Permanent – 35 hours per week

We are Chester Zoo, and for over 80 years we’ve been a leading conservation and education charity, and an amazing, award-winning visitor attraction. We’re also a team of passionate, talented, enthusiastic and expert people, doing everything we can to keep the zoo going, from feeding the animals to discovering new conservation ideas, and giving our 1.9 million visitors an inspirational day out. We work hard because we love animals, we care about nature, we love Chester Zoo and we want to be the best zoo in the world! If you think you can help us to achieve that, then we’d love to hear from you.

Our award winning Discovery and Learning Team is central to our visitors’ experience at the zoo. The team engage our visitors with our plant & animal collection and our worldwide conservation work through a range of diverse, fun and exciting educational experiences.

We currently have an exciting opportunity for a Zoo Ranger to join our award winning Discovery & Learning team.

The Role:
Zoo Rangers deliver public education around the zoo. This is a varied role, which includes interacting with visitors of all ages, and audiences can range from 1 to 500 visitors or more. There is lots of public interaction, requiring adaptability and a confident and outgoing personality. Our engagement activities include talks, drop-in activities, playful games, storytelling, science shows, children’s clubs and managing our animal walk through exhibits (fruit bat forest and the lemur walkthrough).

The successful candidate will have: 

• A degree in Zoo Biology or a conservation-related field, and have a wide ranging knowledge of the natural world and the role of zoos in conservation
• A creative mind, and be able to develop and deliver engaging, high quality public engagement opportunities for our visitors
• The ability to confidently deliver stories, shows, games and other playful, interactive engagement styles
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to interact with a wide range of audiences in a playful and engaging manner
• Experience in tracking KPIs and the ability to use performance data to drive improvement and increase the impact of our in zoo education offer 
• A good working knowledge of Windows and Microsoft Office packages, as well as iPads and apps
• Good organisational and time management skills
• The ability to work effectively under their own initiative and as part of a team with a positive attitude
• Excellent customer service skills 

A good working knowledge and experience of zoo conservation education, including research, would be desirable, as is a good knowledge of our animal collection and conservation work.
Experience of working in a childcare setting or a childcare qualification would be advantageous.

Due to the nature of the organisation and the role, this position is subject to an enhance DBS check.

The salary for this role is £21,124.91 per annum (this includes our 2020 pay award which is effective from 1st January 2020), based on 35 hours per week working 10 days out of 14. This will include regular weekends and Bank Holidays as rostered with occasional early morning or evening work. Working hours are flexible around zoo opening times and extra events.

In addition we offer a range of amazing benefits which can be found at www.chesterzoo.org/work-with-us/staff-benefits/

To apply for this position, click apply now to provide your current CV and complete the application form highlighting your skills and experience including why you should be considered for our Zoo Ranger role.

Interviews will be held week commencing 9^th December 2019, with an anticipated start date of 6^th January 2020.

Closing date for applications is Friday 29^th November 2019.

Shortlisting for this role will be conducted while the advert remains live.