Guest Experience Manager

Great guest experiences start with strong leadership.

You can tell when a venue is well managed. The team knows what’s expected, departments work together and guests feel looked after. Behind that is someone who sets clear standards, develops their people and follows through.

We’re looking for that person to join Clip ’n Climb Crawley as our Guest Experience Manager.

Bringing together climbing, soft play, laser tag, birthday parties and our café, you’ll lead a varied operation where the way we welcome, support and engage with guests matters just as much as the activities themselves.

You’ll have real responsibility for the daily running of the centre, with the support of our Operations Director and an existing team of Shift Leaders. We want someone who takes pride in building a capable team and delivering an experience that makes families want to return.

The role

Reporting to the Operations Director, you’ll directly manage our Shift Leaders and a wider team of 40+, helping them deliver a safe, welcoming and well-organised operation.

This is a hands-on management position, with time allocated for planning and administration. You’ll be visible throughout the centre, build relationships with your team and take ownership of improvements from identifying an issue through to getting it resolved.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Leading the guest experience. Oversee the journey from arrival to departure, ensuring a warm welcome, clear communication and attentive service.
• Developing the team. Set expectations, coach colleagues, recognise good work and address performance concerns fairly and promptly.
• Managing rotas and staffing. Prepare rotas around bookings, availability, skills and agreed labour budgets, ensuring appropriate coverage and timely publication.
• Supporting your leaders. Help Shift Leaders make confident decisions and take responsibility for their areas.
• Delivering great parties. Ensure hosts are prepared, timings are coordinated and families feel well looked after.
• Handling customer concerns. Listen, exercise sound judgement and resolve complaints professionally, using feedback to improve.
• Coordinating the operation. Keep reception, activities, parties and café service working together during both quieter sessions and peak periods.
• Maintaining safety and standards. Ensure checks, procedures and training requirements are followed, with concerns acted on promptly.
• Supporting new starters. Coordinate onboarding and training so colleagues feel welcome, prepared and clear about their responsibilities.
• Improving performance. Identify practical ways to strengthen service, encourage repeat visits and use staffing and resources effectively.

Who we’re looking for

You might already be a duty manager, assistant manager or department manager. You could also be an experienced team leader ready to take on broader responsibility.

Your background could be in leisure, visitor attractions, hospitality, retail or another busy customer-facing environment. Previous climbing experience isn’t essential. The ability to lead people and deliver consistently good service is.

You’ll bring:

• Experience leading a team through busy shifts and changing priorities.
• The ability to develop a predominantly young workforce, building confidence while maintaining clear standards.
• Confidence giving constructive feedback and having difficult conversations when needed.
• Experience organising staffing, rotas or shift cover, with an awareness of labour costs.
• Good judgement when handling customer concerns and operational problems.
• Strong organisation and follow-through, including the less visible administration that keeps a venue running properly.
• Confidence using digital booking, rota and administration systems.
• A willingness to work alongside the team and complete the training needed to support different areas of the centre.

You’ll need to be available for weekends and school holidays, when many of our guests visit.

What you can expect from us

• A salary starting at £30,000 per year, depending on experience.
• A 40-hour working week.
• Free climbing for you and a plus one.
• A generous team discount in our café.
• Access to a 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme for you and your immediate family.
• Access to our exclusive employee discount portal, with savings at high street retailers and on holidays with brands including TUI and Jet2holidays.
• Direct support from the Operations Director, with clear responsibilities and agreed authority to make day-to-day decisions.
• An existing team of Shift Leaders to work with and develop.
• Training in our activities, systems and operating procedures.
• A real say in how the centre runs, with opportunities to put your ideas into practice.

Your focus will be leading the team, managing daily operations and delivering a consistently strong guest experience.

Pay: From £30,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Company pension
• Employee discount
• Free fitness classes
• Free parking
• Health & wellbeing programme

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Crawley RH11: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

Application question(s):

• Tell us about a time you improved service or standards in a team you led. What did you change, and what difference did it make?
• Describe how you helped a team member improve their performance. How did you approach it, and what was the outcome?

Experience:

• Leadership: 1 year (required)

Work authorisation:

• United Kingdom (required)

Work Location: In person