Visitor Experience & Site Lead

Lead visitor operations, facilities and Health & Safety at Pūkaha, supporting staff, casuals and volunteers while improving the visitor experience.

Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre is looking for a practical, people focused leader to help drive the day-to-day delivery of our visitor experience and site operations.

This is a broad, hands-on role for someone who enjoys leading people, improving how things work and taking responsibility for the smooth running of a busy visitor environment.

Reporting to the Chief of Awesome, you will lead six direct reports alongside a wider team of casual employees and volunteers. You’ll oversee visitor facing operations, facilities, Health & Safety, site presentation and operational systems, while also helping improve the commercial performance of the organisation.

You don’t need to have held a senior management title before. You may already be an experienced team leader, supervisor or operational coordinator who is ready to take on broader responsibility.

The opportunity

No two days at Pūkaha are the same.

One day you might be coaching the team and supporting visitor operations, the next reviewing a maintenance issue, working with a contractor, checking Health & Safety actions, improving stock or supplier processes, or helping ensure a new visitor experience is ready to launch.

You will play an important part in making sure Pūkaha is safe, welcoming, well-presented and operating effectively every day.

A key focus of the role is also helping us get more value from the visitors we already welcome, through stronger visitor experiences, better café and retail performance, memberships, donations and paid experiences. The commercial delivery plan specifically focuses on increasing visitor value, improving margins and operational efficiency, and strengthening memberships, donations and paid experiences.

What you’ll be responsible for

• Leading, coaching and coordinating a diverse team of permanent staff, casual employees and volunteers
• Helping deliver a consistently high standard of visitor service across the site
• Leading facilities and site management, including planned and preventative maintenance, contractors, statutory compliance and asset upkeep
• Supporting strong Health & Safety systems, emergency readiness and a proactive safety culture
• Work closely with the Head of Conservation Experience & Partnerships and Business Support & Finance Coordinator to ensure visitor operations, commercial activity and organisational priorities are well coordinated.
• Improving day-to-day operational systems, processes and ways of working
• Supporting performance across café, retail, memberships, donations and visitor experiences
• Reviewing stock, wastage, suppliers and purchasing to improve value and reduce avoidable costs
• Maintaining high standards of site presentation, visitor amenities and operational readiness
• Supporting budgets, expenditure monitoring and operational reporting
• Coordinating suppliers and contractors
• Work with the marketing team to ensure visitor information, promotions and updates are shared clearly with staff, partners and local tourism and accommodation providers.
• Supporting the delivery of campaigns, events, school holiday programmes and new visitor experiences
• Identifying practical opportunities to improve visitor satisfaction, commercial performance and operational efficiency

What we’re looking for

We are looking for someone with good operational instincts, strong people skills and the confidence to take ownership.

You may come from facilities, hospitality, tourism, retail, attractions, venue operations, property, customer service or another hands-on operational environment.

You will ideally bring:

• Experience leading or supervising a team
• Experience in facilities, site operations or a complex operational environment
• Confidence managing day-to-day Health & Safety requirements
• Strong customer service or visitor-facing experience
• Good organisation and problem-solving skills
• Commercial awareness and confidence working with budgets, stock or suppliers
• The ability to coordinate contractors and operational priorities
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills
• A practical, solutions-focused approach
• The confidence to make decisions and take ownership
• A willingness to learn and grow into the wider scope of the role

Experience in conservation, tourism or the not-for-profit sector would be useful, but it is not essential.

Why Pūkaha?

Pūkaha is much more than a visitor attraction.

We are a nationally significant conservation organisation working to restore the ngahere and protect some of Aotearoa New Zealand’s precious native species.

Every visitor, membership, donation, retail purchase and experience helps support that work.

This role offers the opportunity to build your leadership experience while making a visible difference across the organisation, from the way the site looks and operates, to how visitors are welcomed and how effectively our teams work together.

Our values – Manaakitanga, Kaitiakitanga, Whanaungatanga and Āhuru Mōwai – guide how we work with each other, our visitors, our partners and our environment.

Pūkaha operates seven days a week, so some weekend and public holiday work will be required.

A current New Zealand Driver Licence is also required.

As a newly created role, you will have the opportunity to build on what is already in place, strengthen systems and processes, and help shape the next phase of Pūkaha’s operational development.

If you are a capable team leader or operational professional looking for the opportunity to step up, broaden your experience and make a real impact, we would love to hear from you.