Live Science Team Member

Location: Venue-based – your time will be spent in our venue on Bristol Harbourside interacting directly with visitors.

Department: Operations

Report to: Live Science Team Leaders and Live Science Operations Manager

Responsible for: No direct reports

Salary: £13.45 per hour salary, with the opportunity to rise to £13.85 per hour upon completion of progression milestones.

Contract: Permanent 

Working hours: 24 hours per week, worked over 3 days per week, 9.00am-5.30pm. You would be required to work 3 out of 4 weekends of the month – both Saturday and Sunday

Regular shifts are worked Tuesday – Sunday. There will be occasional Monday open days, for School holidays and training days, and rare evening events, including Planetarium night shows.

About We The Curious

We The Curious is an educational charity and one of the UK’s leading science centres. 

We produce experiences that bring people together to play, get creative with science and explore different ideas. 

We work with partners, locally and nationally, supporting people to be inquisitive, develop new skills and improve their wellbeing.

We are progressive, inquisitive, collaborative, playful and creative. 

Our Why, What & How

Our vision

What if everyone is included, curious and inspired by science to build a better world together?

Our mission

To connect and empower people through sharing creative experiences which celebrate unknowns in science.

Our pledges

_Cultivate Curiosity
_Strive for Sustainable Futures
_Include Everyone
_Build Resilience
_Open Up Science

You can find out more about these in our Manifesto.

Our Values

_Inquisitive – Asking questions
_Progressive – Thinking about what’s next 
_Playful – Embracing the unexpected with a sense of fun
_Creative – Generating and testing new ideas
_Collaborative – Being inclusive, connecting and valuing

Our Strategic Priorities

/SP 1 We are a playful space to explore emerging ideas in climate, health and technology
/SP 2 We are challenging educational inequality by creating opportunities for young people to see themselves in science
/SP 3 We are developing a resilient and decarbonised operating model in an uncertain world

About the role

Live Science Team provide creative, playful, inclusive experiences for people who attend our venue. Enabling excellent visitor experience and supporting the other Live Science Team Members will be your priority. 

Within our venue you will be presenting shows, facilitating hands-on activities, starting conversations among exhibits and helping people to get involved by sparking curiosity, creating fun and promoting the value of people’s opinions and life experiences. 

Live Science team is responsible for the safety of our visitors whilst they are in our venue. To achieve this you will be required to follow our safeguarding and evacuation procedures, encourage safe use of our exhibit spaces, and adhere to risk assessments for all activities we deliver.

In our ground-breaking Open City Research activities, you will be the link between our research partners and our visitors, explaining the background of real science research and helping them to participate.

Our venue and events are attended by lots of different people and age groups, but our main audience is families, so you should be confident working with children (aged 3-11 years) and young people, as well as being comfortable encouraging adults to get involved in the fun!

What will you do in this role?

Role specific responsibilities

_You will provide playful and inclusive experiences to our visitors. You will present in our programme spaces, such as our kitchen space, the Theatre of Curiosity, the Studio, our 3D Planetarium, and the Open City Lab: a space where visitors can get involved in real research

_In these spaces you will lead story-telling, demonstrations, explanations and hands-on activities. It can include working with simple robots, chemicals, toys, food, plants and bespoke equipment such as smoke machines. 

_You will be at hand amongst the exhibits to start conversations and spark curiosity in our visitors. You will use your knowledge and passion for discovery to encourage interactions between yourself and visitors, and get visitors involved with an exhibit or activity. You will adapt to the needs of the diverse range of individuals who visit We The Curious. 

_You will take initiative to assist visitors and co-workers whenever they need it. Using a two-way radio and earpiece to communicate across our venue. 

_You will ensure spaces look welcoming, have the equipment needed and our exhibits are clean and safe.

_You will keep aware of your surroundings, ensuring that visitors and staff are safe. You will learn and follow safe-working policies, including emergency evacuation procedure and our safeguarding policy.

_You will listen to visitor feedback, remain calm and resolve issues where you are able, working with your colleagues, or escalating, if needed.

_In the venue, you will welcome school groups on school trips and help to manage their experience of our venue. 

_When there are opportunities to do so, you will work with other departments. This can include more meetings and office-based work.

_You will welcome volunteers into We The Curious, working closely with them during holidays and busy periods, being on hand for support and queries throughout the day

_This role requires you to work a flexible shift pattern – You will be working 3 out of 4 weekends of the month, both the Saturday and the Sunday – your other shifts will be spread through the week.

What will you do in this role?

Shared responsibilities across the organisation

_Safeguarding:  Be responsible for carefully following safeguarding policies and procedures and raising any concerns to manager/Designated Safeguarding Officer.

_Fundraising: Where possible, include charity messaging in your area of work with support from, and connection with, the Development and Marketing Teams.

_General responsibility for departmental compliance with GDPR.

What we’re looking for from you

_You have previous experience in customer service, or working with a public audience, and are confident working with the public and being in a public facing role

_You will have excellent communication skills, and be able to engage both individuals and groups of people

_You feel confident presenting to large groups of people and facilitating activities with diverse audiences 

_You have excellent listening skills and an understanding of visitor needs and expectations and have a positive attitude to solving problems and handling customer issues. 

