Career Opportunity - General Manager - Lee Valley White Water Centre
Salary between £50,099 - £53,019 per annum
Permanent 40 hours per week
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We are seeking applications from existing General Managers who are ready to progress to their next exciting challenge, at what is generally considered to be the World's leading White Water venue and which is one of the leading visitor destinations in Hertfordshire.
Lee Valley White Water Centre (LVWWC) opened in 2011 and was the only new 2012 venue to open pre-games. Since opening, the venue has welcomed over 3.2 million visits and offers a variety of community and corporate moving and flat water activities, experiences and courses and continues to host major National and Internal Events alongside hosting Paddle UK athletes.
Post London 2012 the venue has firmly established itself as a world-class visitor attraction for white water based activities, attracting both international and domestic visitors as a result of seamlessly blending adrenalin fuelled leisure white water rafting with competitive and grassroots Canoeing and Kayaking as well as becoming a destination for the local community as a café and entertainment venue.
Facilities on site include the Olympic and Legacy White Water Courses offering grade 5 and grade 3 white water respectively alongside the flat water lake, café, meeting room and terraced area overlooking the start pool and Paddle UK offices, gym and meeting rooms under direct lease to Paddle UK.
The lake is a closed system with all water treated via the filtration and plant, which then provides the water for the courses when in use.
We are looking for an ambitious General Manager, with commercial acumen, strong operational leadership and demonstrable stakeholder management skills looking for their next challenge.
Leading a team of 30 employees the successful applicant will be responsible for:
- Commercial success: Driving high value experience income alongside community participation
- Community Activation / Programming: Increasing participation in target populations
- Delivering high quality visitor experiences: Building on customer experience ratings 5-star Trip Advisor and 4.6 Google Review ratings, 91% customer satisfaction and 87% Net Promotor Score
- Event Delivery:(including national sporting and corporate events) birthday parties etc
- Maintain iconic venue and grounds to high standards
- Continue to ensure Health and Safety of staff and customers are maintained to the highest standards in an adventurous activities setting
- Stake holder management: Build on already positive client and NGB relationships and develop strong relationship with partners, tenants and sub-contractors hosted on-site
- Licensing and quality accreditation: Maintain QUEST Outstanding accreditation, achieve Elite Training Centre Accredited status and maintain AALA licence
What you’ll need:
- The proven ability to effectively manage a staff team
- The ability to analyse business issues and prepare business and local marketing plans
- The ability to research, prepare, justify and present project reports
- The ability to persuade and influence staff at all levels
- The ability to produce results to demanding deadlines and work on a number of key issues simultaneously prioritising effectively
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills. IT literate
- The capability to contribute to the wider strategic development of the organisation
- Thorough knowledge of leisure centre operations, programming and financial management
- Knowledge of key performance indicators and their application and how they can be used to effect improvement
- Up to date knowledge of developments in leisure, fitness and lifestyle environment
- Thorough understanding of the characteristics and qualities that customers want from our facilities
- A proven track record of managing in busy wet and dry leisure centres
- Delivery of a track record of significant achievements in the areas of business and commercial objectives, product growth, development, and excellent customer service
- Evidence of achieving results and making change happen through leadership and influence of a team
As a charitable social enterprise owned by its staff GLL has a great range of benefits for its employees:
A Real Living Wage salary or above
A Values driven organisation
Learning & development to support career development
Good Pension schemes
Discounted gym membership for you and your partner.
Job security GLL have been operating over 30 years and is the largest leisure provider in the UK
Industry leading rates of pay
opportunity to join the GLL Society and have a say in how we are run plus associated social events
Exclusive discounts on our villas in Portugal
Exclusive discounts on our Ski chalets in Bulgaria
Health assurance
Career pathways, professional development are just the start. To ensure you stay at the top of your game, we provide training with practical and theory elements too.
Discounts across thousands of retailers (GLL Extras)
25% off Red Letter Days
25% off Buy A Gift
20% off GLL spa experience treatments and associated products.
Ride to work scheme
Free eye tests and discounted glasses
About GLL:
As the UK’s largest leisure operator and charitable social enterprise, we offer a range of careers for everyone in our local communities. We manage over 400 facilities across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, including public sport and leisure centres, elite sporting venues, libraries, and children’s centres.
Our people are from the communities we serve and help us make real changes in their local area.
One of our core values is ‘More than a Job’, because working with us opens a wide range of possibilities and opportunities for you, starting with how you work with us. To make sure we are having a positive impact on our people, we also offer some flexible and part-time working options so you can make sure your new job works for you. Subject to vacancies, whether you are after a contractual commitment and a regular work schedule or the freedom of flexible hours, you may be able to choose an arrangement that works best for you and play your part in improving the health and wellbeing of your community.
We offer two different types of work arrangements:
A permanent employment contract - part time and full time
A flexible worker engagement by joining our flexible worker pool
If you are looking for a regular number of hours that you can work and are flexible to meet the needs of a 7 day a week service, then a full-time or part-time permanent contract might be the right choice for you.
So whether your ambitions lie in sport and leisure, events & catering, health & beauty, corporate support or working with children, you’ll be able to find your ideal new job at GLL.
Passionate about seeing our communities thrive, we invest back into our facilities, projects and people and are Investors in People Gold Award employer.
However you choose to work with us, you can be sure that you will be a valued member of our team, working with great colleagues, and making a real difference to people’s lives.
We are an inclusive employer. We seek and welcome diversity in our teams.
All pay rates are subject to skills, experience, qualifications and location.
To be shortlisted for the role, internal applicants will need to demonstrate their commitment to GLL by becoming a Society member where eligible.
If you would like an informal chat about the role, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Bill.Moran@gll.org.
Closing date Friday 10th January 2025