Imperial War Museums
Retail & Admissions Supervisor - Churchill War Rooms
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What It's Like To Work Here
At Imperial War Museums, every visitor experience helps people connect with the stories of conflict and their impact on people's lives. As part of our Retail & Admissions team at Churchill War Rooms, you'll play a key role in creating welcoming, engaging and memorable experiences for visitors while supporting the museum's commercial success. You'll join a collaborative and customer-focused team where leadership, exceptional service and professional development are valued, helping generate the income that supports IWM's mission and future sustainability.
Why This Role Matters
Retail & Admissions Supervisors play a key leadership role in delivering an outstanding visitor experience across admissions and retail operations at Imperial War Museum sites. They lead front-line teams in providing excellent customer service, driving commercial performance and maintaining high operational standards.
The role is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operation of admissions and retail activities, supporting colleagues to achieve performance targets and ensuring services are delivered efficiently and accurately. By combining strong leadership, commercial awareness and operational excellence, the role helps maximise income generation and supports the sustainability of IWM's work.
Working closely with the Retail & Admissions Management Team and colleagues across the museum, the role supports staff development, operational delivery and compliance with policies and procedures. Retail & Admissions Supervisors provide day-to-day leadership, helping to create a safe, welcoming and efficient environment for visitors and colleagues alike.
What You'll Be Doing
- Lead, motivate and support front-line Retail & Admissions colleagues to deliver exceptional customer service and achieve performance targets.
- Oversee the smooth day-to-day operation of admissions and retail activities, ensuring visitors receive a welcoming and professional experience.
- Promote tickets, memberships, guidebooks, donations and retail products, helping maximise income generation across the museum.
- Handle visitor enquiries, feedback and complaints professionally, resolving issues and processing refunds where appropriate.
- Maintain high standards of presentation, merchandising, stock control and operational accuracy across all Retail & Admissions spaces.
- Support cash handling, stock management, EPOS processes and compliance with financial procedures and audit requirements.
- Assist with rota planning, performance monitoring, training and ongoing development of colleagues.
- Act as duty manager for Retail & Admissions when required, maintaining safe, efficient and compliant operations.
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What We're Looking For
We'd Love To Hear From You If You Have
- Excellent communication skills and the ability to adapt your approach to a wide range of visitors and colleagues.
- A strong customer focus and a commitment to delivering outstanding visitor experiences.
- Experience confidently promoting products, services or experiences and contributing to sales targets.
- Leadership potential with the confidence to positively guide and support others.
- A proactive, adaptable approach and the ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong organisational skills and attention to detail, particularly when following procedures and maintaining accurate records.
- The ability to work collaboratively as part of a wider team and contribute positively to team performance.
- A willingness to learn, develop new skills and continuously improve performance.
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Desirable experience includes retail, admissions, hospitality, customer service or visitor attraction environments, along with experience supervising teams, handling cash and using EPOS systems.
How You'll Work
You'll work closely with colleagues across Retail & Admissions and wider museum teams to deliver a seamless visitor experience. This is a hands-on, customer-facing role based on site at Churchill War Rooms, where collaboration, leadership and operational excellence are essential. You'll receive support and development opportunities to build your leadership skills, commercial awareness and operational knowledge while contributing to a high-performing team.
What Success Looks Like (First 6-12 Months)
- Build strong and productive working relationships with colleagues across the museum.
- Demonstrate confidence leading day-to-day admissions and retail operations.
- Consistently deliver high standards of visitor service and operational accuracy.
- Support the achievement of key sales and performance targets across admissions, retail and membership activity.
- Provide effective coaching, feedback and support that helps colleagues develop and perform at their best.
- Act confidently as a role model for IWM's values, behaviours and customer service standards.
Additional Information
This is a full-time, site-based role at Churchill War Rooms.
- The role operates on a flexible rota and includes regular weekend and bank holiday working, with some early morning and evening shifts as required.
- Occasional travel to other London IWM sites may be required to provide operational support and cover.
For a full list of duties and the person specification (which your application will be marked against), please view the Job Description.
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