Our teams
It take a lot of brilliant, talented people to run a national conservation charity zoo. Discover more about the different teams and what it's like working at the UK's best zoo.
Developing and delivering education programmes in the zoo, the local community, online and with partners locally, nationally & globally.
They expertly look after the 525 animal species and over 1,000 threatened plants we have here at the zoo.
We have a team of dedicated conservation and social scientists working in our labs, across the zoo with our animals and plants.
Responsible for letting the world know about who we are & what we do, they're building our conservation brand and bring audiences closer.
Made up of Accounts, Payroll & Cash Office and we look after all the Finances here at the zoo.
Supporting all aspects of employment whether it's pay, benefits, personal development, wellbeing or other people related matters.
A dynamic team, dedicated to ensuring the seamless integration and functioning of IT technologies within the zoo's vibrant ecosystem.
Responsible for the delivery of the Strategic Development Plan for the zoo, which includes all physical development across site.
They look after our restaurants, cafés & kiosks for our hungry visitors, and the Venue Sales team work to create magical occasions!
These small but mighty teams manage our gift shops and look after every one of our 150,000 members!
Harnessing all the incredible work we do to increase our profile among political stakeholders, and shape policies so that wildlife benefits.
They make sure we have a proactive & effective Security provision, whilst ensuring a great visitor experience in a secure environment.
Our values
Our values underpin the culture of our organisation - they describe what is important to us, how we behave and how we work together.
At Chester Zoo, we don't wait to be asked.
Each of us takes ownership of our work, our growth, and the difference we make.
We step into challenge, stay level-headed when the pressure's on, and we respond rather than react.
We stay curious, listen well, and back ourselves and others.
Here, leadership isn't a job title, it's a mindset.
We care deeply about the impact we have on the world around us and our compassion extends far beyond our care for nature.
Here, we show up for each other. We support one another to thrive and actively share our knowledge and experience.
At Chester Zoo, everyone is welcome.
We warmly invite different perspectives and create an environment where all of our people feel included, valued and able to contribute with confidence.
We're a team that gets things done.
We lean towards action, stay solution-focused, and keep moving even when things get hard.
We don't let the fear of failure stop us from trying, and when something doesn't go to plan, we learn from it and we go again.
We approach everything with an energy, positivity and drive to follow through - delivering results time and time again.
We're passionate about doing things well.
We hold ourselves to a high bar and always aim for the excellent quality that our outstanding reputation is built on.
We make considered decisions with the most effective outputs in mind.
We love to excel and push ourselves to continuously improve how we do things - producing the incredible outcomes we're proud to shout about.
We're stronger as one and work best when we work together.
We communicate openly, collaborate across teams and build strong relationships based on trust, respect and shared goals.
Egos are not welcome - we win as one. All of the individuals that make up who we are are equally important and we rely on every team doing their bit to succeed.
Together, we're one Chester Zoo team that's building something much bigger - we're changing the future of our natural world.
Perks and benefits
Our colleagues don’t just feel proud to work for UK’s most loved charity conservation zoo, there are a whole host of other benefits to working here too, such as:
- Free zoo membership for yourself plus one other (& dependents if applicable)
- 20 free tickets a year to pass on to family and friends
- The option to utilise our holiday buy sell scheme
- Access to an Employee Assistance Programme including counselling and legal advice
- Enrolment in our health cash plan, for money back on dental, optical and physio, plus more
- Enjoy our subsidised colleague canteen, and free travel on the X1 bus service
- Plus much more!
