About the job

Job summary

Cadw is the Welsh Government historic environment service and combines the conservation, maintenance and presentation of a national collection of historic monuments, including two World Heritage Sites, with regulatory, advisory and grant-making functions in the wider historic environment.

This is a new role, tasked with taking a strategic approach to the development of Cadw’s historic places so that they maximise their opportunity for improving visitor access, enjoyment and income generation. The post holder will play a key role in helping to plan and 

implement Cadw’s investment strategy and respond to the needs of visitors from within Wales and beyond.

Reporting to the Head of Cadw, this post will be responsible for providing strategic leadership to the teams responsible for the visitor-related activities at the 131 historic properties in care of which 24 are directly staffed by Cadw. This includes the teams responsible for visitor-facing site operations, public engagement, membership, volunteering, marketing and business development.  The overall objective of the branch is to deliver an engaging experience for visitors to our sites, to drive up visitor numbers and membership, and to increase commercial revenue in line with the Cadw Business Plan.

The role will work alongside the heads of the other two operational branches - Historic Environment Branch and Properties in Care Branch - and the Head of Finance and Central Services - to form the Cadw Senior Executive Team (SET). All the members of SET also participate in the quarterly Cadw Board meetings and meetings of the wider Cadw Leadership Team (CLT).

Job description

What your organisation will expect?

Professional Roles

• You will be a Principal/Professional Advisor for a specific subject/area, on behalf of the organisation. (This may include a professional qualification or being a member of a chartered profession).

Generalist Roles

• You will have experience in delivering large scale projects. You will lead/manage/ have overarching responsibilities for multiple work-streams (at least four).
• You will be able to deal with complex problems, displaying high levels of judgement with limited precedent/guidance, using creative and innovative thinking to develop new approaches to deliver better outcomes for Wales.
• You will have a detailed knowledge of the organisation together with a clear working understanding of the external operating environment. You will be politically aware and will consider the long-term implications of policy and other changes, interpreting trends and developments, and produce future policies and organisational strategies in the light of these.

What your team will expect?

• You will be a strong leader with experience of building and developing high performing teams, inspiring and motivating in order to deliver results through others. You will be able to build co-operation between teams and provide direction across teams.
• You will have a demonstrable understanding of diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity, promoting a culture of inclusion, creating an environment where individuals feel safe to challenge, share ideas and express concerns and embracing new ways of working.
• You will create a culture of continuous self-development, role-modelling self-learning and development, whilst encouraging others to take all opportunities available. You will ensure ensuring that opportunities are available to all staff regardless of their background, supporting everyone to reach their full potential.

What your stakeholders will expect?

• You will establish, build and maintain effective relationships or partnerships with key organisational stakeholders (e.g. Ministers and senior employees in the organisation and external organisations, often with conflicting views).
• You will have high level of representational, influencing, interpersonal and organisational skills together with the ability to negotiate effectively with a range of contacts and/or relationships (e.g. directly advising Ministers and/or the most senior officers externally, acting as a primary/lead contact on behalf of the organisation).
• You will work with a high level of autonomy, demonstrating an ability to take/make decisions (with significant risk/impact) on behalf of the organisation whilst balancing the impact/risk associated with those decisions.

Person specification

• To provide strategic leadership for all the teams across the Visitor Experience and Business Development Branch ensuring that the workforce is highly motivated and skilled to deliver excellent visitor and business services.
• To lead on the engagement of new and existing audiences in relevant and inclusive ways, constantly challenging teams to improve access, and to tell stories in authoritative but also meaningful and innovative ways.
• To lead on the regular review and delivery of a commercial strategy - that will maximise current income streams and create new income opportunities to allow the visitor business to grow and contribute to Cadw’s wider core purpose to care for the historic environment of Wales for present and future generations.
• To foster a culture of customer service excellence across the branch and in particular across the site-based and visitor-facing teams.
• To provide strategic oversight and support for the teams responsible for the delivery of a creative and engaging programme of visitor interactions – including on-site interpretation, events (whether Cadw-led or through third-party hires), educational activities, and digital content encouraging them to keep ahead of best practice and working with partners wherever possible.
• To provide strategic oversight and setting direction for the teams responsible for the development and growth of the Cadw membership scheme, commercial partnerships, retail, volunteering and participation opportunities.
• To provide strategic oversight and setting direction for the teams responsible for publications, communications and marketing – including digital activities – being a brand champion for Cadw and the ‘Wales brand’.
• To be an active member of the Cadw Board, SET and CLT, reporting on the performance of Cadw’s visitor business and related matters.
• To work with other members of the Cadw Board and SET to identify opportunities for programmes of strategic capital investment in the visitor infrastructure while allowing continued safe public access – including through participation in the Cadw capital investment board and monument development teams.
• To work alongside the Health and Safety team to manage risk at our monuments and provide a safe environment for our visitors and staff.
• To contribute, alongside the Cadw Board and SET, to Cadw’s three yearly business planning cycle, and to work with teams within the Branch in identifying and delivering against key performance indicators and annual priority activities for the Branch.
• To have overall responsibility for the Branch budgets – including income (currently c £9.6m) and expenditure, with appropriate controls in place.
• To represent Cadw at high level strategic meetings with internal and external organisations and stakeholders relating to public engagement, research, marketing and commercial programmes – such as Visit Wales colleagues and the Historic Wales Partnership.
• To provide advice to the Deputy Director for Cadw and to Ministers on all visitor experience and business development related matters.

Benefits

All Welsh Government staff are members of the Civil Service, and as a result are eligible for:

• Civil Service Pension Scheme
• 31 days annual leave (pro-rated for part time)
• training and development opportunities
• Cycle2Work Scheme
• Smart Working flexible working arrangement
• Green Car Scheme (subject to availability)

If you are an active Civil Service Pension member you can continue your membership throughout your employment with us.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours.

Welsh Government, like all other Government Departments use Success Profiles when we recruit. For each role we consider what you will need to demonstrate to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job. It raises performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

The selection process and stages are:

Number of Stages:	2 stage process
Stage 1	Application Form
Stage 2	Interview

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.