_You can find starting points for conversations on a wide variety of topics and adapt to people of different backgrounds, age, ability and interests

_You are confident learning and retaining information; including simple scientific concepts to present as part of activities or shows

_You are comfortable adapting to quickly changing circumstances, and are resilient to unexpected challenges 

_You can use Microsoft Teams and email to communicate with your colleagues or be happy to learn this as part of your role.

_ You can work on your own and as part of a team. You are happy to support other team members as well as self-motivating whilst presenting activities alone. 

_You are comfortable carrying out basic manual handling tasks, spending a lot of the day walking round our venue, cleaning exhibits and participating in active tasks – (if this is a barrier for you, we are happy to discuss access requirements)

_You are comfortable working in a large public venue that can get very loud and busy 

_You can learn to, or are already able to, work safely with new technologies and equipment both in front of visitors and behind the scenes

Training

_Training is provided throughout your time at We the Curious, and you can progress through steps of pay as your skills and experience grow.

Application process

Deadline for applications: 11:59pm on Monday 23rd November 2026
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Interview date and location: Friday 11th December at We the Curious
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Start date: Tuesday 12th January 2027
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Application process:

If you would like to apply, please complete the application form. It contains four questions designed to assess your interest in and suitability for the role. These are:

_Why would you like to work for We The Curious? (250 words)

_Why do you think you are suitable for the role of Live Science team member? Please explain how your previous experience demonstrates your suitability. (400 words)

_The Live Science Team run activities and presentations and start conversations with a diverse range of people from all over Bristol and beyond. Please tell us about a time you engaged a group of people in an activity, workshop, or presentation. What did you do to make this an engaging and accessible experience for your audience? (300 words)

_Please tell us about a time when you delivered excellent customer service? (350 words)
Please don’t send in CVs or cover letters as we don’t review them. 

The interview process for this role will include a workshop style format, and a chance for you to present to the panel 1-1. We want this to be a relaxed process, and we want you to feel as welcome and comfortable as possible.

We appreciate interviews can be stressful, so if you are invited for interview, we’ll send you the structure of the workshop, the presentation brief, and the questions that you’ll be asked beforehand so that you have time to prepare. 

If you have any particular needs or requirements, please do let us know so that we can make the required adjustments. 

If you would like to talk about the role or the application process, please email people@wethecurious.org

Support during the process

We The Curious is a Disability Confident Employer and we welcome applications from candidates who self-assess themselves as having a disability. We will guarantee an interview to applicants who advise that they have a disability and who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy. To help you, under the Equality Act 2010 a person is defined as having a disability if a) they have a physical or mental impairment, and b) the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

Please note that there may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for the job. For example: where there are extremely high numbers of applications. In these circumstances we will select the disabled candidates who best meet the minimum criteria for the job rather than all of those that meet the minimum criteria.

We want to work with you to ensure the recruitment process is accessible for you.
If you are disabled, neurodivergent, or if you have a long-term health condition, we’ll be happy to make reasonable adjustments to our processes for you.

You’ll have the opportunity to let us know about any adjustments you may need throughout the application and selection process. We’ll continue this conversation if you join us as a staff member, and we’ll work with you to make sure you have the adjustments you need to succeed in your role.

Examples of adjustments could include:

_providing alternative formats at every stage
_options to apply 
_extra time for tasks
_providing some extra information about what to expect
_office orientation before an in-person interview.

Including everyone 

We value the positive impact greater representation will have on our organisation, programmes and culture. It’s our goal to become an inclusive place to work and for our teams to better reflect our city and the people who visit us. 

We welcome applications from people of all lived experiences and particularly those that are not well represented* in the science centre sector. 

*By not well represented we mean people with lived experience including but not limited to:

_African and African-Caribbean heritage
_South Asian and East Asian heritage 
_Global Majority 
_Disabled
_Neurodivergent 
_Visually Impaired 
_Deaf community
_LGBTQIA+ and/or non-binary   
_Working class background
_Didn’t go to university or first in your immediate family to attend University

Working with us

We value the people that work with us. Our staff have access to the following: 
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Wellbeing & support 
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_Flexible working (if suitable and stated for role)
_Hybrid working (if suitable and stated for role) 
_Cycle to work scheme 
_Free yearly flu jabs and eye tests 
_Paid sick leave for physical and mental health 
_Mental Health First Aiders 
_Confidential advice & counselling through the Employee Support Programme 
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Leave 
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_28 days in addition to/including bank holidays (all pro-rata).
_A day of extra holiday for every 5 years’ service  
_An amount of paid leave for emergency dependent care, domestic emergency leave and compassionate leave 
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New Parent Policy 

We are proud to be a family friendly organisation, which is why we work to develop our people practices in line with that value. We have recently introduced a non-gendered approach to Maternity and Paternity, re-branded as our “New Parent Policy”. There are eligibility criteria and terms and conditions, but the key take away is that anyone who is due to become a new parent, regardless of their gender, can take 1 year off work, and we’ll pay your full salary for the first five months.  
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Facilities & discounts 
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_Free tickets to the venue for you and up to four guests, plus 12 additional entry tickets per calendar year to give away. 
_15% off in the We The Curious café  
_20% off in our shop 
_Range of discounts with local businesses and free entry to other local attractions. 
_Social events 
_Secure cycle storage 
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Pension 
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_We offer a pension scheme with 5% company contributions. 
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Death in service benefit 
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_Four times your annual salary.