (i.e. its aims), and the major contributions you personally made.You can view the full job description on our website.You can read more about the benefits we offer our employees on our websiteOur Hybrid Way of WorkingWe understand that our colleagues have commitments and personal interests outside of work and we strive to build a flexible working environment, in which people can perform at their best.Diversity and Inclusion is at the heart of everything we doDiversity and Inclusion is a priority at Wellcome. We are committed to cultivating a fair and inclusive environment, where everyone can be themselves and thrive. We are happy to discuss flexible working options for all roles. We work to ensure that our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible to everyone. This includes making adjustments for people who have a disability or long-term condition. Please visit our website for more information on adjustments and accessibility, or contact us at [e-mail].#LI-AB1#LI-HybridCovered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (subject to a Basic DBS)Upon a conditional offer being made, the successful applicant for this position will be required to undertake a Basic Disclosure and Barring Service (or equivalent) criminal record check to disclose any ‘unspent’ criminal convictions or conditional cautions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The criminal record check with not show anything that is ‘spent’.For further guidance on disclosure of criminal records please see this UK Government Guidance. You can view our Policy Statement on the Recruitment of Ex-offenders here. 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