Head of Centre with FSC Scotland

A senior leadership position with the FSC, managing a diverse team of educators, hospitality and maintenance staff, gives you a role with both challenge and opportunity and a chance to start young people on a journey of discovery that can last a lifetime. FSC are looking for people with a curiosity for the world around us, a passion for the natural history of the British Isles and an ability to enthuse and inspire others.  

Kindrogan Field Centre is in rural Perthshire, close to the southern limit of the Cairngorms National Park, yet close enough to explore the burgeoning attractions of Dundee with its exciting waterfront developments including the stunning new V & A Museum of Design. Kindrogan is in an area rich in wildlife and with tremendous opportunities for a range of outdoor activities. There are pine martens and red squirrels in the grounds, and stunning hillwalking, rock climbing and winter mountaineering within easy reach of the centre. The ski area of Glenshee is a 15-minute drive away. A well maintained bungalow would be available on site, for a monthly fee, which would ideally suit a couple or family.”

  

Overall Job Purpose: 

The Head of Centre role is responsible for the learning location in its entirety and will be required to ensure the efficient and effective running of the learning location whilst ensuring that all activities are in line with the FSC 2020 vision. This is an active role and will require the job holder to be able to carry out duties associated with all aspects of running a busy learning location.

Key Responsibilities: · Being accountable for the learning location in its entirety, including overall responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the learning location, the management of staff and financial performance. · Identifying markets and partners to drive forward the business in line with the expectations of FSC, partners and project funders. · Promoting and supporting marketing to develop the learning location as an accessible and high profile showcase for FSC education activities. · Forming and maintaining local partnerships, contributing to appropriate local & regional networks and communities and managing projects in line with the needs of the charity. · Recruiting staff as required by the business and leading the whole staff team, providing support and advice through induction, training & review and delivering on our commitments to be an Investor in People. · Managing all aspects of the finance of the learning location including income generation, budget control, net budgeting and surplus generation to ensure the generation of a surplus commensurate with its capacity. · Ensuring the excellent reputation of the learning location for delivering high quality professional, amateur interest, university and school courses is maintained and developed. · Ensuring that all users of the learning location have a high quality experience, as evaluated through customer feedback and the FSC Internal quality assurance inspections. · Proactively leading FSC Health & Safety systems for all aspects of the learning location. · Ensuring the learning location has duty and on-call staff available for all nights that there are students resident on site. The on-call responsibility is typically shared by the Head of Centre and other senior staff and requires that they are within 20 minutes (or exceptionally within 30 minutes) travel time of the learning location. Duty staff are required to be resident at the learning location when on duty and this responsibility is typically shared by a larger team on a weekly basis.  · Managing the development, support & maintenance of education resources.  · Maintaining and improving the learning location’s environmental performance, including external recognition.