If your idea of a good working day involves animals, muddy boots, enthusiastic children, plenty of questions and absolutely no chance of getting bored, this could be for you.
We’re looking for a brilliant Zoo Team Member to join the animal team at Hobbledown Epsom.
This is a hands-on role in every sense.
You’ll be feeding, cleaning, preparing diets, creating enrichment, monitoring behaviour, supporting training and making sure our animals receive excellent care every single day.
But there’s another important part of the job too.
Our zoo isn’t tucked away behind the scenes. It’s right at the heart of the Hobbledown experience, which means you’ll also spend plenty of time talking to families, delivering animal experiences and helping guests learn something new.
So if you love animals but would rather hide whenever somebody asks you a question, this probably isn’t the role for you.
First things first: animal welfare comes first
We love creating memorable experiences for our guests, but the wellbeing of our animals will always be the priority.
You’ll work closely with the wider zoo team to maintain excellent standards of husbandry, welfare, enrichment and safety across a wide variety of species.
You’ll need to notice the little things.
Has an animal behaved differently today? Has somebody eaten less than usual? Does an enclosure need attention? Is there something we could change to improve enrichment?
Good animal care is about consistency, observation and knowing when something just isn’t quite right.
What does a normal day look like?
There probably isn’t one.
You might start the morning preparing diets and carrying out enclosure checks before moving onto cleaning, enrichment and animal training.
Later you could be delivering an animal talk to a group of excited children, answering approximately 47 questions about what animals eat and supporting one of our hands-on experiences.
Then it’s back to welfare checks, records, cleaning and making sure everything is ready for the following day.
You’ll be getting stuck into things like:
- Daily feeding, cleaning and care of animals and enclosures
- Preparing diets accurately in line with agreed diet sheets
- Creating and delivering enrichment
- Supporting positive animal training programmes
- Monitoring animal behaviour, health and welfare
- Reporting any concerns quickly and clearly
- Assisting with animal handling and movement when required
- Maintaining accurate animal records
- Completing checks in line with Zoo Licensing requirements
- Keeping enclosures safe, clean and well presented
In other words, there will be plenty of glamorous jobs.
And plenty that really, really aren’t.
You’ll also be part zookeeper, part storyteller
For many of our visitors, meeting an animal at Hobbledown might be the first time they’ve ever seen one up close.
That makes our animal team a huge part of the day out.
You’ll help bring our animals and their stories to life through:
- Animal talks and demonstrations
- Educational sessions and workshops
- Junior Zookeeper for a Day experiences
- Meet-and-greets
- Supervised animal walkthroughs
- Informal chats with curious guests throughout the day
- You don’t need to be a professional presenter.
But you do need to be friendly, enthusiastic and comfortable talking to families, children and groups.
If you can explain something fascinating about an animal while simultaneously fielding “does it bite?” and “what does it eat?” from five different directions, even better.
About you
You’re practical, reliable and genuinely passionate about animal welfare.
You understand that working with animals isn’t just cuddles and Instagram moments. It’s early starts, cleaning, record keeping, attention to detail and doing the same important jobs properly every single day.
You’ll need:
- A Level 3 Diploma in Animal Care, or an equivalent qualification
- At least one year of relevant animal care experience, either paid or voluntary
- Experience within a zoo, farm park, animal collection or similar environment
- A strong understanding of animal welfare and husbandry
- Confidence around members of the public
- Good communication skills
- A practical, hands-on approach
- The ability to work well as part of a busy team
- A willingness to keep learning and developing
- A good understanding of the importance of procedures around welfare, hygiene and health & safety
You’ll also need to be comfortable working outdoors.
Which means sunshine, rain, cold mornings, muddy boots and the occasional day when the British weather appears to be personally offended by you.
Weekends, school holidays and bank holidays are some of our busiest times, so these will naturally form part of the working pattern.
The less glamorous but very important bits
Alongside animal care and guest experiences, you’ll also help keep the whole operation running safely and smoothly.
That includes:
- Completing opening and closing checks
- Keeping animal and public areas clean and presentable
- Safely disposing of animal waste
- Using cleaning products correctly in line with COSHH requirements
- Following agreed operating procedures
- Reporting hazards, accidents and near misses
- Raising animal welfare concerns immediately
- Supporting the Assistant Zoo Manager and Group Zoo Operations Manager with the day-to-day running of the department
Good zoos run on great animal care, great teamwork and lots of jobs being done properly when nobody is watching.
What does good look like?
Simple.
Healthy, well-cared-for animals. A safe, well-run zoo. And guests who leave knowing a little more than when they arrived.
We keep a close eye on:
- Animal welfare standards
- Zoo inspection outcomes
- Completion of daily checks
- Guest feedback and reviews
- Compliance with animal care, safety and operating procedures
But behind all of those measures is the same thing: a team that cares about doing the job properly.
About Hobbledown & The Escapade Group
Hobbledown Epsom is part of The Escapade Group, a growing family of visitor attractions built around play, adventure, imagination and brilliant family days out.
Our attractions include Hobbledown Epsom, Hobbledown Heath, Gripped London, Kidspace Croydon, Kidspace Romford, Watermouth Castle and Farmer Ted’s Adventure Farm.
Across the group you’ll find everything from animal encounters and adventure play to high ropes, indoor play, seasonal events and family attractions.
Different attractions. Different experiences. Plenty of organised chaos.
What connects them all is a team of people who love creating memorable experiences for families — and at Hobbledown Epsom, our animals are a very important part of that.
Screening Questions
- Do you have experience in a similar role?
- Can you work weekends?
- Are you aged 18 or over and eligible to work in the UK
- Describe your previous relevant experience
Please mention Jobs With Animals when applying for this role.