Visitor Services Assistant

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is an agency of the Scottish Government, and we manage Scotland’s Forests and Land on behalf of the Scottish Ministers and the people of Scotland.
We are a major provider of outdoor recreation opportunities across Scotland including a wide-ranging portfolio of visitor destinations including six Forest Parks. The work we do makes a significant contribution to the local and national visitor economy as well as ensuring our national forests deliver a wide range of social benefits.
The Visitor Services (VS) Team is responsible for the development and delivery of a high-quality visitor experience across the forest estate. This includes; planning and managing recreation opportunities, engaging with visitors, facilitating events, facilitating education and learning, working with partners & tenants, dealing with enquiries, and engaging with communities.
Our region is diverse and comprises Tweed Valley & Galloway Forest Parks, Galloway Dark Sky Park, all the 7Stanes visitor destinations, the Galloway & Southern Ayrshire Biosphere, and a land reclamation programme in the East Ayrshire coal area. It is an extremely busy and dynamic Region to live and work in., As part of the Visitor Services Team, you will support all aspects of managing the visitor facilities at Glentress Forest for recreation, public access and as an outdoor events venue.
Promoting Glentress and the Tweed Valley Forest Park as the region’s premier visitor attraction you will regularly engage with the public, stakeholders, communities and FLS colleagues to ensure a high quality and safe visitor experience in the forest for everyone. The work will be very varied to deliver organisational priorities and meet the needs of visitors and communities.
The role will include regular weekend working as part of a planned duty rota along with occasional evening and public holiday working.

Person specification
+ Assist in all aspects of site management at Glentress including the visitor hub buildings, car parks and other recreational facilities in support of our Visit Scotland and Green Tourism accreditation;
+ Support the development of key visitor information, on site interpretation and regularly update social media content to promote our visitor offer;
+ Support all aspects of car park management, including day to day operation of the AnPR system;
+ Welcoming visitors and providing information and advice on local resources, whilst promoting responsible visitor behaviours;
+ Deal promptly and helpfully with any enquiries and complaints;
+ Support liaison with and management of FLS tenants and leaseholders;
+ Support and promote use of the forest estate for recreational and sporting events;
+ Deliver a programme of site inspections, maintain monitoring records, and arrange remedial and site maintenance work as and when required;
+ Support health & safety management of visitor facilities and recreational access;
+ Support a safety-first culture prioritising the health and safety of staff and members of the public;
Champion inclusive practice and consider equality issues in all visitor experience delivery

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

Alongside your salary of £28,255, Forestry and Land Scotland contributes £8,185 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.