Zoo Jobs: Zoo Operations Manager

Zoo Operations Manager

We are Chessington World of Adventures Resort and we are part of the magical Merlin Entertainments, we have an exciting new opportunity to get your teeth into!

Zoo Operations Manager

Guests visit Chessington World of Adventures for Britain’s wildest day out and the animals they encounter all add to the excitement and discovery. From Amur Tigers (In our BIAZA award winning enclosure!) to Asian Short Clawed Otters, Western Lowland Gorillas to California Sea Lions, our zoo and SEA LIFE Centre boast a huge array of wildlife. Every section is designed to make sure our Adventurers get up even closer and more personal with the cheeky, the mischievous and the exotic all whilst learning about our amazing natural world! In this key management role, you’ll be the person making sure our guests have the best zoo experience, by encouraging visitation, increasing learning and dwell time plus using our guest feedback to continually develop and improve the zoo experience. This role is also responsible for managing the SEALIFE centre, the Education programme and all guest facing zoo activity such as delivering VIP animal experiences, talks and walkthrough enclosures. Reporting to the Operations Director and working alongside the Zoo Collections Manager this position will be essential in ensuring the zoo scores highly in our Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s), safe & efficient delivery of the Zoo operation and leading a team to success. Everything this role delivers will be creating memorable experiences for all our guests!

We are looking for the following skills and experience;

Strong understanding of guest experience planning and delivery, how to engage guests with educational messages in an adventurous way and making sure guest feedback leads decision making
Passionate people leader with drive and enthusiasm for focus, development and staff engagement
Innovative approach to zoo delivery, driving standards of zoo talks, walkthrough attractions (such as Lorikeet Lagoon, Amazu monkey walkthrough and Children’s Zoo) and interpretation
Passionate about managing the SEALIFE centre through its people by delivering beautiful displays, engaging interpretation and fun, informative talks and interactions
Some Health & Safety knowledge relevant in a visitor attraction such as risk assessing, fire safety, managing stress in the workplace etc
Experience/understanding of managing a department budget, forecasting and readjusting as required
Experience/understanding of managing an Education programme. Making sure the programme is kept relevant to the curriculum, innovative and fun as well as delivering the commercial schools targets
Organised and flexible with the business needs
Able to stay focused and communicative to large teams and the wider Resort in areas such as meetings, project planning, daily duty management
Actively evolve with change and business requirements and keep up to date within your field

This role is full time, permanent, averaging 40 hours per week and will include weekends and bank holidays.

Alongside a competitive annual salary of c.£30,000 plus 33 days holiday (including bank holidays) you can look forward to enjoying a great benefits package including, a Group Personal Pension Plan, Merlin Magic pass to enjoy free entry to other attractions, opportunities for onsite accommodation (to be discussed at interview based on availability), Employee Assistance Programme, Life Assurance, 25% discount in our retail shops and restaurants, 40% discount online off Lego, and much more!

Closing date for applications is: 10th Feb 2020

To submit an application please visit- https://merlin.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/5751?c=merlin