Job Purpose

This role has two purposes:

• To support the fulfilment of the Membership Strategy, drive and lead a membership engagement and recruitment re-focus across the region as a whole, providing support at an individual property level.
• In support of the Membership Strategy, feed a from-the-ground perspective into current and future campaigns, initiatives and offers to optimise their success.

CONTEXT

Audiences & Support (A&S) oversees a contribution of more than 50% of the Trust’s income through membership and fundraising. It plays a vital role in managing reputation and building profile which underpins every single aspect of our activity. We have ambition for it to generate more.

Membership represents a third of our income and it is a strategic and budget priority. With around 346,000 members we are the largest membership organisation in Scotland. It is a stable base of engaged advocates who understand our purpose and mission.

In 2024, we committed to undertake a comprehensive review of membership, the first of its type for at least 12 years. The key recommendations from that review were developed into the Membership Strategy, which was approved by our Board in April 2026.

Our Strategy is to grow and sustain an engaged and loyal supporter base of members who feel connected to the Trust and a deepen their relationship to us by visiting, donating and speaking up for heritage. This will be achieved through three core pillars, aligned with the Trust’s ten-year strategy, growing our membership base to 415,000, contributing over £32m per annum to our organisation by 2031.

Below the pillars sits an implementation plan which lays out the activity required to unlock growth potential. These strategic activities require resource to plan, coordinate, implement and evaluate to ensure that the aims of the strategy can be met.

This role is to support our membership growth out at our properties in our Edinburgh & East region. This role is to pilot adding additional support and focus to drive membership recruitment and engagement, with particular focus to investigate and implement strategic changes that enable our growth plan. Its success may lead to similar roles being adopted in other regions across the Trust.

Key Responsibilities And Accountabilities

At a property/regional level:

• In fulfilment of the Membership Strategy, drive and lead a membership re-focus across the region as a whole. Supporting individual properties with specific action plans.
• Understand the challenges and opportunities for membership engagement and recruitment for the region and at each property, and use this knowledge to give context to driving the pragmatic operationalisation of Membership Strategy campaigns and initiatives through bespoke property membership recruitment plans – including:
  • implementation activities supporting campaigns and initiatives
  • development and delivery of staff training (employee and volunteer)
  • agreeing milestones for achieving agreed targets
• Actively seek opportunities to challenge current property thinking and delivery of membership engagement and recruitment, and help the property “do things differently” if this will have a positive impact.
• Support the Membership Marketing Manager with the roll-out of campaigns – including developing collateral to support properties achieve membership recruitment targets, local media messaging etc.
• At a regional-level, contribute a membership perspective to cross-regional/cross-functional projects – for example in collections & conservation-in-action, events & formal learning, functions, food & beverage, gardens, holidays, nature conservation, retail, new systems and processes.
• Across the region, drive income generation in year and drive conversation of visitors to members from 2.5% towards 9%, through developing tools and practice to support and sustain income growth beyond the fixed-term period.