Visitor Experience Roles – Expression of Interest

Join Us: Visitor Experience Roles at Waitangi Treaty Grounds

Waitangi Treaty Grounds is recruiting for four visitor experience roles: Experience Manager, Experience Host Specialist, and two Cultural Performance Specialists.

Our Visitor Experience team works across two specialist areas, both reporting to the Head of Visitor Experience:

• Hosted Experiences — hosting, guiding and the Treaty House function, led by the Experience Manager.
• Cultural Delivery — cultural performance, cultural capability and specialist cultural experiences, led by the Cultural Manager.

These roles are about clearer leadership, stronger cultural and visitor experience capability, and recognising specialist skills. If you want to help shape how manuhiri experiences the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, we want to hear from you.

We are looking for people who bring skill, integrity, and manaakitanga and who respect Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Te Ao Māori, and the cultural significance of Waitangi. Strong digital and computer skills matter in every one of these roles: they drive the innovation and new thinking that will shape how manuhiri experience Waitangi in the years ahead.

Experience Manager

Lead the team that welcomes, guides and hosts manuhiri across Waitangi, including the Treaty House. You will turn our strategy and values into consistent, everyday practice, building a capable, engaged and culturally grounded team of Experience Hosts and Experience Host Specialists.

What you will do

• Lead, coach and develop the Hosted Experiences team, including recruitment, onboarding and Professional Development Plans.
• Plan rosters and staffing to meet visitor demand and safe staffing requirements.
• Set and lift visitor experience standards, using feedback and quality assurance to drive improvement.
• Oversee the Treaty House function and premium and specialist experiences, protecting historical and cultural integrity.
• Lead health, safety and wellbeing, including operational and psychosocial risks.
• Work alongside the Cultural Manager to deliver one connected Visitor Experience.
• Take your turn on the site-wide Duty Manager roster, including some weekends and public holidays.

What you will bring

• Experience leading and managing people in tourism, visitor experience, hospitality, heritage, education or a similar operational setting.
• Experience in workforce planning, rostering, coaching and performance management.
• A track record of managing service quality, operational performance, health and safety and risk.
• Culturally respectful leadership and a genuine commitment to Te Ao Māori and tikanga.
• Strong digital and computer skills, including rostering, ticketing and visitor experience systems, and the drive to use technology to lead innovation and new ways of working.

It would be great if you also have a tertiary qualification in a related field, experience in a heritage or high-volume visitor environment, or experience in developing premium visitor products.

Experience Host Specialist

Bring the stories of Waitangi to life for our most discerning audiences. You will do everything an Experience Host does, plus deliver the premium, complex and specialist experiences that set Waitangi apart.

What you will do

• Deliver premium hosted experiences and specialist historical and cultural interpretation.
• Lead premium and specialist Treaty House experiences, while protecting the integrity of the buildings and taonga.
• Host VIPs, stakeholders, education groups and specialist groups.
• Support Experience Hosts through peer coaching and modelling good practice.
• Help shape new and improved experiences using visitor feedback and lessons learned.
• Work with Cultural Delivery, where experiences draw on cultural performance or expertise.

What you’ll bring

• A relevant tourism, heritage, education, cultural or interpretation qualification or accreditation.
• Te reo Māori and tikanga capability suited to specialist duties.
• High-level hosting, guiding, interpretation or education experience.
• Strong storytelling, facilitation and audience-management skills, and composure in complex situations.
• The polish to work with premium, VIP and specialist audiences.
• Strong digital and computer skills and fresh ideas for using technology to create innovative visitor experiences.
• Availability to work rostered hours.

Experience delivering VIP, stakeholder, education, or premium tourism is a plus. This is a specialist role, not a management role; people management stays with the Experience Manager.

Cultural Performance Specialist x2

Strengthen the quality, integrity and future of cultural performance at Waitangi Treaty Grounds. You will perform as part of the team and bring recognised specialist capability that lifts those around you.

What you will do

• Deliver cultural performance to a consistently high professional and cultural standard.
• Take on specialist responsibilities in areas where you hold recognised capability, such as performance leadership, waiata, haka, poi, mau rākau, te reo Māori, tikanga, whaikōrero or karanga.
• Support rehearsals, peer coaching and knowledge sharing to build team capability and succession.
• Help the Cultural Manager maintain performance standards and contribute specialist input to reviews of content and delivery.
• Uphold tikanga and kawa, and protect the mana of people, place and taonga.
• Support safe rehearsal and performance practice.

What you will bring

• High-level kapa haka and cultural performance capability.
• A recognised qualification, accreditation or standing in Māori performing arts or a specialist cultural discipline.
• Te reo Māori capability and a strong understanding of tikanga that is suited to specialist responsibilities.
• The ability to coach, demonstrate and share practice constructively with peers.
• Strong digital and computer skills, and an openness to using technology to support rehearsals, capability sharing, and new ways of presenting cultural performance.
• The physical capability to perform safely.
• Availability to work rostered hours, including weekends and public holidays.

Experience supporting rehearsals or capability development, a background in tourism, heritage, education or events, and a first aid certificate (or willingness to get one) are all a plus. This is a specialist role, not a management role; people management stays with the Cultural Manager.

Interested? Send your expression of interest and CV to theresewalkinshaw@waitangi.org.nz by 4 November, letting us know which role or roles you are interested in. We will then send you a few pre-questions to complete. You are welcome to express interest in more than one role.

What happens next?

• Full position descriptions are available on request.
• We will assess every application fairly against the role requirements.
• We will invite shortlisted applicants to interview.