Park Guide Lead

Presidio Trust•San Francisco, CA

4d•Onsite

About The Position

The Presidio Trust is seeking a Park Guide Lead to join the Visitor Services Team. The Presidio Trust is a unique federal agency that stewards and shares the Presidio, one of the most visited national park sites in America and a place where people live and businesses thrive. The Trust manages the Presidio through a triple bottom line focus: being visited and loved by all, being a model of environmental stewardship, and demonstrating excellence in all our operations. The Park Guide Lead supports the Park Guide Supervisor with the day-to-day delivery of visitor services, programs, and operations at Presidio Tunnel Tops. The Lead provides daily guidance to Park Guides, seasonal staff, and volunteers; helps coordinate staffing and workloads; supports youth and school group visits; and helps ensure facilities are safe, clean, welcoming, and well maintained. Serving nearly 100% in a public-facing capacity, the Lead welcomes and orients visitors of all ages and backgrounds, answers questions, shares Presidio history, facilitates activities, and helps create positive visitor experiences. The Lead also serves as a Daily Site Leader on a rotating basis, monitoring site operations and public safety, responding to routine visitor and operational concerns, and coordinating with Trust staff or authorities as needed. The position supports community programs and events and assists with exhibits, interpretive materials, and visitor activities at the Field Station and Outpost. The successful candidate will demonstrate strong customer service and communication skills, sound judgment, initiative, adaptability, and the ability to work effectively with diverse audiences and colleagues in an indoor and outdoor park environment.

Requirements

High School diploma.
Minimum of three (3) years of customer service, program or other public-facing experience, including experience interacting with children and youth, preferably in a park or cultural institution, school, community-based organization, or other public facing organization.
Experience developing and curating public spaces and exhibits.
Experience in a lead capacity in a team setting.
Ability to build and maintain strong trust-based relationships.
Experience providing day-to-day guidance and constructive feedback to coworkers.
Strong written and oral communication skills.
Able to communicate effectively and have positive interactions with people from various backgrounds and cultures.
Comfortable speaking in front of large and small groups of visitors.
Must be creative, enthusiastic, curious, and passionate about sharing a love of nature, parks and outdoor experiences.
Strong interpersonal and problem-solving skills.
Able to work independently with sound judgement.
Demonstrated ability to manage and diffuse difficult situations.
Takes initiative and recognizes what needs to be done.
Willing to work weekends, holidays, and occasional evenings for special programs and events (weekends are a requirement for this position).
Must be comfortable working indoors and outdoors in all types of weather.
Proficient with Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Ability to lift and carry up to 50 lbs. short distances; stretch, grasp, kneel, twist, reach and bend.

Nice To Haves

A.A. Degree from an accredited college in parks and recreation management, communication, education, tourism, or other related discipline.
Bi-lingual in Cantonese, Mandarin, or Spanish.
Experience doing field work (ecological restoration, field biology, archaeology, etc.).
Visual, graphics or textile arts.
CPR and First Aid.
Valid California State Drivers’ License.
A passion for the mission and values of the Presidio Trust.

Responsibilities

Welcome and orient visitors of all ages to the Presidio Tunnel Tops and the greater Presidio. Provide friendly, helpful, professional and well-informed customer service.
Share Presidio history and information, answer visitor questions, and facilitate self-guided activities at the Presidio Field Station, Outpost, and other Tunnel Tops locations.
Check-in daily picnic reservation holders and assist visitors with navigating the site and accessing available resources.
Support visitor engagement activities, community events and programs.
Open and close the Presidio Field Station, Outpost, and other Tunnel Tops locations, as assigned.
Identify maintenance and repair needs and coordinate requests with designated Trust staff.
Replenish materials and supplies, clean and help maintain orderly and welcoming facilities.
Follow established procedures for facilities operations, safety and site readiness.
Serve as Daily Site Leader on a rotating basis, generally at least two (2) days per week.
Serve as an on-site point-of-contact for unresolved visitor or operational issues as they arise.
Actively monitor and rove the Tunnel Tops site to support smooth operations, visitor needs and public safety.
Communicate and help uphold park policies and procedures.
Request assistance from appropriate Trust departments, emergency services or other authorities when needed.
Create daily staffing assignments, schedules and evaluate the distribution of workloads to ensure adequate coverage.
Help train employees in the day-to-day procedures and operations of Tunnel Tops facilities.
Coordinate youth visits to the Field Station and Outpost.
Support scheduling and serve as point of contact for school field trips and summer camp groups.
Assist with the development of temporary and permanent exhibits/activities in the Field Station and Outpost.
Carry out routine research on park-related topics.
Collaborate with field staff, prepare written and visual interpretive materials, design and fabricate public displays.
Gather feedback on visitor interactions with exhibits and coordinate changes as needed.
Support Park Guide curatorial projects by providing direct feedback and keeping track of timelines.
Provide day-to-day guidance to the Tunnel Tops volunteers (Park Ambassadors).
Effectively communicate park information to keep volunteers informed, provide feedback, foster a positive, inclusive environment that motivates and encourages engagement.
Perform other related duties as assigned.