Visitor Host, Historic Hayes - Ref 160 closes 18 January 2026

Permanent Seasonal, 37.5hrs per week, September – end of May

Sunday - Thursday 8.30am – 4.30pm

Historic Hayes is part of the national suite of historic properties managed by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga and is one of the top visitor attractions in Oturehua along the Otago Central Rail Trail. We are looking for an engaging visitor host to join our successful Museum and Café on the site.

The visitor host is a varied role that assists in all levels of day-to-day operations of the museum and cafe including delivering engaging guided tours to groups, day to day events and bookings, public programmes and delivering events, food prep, serving, cleaning tables, kitchen and washing dishes, assisting with housekeeping and programmed cleaning of property/collection items and taking responsibility for updating social media sites and programmes under guidance from the Property Lead.

Our ideal candidate will have a passion for heritage and be committed to delivering an excellent visitor experience whether that be in the museum or the café.

This role requires you to

• welcome and engage with all visitors to the site whether that be in the café or the museum


• deliver guided tours to groups of visitors, including school groups


• participate in the day-to-day customer service operations of the museum and cafe


• use our computer-based Point of Sale system


• promote Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga and its properties


• use social media sites

About you

Your knowledge and experience that will see you succeed in this role:

• strong communicator - storytelling skills and audience engagement

• accuracy and attention to detail

• Relevant experience in tour guiding or café/ hospitality

• an understanding of working in a heritage environment and caring for collection items


• being a team player, adaptable and proactive


• strong awareness of health & safety in the workplace


• displaying initiative and excellent customer service.

Advantageous:

• Understanding of stakeholder engagement and an appreciation of tikanga Māori.


• Experience in social media post generation


• Relevant experience in hospitality


• Experience in a relevant discipline, such as museum, historic property management, tourism, marketing

The hourly rate for this position is $29.95 per hour. Hours are Sunday – Thursday, 8.30am – 4.30pm, for 9 months each year from 1 September to the 31 May.

Applications close at 5pm on Sunday 18 January 2026.

Job Description