Permanent – Full-time

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.

We currently have an exciting opportunity for a Sales Manager, to develop and manage the sales of the zoo’s membership and adoptions, corporate and private events, gift and experiences packages, and groups and travel trade business, in order to support the organisation’s strategy to meet financial targets and deliver outstanding customer service.

• To plan, implement and develop effective sales strategies, working with the Head of Marketing to ensure they are in line with the organisation’s strategic objectives.
• Working with other relevant teams, maximise sales opportunities and develop new income generating opportunities, providing support through communication with existing customers.
• Work with the Head of Marketing to provide statistical analysis and commentary on sales activities.
• Devise procedures and review terms and conditions to ensure all sales activities operate in line with the business needs and financial legislation.
• Manage, train and motivate the sales team to deliver an efficient, high quality service.
• Manage budget expenditure in compliance with purchasing policies and work with Finance to ensure income is collected in a timely fashion.
• Provide a seven day a week call centre and customer facing service for all sales, ensuring income opportunities are maximised.
• Ensure accurate recording of sales data with associated audit trails, and work with IT and Marketing to further develop IT systems to meet enhanced business growth.

The successful candidate will have:

• A relevant degree or demonstrable equivalent experience in Box Office / sales management.
• Experience of developing and implementing sales strategies and new concepts to deliver against key performance indicators.
• Experience of leading and managing a team to achieve/exceed performance targets.
• Management of comprehensive administrative systems with knowledge and experience of data protection protocols, debt collection, direct debit work and gift aid calculations.
• A proven track record of delivering exceptionally high levels of customer standards and provision of customer facing and telesales services including cash and credit card transactions.
• Competent user of Microsoft Office software, particularly Outlook, Word, Excel.
• Ability to demonstrate commercial judgement and evaluation through budget management and analysis of profit and loss accounts.
• Experience of project management and ability to deal with conflicting priorities associated with busy workloads.
• Experience of managing and developing people to optimise their potential.
• Ability to quickly establish credibility and represent the department and Society.
• Presentation and report writing skills.
• Commitment to ongoing personal development.
• A flexible approach to working around the needs dictated by a customer focused visitor attraction and event programme.
• An understanding of, and commitment to, the mission of Chester Zoo.