Café Manager

Salary: £28,500 - £29,759 per annum (£15.65 - £16.35 per hour)

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 35 hours per week (hours negotiable). Weekend working and some bank holidays as per rota.

Based: College Lake Visitor Centre, Tring, Bucks, UK

The Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust has a vision for “more nature everywhere, for everyone”. We’re working hard to create an inclusive culture, where everyone feels they belong. This includes you being comfortable bringing your whole self to work, and us co-working with the diverse communities we serve to ensure we are meeting everyone’s needs. 

The Café Manager role is about more than running a café. It’s an opportunity to lead our popular nature reserve café, shape its future, and generate vital income that supports conservation work and helps people connect with nature.

You'll have the freedom to introduce new ideas, from seasonal menus and local suppliers to events and private hire opportunities. You'll also lead and develop a dedicated team, creating a positive culture and delivering excellent visitor experiences.

If you…

• Hold a Level 3 Food Hygiene qualification
• Have experience leading and developing hospitality teams
• Are passionate about great homemade food and visitor experience
• Bring commercial awareness and creativity to grow a successful purpose-driven business

…we'd love to hear from you!

Want to find out more before applying? Come along to one of our “Café Manager: Let’s Chat” sessions on 12^th or 14^th November 2026, by booking via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cafe-manager-lets-chat-tickets-2004013479263?aff=oddtdtcreator

How to apply

For full details, please read the job description and T&Cs below. To apply, please follow the application link.

The closing time and date for online applications is 11.59pm on Sunday 22^nd November 2026. Interviews will take place face to face at College Lake Visitor Centre after 27 November 2026.

For all your hard work you can expect a great rewards package in return. In addition to being part of a friendly, skilled and knowledgeable team, passionate about making a difference, when you work for us, you’ll also receive:

• 36 days annual leave entitlement with paid birthday leave, wellbeing days, urgent personal business leave and generous occupational sick pay 
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, and family-friendly policies
• Flexible working to achieve work-life balance
• Salary exchange pension with generous employer contribution
• Learning & Development Programme for all 
• Mental Health First Aiders, YuLife benefit package - including EAP, immediate and confidential help for any matters, life assurance, 24/7 online GP access, plus a variety of discounts 

BBOWT values diversity and inclusion and the benefits this brings. We want every candidate to have the best chance of success as part of this process. In order to do this, we know that some candidates will need reasonable adjustments. Contact us on recruitment@bbowt.org.uk if there are any reasonable adjustments we can provide during the recruitment process, including completing your application. 

When applying for the role you can expect to answer a few questions online relating to the skills required and what you would be doing in the role. Your responses will be anonymised, randomised, and scored by a panel of reviewers. 

We don't use an application form, or CVs - your answers to our situational based questions will be scored against a review guide and scores from these will decide which candidates go through to the interview stage.  See here to find out why we do this.

Whilst we appreciate ChatGPT and other AI platforms can answer these questions, we know what they have to say (and generally the answer they generate isn't great). We want to hear your perspective written in your own words. If it is clear that any of your answers are not your own work, we reserve the right to reject your application on that basis. 

You’ll also be asked for information about your background, anything you feel comfortable sharing will be anonymised and will not be shared as part of the selection process, it will only be used to help us understand how we are performing against our equal opportunities metrics. All candidates will receive feedback on their application. 

We want our people to be as diverse as nature, so we particularly encourage applications from people who are underserved within the communities in which we operate. This includes people from visible ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities (including those who are neurodivergent), the LGBTQ+ community, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and younger people. We are committed to creating an organisation that recognises and truly values individual differences and identities. 

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, Compass House, 1 Farmoor Court, Farmoor, Oxford, OX2 9LU

Registered Charity No. 204330 www.bbowt.org.uk