Contract jobs

As Welcome Team Leader you will work as part of the Engagement team, leading a team of Welcome Hosts to provide a warm welcome and overall excellent visitor experience at Southwark Cathedral. Acting as a central point of contact, you will lead, support and develop the Welcome Team to deliver a friendly and engaging visit and ensure a high standard of customer service. You will work closely with the Head of Engagement to support the development of the Welcome Team through training and support, organise rotas and ensure adequate cover of all positions, and support the overall goal to increase visitor numbers, donations and visitor engagement. 

If you have experience in:

• Managing a team, supervision and team training
• Working within a heritage, public engagement or visitor attraction setting
• Dealing with customer feedback or complaints

And are:

• Customer focused, passionate about excellent engagement and welcome
• A skilled and engaging communicator
• Committed to continuous organisation improvement and the ability to act as an agent of change, with an understanding of and enthusiasm for the Cathedral’s overall vision and values, and sympathy with the Christian faith.

Then we would love to hear from you.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Act as main point of contact with Welcome Team acting for daily visitor engagement operations, liaising with other onsite teams, including Vergers, Retail, Property and Enterprise;
• Line manage the paid Welcome Team, ensuring a high standard of welcome and visitor service is provided;
• Carry out regular walk rounds of the site to support Welcome Team members, collaborate and provide feedback and ensure standards are consistently met;
• Cover Welcome Team positions as an when required, providing a welcoming, friendly and engaging visitor experience to all visitors to the Cathedral;
• Organise monthly rotas for the Welcome Team to ensure all days are adequately staffed, managing annual leave, sickness and overtime requests;
• Work alongside the Head of Engagement to develop and maintain training sessions and ensure mandatory training is up to date;
• Attend weekly Cathedral Diary meetings and manage daily service sheets and promotional materials;
• Handle complaints procedure and any difficult customers;
• Manage the recording of daily visitor numbers and donation figures;
• Take the lead on card payments for on the day ticket sales for public and group tours, and other engagement events;
• Attend the Health and Safety Committee and ensure the Welcome Team are confident and compliant with all health, safety, security and safeguarding policies and procedures;
• Take an active role in providing visitors with information about the Cathedral and its history, upcoming events, donation points, services and more;
• Communicate with pre-booked and un-booked tour groups requiring access to the Cathedral;
• Refer any visitor in need of pastoral care to the Day Chaplain or clergy;
• Encourage visitors to donate to the Cathedral through the various platforms available in the Cathedral and online and to encourage those making a donation to Gift Aid it should they be eligible to do so;
• Direct visitors to the Cathedral Shop and Café encouraging secondary spend;
• Promote the sale of information products such as the Visitor Map and Guidebook; 

Closing date: 11.59pm on Wednesday, June 17th

Interviews are planned for Friday, June 26th

Introduction to the Cathedral 

Southwark Cathedral has been a place of Christian worship for over 1400 years. Now it stands on the vibrant and exciting regenerated south bank of the Thames surrounded by cultural venues such as Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe and Borough Market, the offices of major companies as well as schools and diverse residential communities. It is an inclusive Christian community that offers a welcome to all. 

The Cathedral’s mission, ministry and musical tradition are core to its life as a Cathedral and a parish church serving the community. It also relies on the valuable financial contribution made by its income generating activities such as its shop, café, conference rooms, corporate events and concerts. It is a very busy place, attracting 290,000 visitors a year to the Cathedral, its churchyard and medieval herb garden. The Cathedral relies on a small but dedicated team to be inclusive and welcoming to all.

Southwark Cathedral is committed to being an Equal Opportunities Employer. We believe in promoting and building a diverse and inclusive team, and workplace, culture and governance structures that are welcoming to and respectful of all. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified people whatever their ethnicity, background, age, disability, long term condition, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Southwark Cathedral is committed to a culture of safeguarding, especially for children, young people, and vulnerable adults. The Cathedral has adopted the Church of England policy statement ‘Promoting a Safer Church (2017)’; Safeguarding Learning and Development (2024) and the Safer Recruitment and People Management Guidance (2021). Every member of our team is recruited according to these policies and is required to complete safeguarding training.

Appointment to this role is subject to satisfactory references and the right to work in the UK.

Casual Assistant

Ref: LL/26/05

£14.80 per hour

Casual worker on “zero hours” contract

St James’s Square, London SW1

About The London Library

For over 180 years, The London Library has stood as one of the UK's greatest literary institutions, inspiring creativity, and ideas. Our esteemed members, past and present, include literary giants like Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, Virginia Woolf, and contemporary authors such as Kazuo Ishiguro and Sarah Waters. Our collection boasts around one million volumes, a vast eLibrary, and an invaluable postal loans service, making it a sanctuary for those who cherish the written word.

We are championed by our President, Helena Bonham Carter CBE, and operate as a registered charity. We have over 7,500 members and charitable turnover of circa £5m per year.

About the role

We are looking for a Casual Assistant to support the effective day-to-day operation of the Library by assisting in one or more of the following areas

- Circulation and Stack Management

Shelving and maintaining the book collection, helping members use the Library and its facilities

- Events

Supporting evening and weekend events

- Building and Facilities Management

Contributing to the safety and security of the premises

Please indicate in your application, the area you would prefer to work in.

About you

· We are looking for a reliable and proactive individual who enjoys working with people and takes pride in delivering excellent service, who can:

· Provide excellent front-line customer service to members and visitors

· Support circulation desk and reading room activity, including answering enquiries

· Shelve, retrieve, and organise books within the Library’s collection

· Assist with tours for new and prospective members

· Support evening and weekend events (set-up, ushering, guest support, bar service) 

· Help maintain the safety and security of the building, including basic facilities and CCTV monitoring 

· Assist with general operational tasks across the Library as required 

· Assist with tours for new and prospective members

You will have:

· Experience in a customer-facing role

· Strong communication skills (in person, written and on the phone)

· Good general IT skills (e.g. Microsoft Office and ability to learn new systems)

· A flexible, team-oriented approach with a willingness to support different areas of work

· Good attention to detail and the ability to work efficiently and accurately

· Experience working in a library, cultural institution, or similar environment

· Experience supporting or delivering events

· Familiarity with library systems or stock management

Personal qualities we value:

· Friendly, polite, and approachable manner

· Reliable with good timekeeping

· Organised and methodical

· Self-motivated and adaptable

· Comfortable undertaking physical tasks (including lifting and shelving books)

Why Join Us?

The London Library offers a friendly, hardworking, and inclusive workplace where we strive to support the diverse needs of our team. We welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to equality and diversity. Specific adjustments and access needs can be discussed to make this role suitable for you.

If you’re passionate about delivering an exceptional Library experience and want to use your skills to help drive the success of The London Library, we would love to hear from you!

To Apply

Please visit our website & complete an application form including the Library's equal opportunities monitoring form.

Deadline: Monday 15 June 2026 @ 12:00 noon

The Library welcomes applications from all sections of the community - all applicants will be considered on the basis of their merits and abilities for the post. Please note we are unable to consider candidates without a current right to work in the UK.

We reserve the right to shorten or extend the closing date of any position where a high or low volume of suitable applications are received. Therefore, if you are interested in this role, an early application would be encouraged.