Welcome & Service Assistant

Working within a bustling atmosphere as part of a passionate team, this role as a Welcome & Service Assistant plays a core part in providing fantastic customer service. As the public face of our properties, you’ll provide a warm, friendly welcome, give information about the property, answer questions and make sure everyone has an enjoyable and memorable visit.

Salary: £11.64 an hour

Duration: Fixed Term Contract until 2nd November 2025

Hours: Zero hours contract. This role is an hourly paid, fixed term role. Wherever possible we aim to offer a consistent working pattern, but we’re looking for flexibility as it may be necessary for us to alter this pattern from time to time to suit the needs of the business. We’d give you as much notice of this as possible.

We will discuss your availability before potential interview.We are open Wednesday-Sunday, and bank holiday Mondays so regular weekend working will be required.

Interview date: Friday 31st January and Saturday 1st February 2025

Start date: Saturday 1st March 2025

For this role, you’ll need to complete our online assessment instead of using a C.V. or online application form. This will help us understand more about your strengths and give you more information on the role.

What it’s like to work here

Reporting to the Welcome Manager, you’ll be part of a team of 5 Welcome & Service Assistants and alongside our great volunteer team, help deliver exceptional service to our visitors and ensure they enjoy their day.

You’ll help grow support for our property and the wider organisation. You’ll be focussed on great service, growing supporter loyalty and looking after our thousands of supporters who come to enjoy all Coughton has to offer.

Coughton Court is one of England’s finest Tudor houses and has been home to the Throckmorton family for 600 years. Coughton has fine collections of furniture, family portraits and Catholic memorabilia which help us share the story of ‘One House, One Family, One Faith – a family’s struggle to remain true to its faith’. The house is set in award-winning gardens including the spectacular Walled Garden and orchards.Coughton has been undergoing a large-scale conservation project for the last 17 months and welcoming visitors throughout. This year we will be welcoming visitors to experience ‘Coughton Uncovered’ and the finished project.

What you’ll be doing

As the largest conservation charity in Europe we work hard to raise funds, so that we can continue to care for all the heritage in our trust. Visitors are a vital part of what we do, so you’ll be responsible for ensuring that you provide an excellent service to all our visitors, every day.

As a Welcome & Service Assistant, you’ll be the first face our visitors see and it’s your role to ensure that the welcome our visitors receive is perfect, setting them up for an amazing experience for the rest of their day and ensuring they get the most out of it. This could include recommending walks, discussing membership options, helping promote our upcoming events and providing services such as mobility vehicles for the less mobile.

You’ll answer queries and make sure visitors can find everything they need for their visit. Understanding how and why we engage our supporters is key. You’ll work with the visitor welcome team to link everything we do back to our cause and the ongoing work we do, especially our current wide-scale conservation project to conserve the roof, windows and faade of the building. You’ll be confident sharing Coughton’s stories and the value and importance of being a member of the National Trust and all the benefits this provides.

You’ll inspire our visitors with our cause and purpose by being an advocate for the great value and benefits of National Trust membership and feel confident talking to visitors about this. As a team, you’ll be vital in the delivery of our fundraising targets including membership and pin badges.

You’ll deliver excellent standards of presentation at the property by carrying out regular presentation checks around site, which will involve cleaning the toilets, litter-picking, and checking our signage. You’ll also ensure all our communications with our visitors are clear and consistent from the arrival at the driveway to the posters and signs around the property.

Great visitor experiences are in our nature, and we believe everyone should feel welcomed, appreciated and more engaged because of the excellent service you provide.This role would suit anyone with an enthusiasm for delivering great customer service.

You can view the full role profile for this role in the document attached. You don’t need to have all of the knowledge, skills and experience listed in the role profile; this is just to provide a full picture of what’s possible in this role.

Who we’re looking for

We’d love to hear from you if you are:

• Customer focused with an understanding of the importance of great service
• A team player, but also can work on your own initiative
• Well organised and adaptable
• Willing to learn new skills
• Have a positive attitude

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)
• Rental deposit loan scheme
• Season ticket loan
• EV car lease scheme
• 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.
• Flexible working whenever possible
• Employee assistance programme
• Free parking at most Trust places

Click here to find out moreabout the benefits we offer to support you.

Closing Date: 26 January 2025

To apply for this vacancy simply click the ‘apply’ button in the top right hand side of the page.

If you need any help with your application, i.e. due to technical difficulties, please call us on 0370 240 0274 or email us at

If you require an adjustment to the application process, for example due to disability or medical condition, please call us on 0370 240 0274 or email us at and we’ll support you as best as we can. For examples of how, please see our supporting you page.

EqualOpportunities 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.

Please note we reserve the right to close this advert early and therefore we encourage you to apply for this position early.

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