General Manager in Belfast

House of Padel is expanding into Belfast with a major new premium sports, fitness and wellness venue. The club will include:

• 6 indoor doubles padel courts
• 2 singles padel courts
• 3 pickleball courts
• Premium gym and fitness facilities
• Sauna and cold-plunge recovery facilities
• Café
• Reception and retail area
• Coaching, social events, leagues and tournaments
• Corporate events and private bookings

We are looking for an experienced, commercially minded General Manager to take full ownership of the day-to-day operation of the club and help establish House of Padel as one of Belfast's leading sports and wellness destinations.

The General Manager will be responsible for the overall performance of the venue, including operations, team management, customer experience, sales, memberships, events, facilities and financial performance. This is a hands-on leadership role. The successful candidate will need to be comfortable managing a busy venue, motivating staff, dealing with customers, driving revenue and ensuring consistently high standards across every area of the club.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day operation of the full club
• Manage reception, café, gym, recovery and court operations
• Recruit, train, schedule and manage the venue team
• Set and maintain excellent customer-service standards
• Oversee club opening and closing procedures
• Monitor court bookings, gym memberships and recovery usage
• Drive membership growth and customer retention
• Increase revenue across padel, pickleball, gym, recovery, café, coaching and events
• Work closely with coaches to develop lessons, courses, socials and leagues
• Plan and deliver tournaments, corporate events and community activities
• Build relationships with local businesses, sponsors and corporate clients
• Monitor weekly and monthly sales and operational KPIs
• Manage staff rotas, labour costs and payroll inputs
• Control stock, café purchasing, retail inventory and consumables
• Ensure the venue is clean, safe and presented to a premium standard at all times
• Coordinate maintenance and equipment servicing
• Ensure health and safety procedures are followed
• Oversee sauna, plunge and gym operating procedures
• Deal with customer complaints and resolve issues quickly and professionally
• Support marketing campaigns, promotions and local partnerships
• Provide regular performance updates to the directors
• Identify new opportunities to improve revenue, customer experience and efficiency

Commercial Responsibilities

The General Manager will be expected to take ownership of the commercial performance of the venue. This includes:

• Membership sales
• Court utilisation
• Coaching revenue
• Corporate bookings
• Events and tournaments
• Café and retail sales
• Gym and recovery memberships
• Sponsorship and local partnership opportunities
• Customer retention
• Staff productivity
• Cost control

The successful candidate should be comfortable working with targets and using data to make operational decisions.

What We're Looking For

Ideally, you will have experience in one or more of the following:

• General management
• Health and fitness
• Sports clubs
• Leisure centres
• Hospitality
• Premium gyms
• Padel or racket sports
• Hotels
• Events or entertainment venues

You should have:

• Strong leadership and people-management skills
• Excellent customer-service standards
• Commercial awareness
• Experience managing budgets and targets
• Strong organisational skills
• Confidence managing a large team
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment
• Strong communication skills
• A hands-on attitude
• High attention to detail
• Ability to solve problems quickly
• Flexibility to work evenings and weekends when required

Experience in padel is beneficial but not essential. We are more interested in finding an excellent operator and leader who can learn the sport and understand the House of Padel culture.

What Success Looks Like

The General Manager will be expected to:

• Build a strong and motivated team
• Deliver an excellent member and customer experience
• Grow membership consistently
• Maintain strong court occupancy
• Develop a thriving events and social calendar
• Build local corporate relationships
• Maintain high gym, recovery and café standards
• Meet revenue and profitability targets
• Ensure House of Padel Belfast becomes a leading destination for padel, fitness and social sport in Northern Ireland

Why Join House of Padel?

This is an opportunity to lead a major new sports and wellness venue from launch. You will have the chance to shape:

• The club culture
• The team
• Membership growth
• Events and leagues
• Corporate partnerships
• The customer experience
• The long-term success of the Belfast venue

This is not simply a duty-manager position. We are looking for someone who wants to run the club as if it were their own business. If you are commercially driven, passionate about hospitality and sport, and enjoy building teams and communities, we would like to hear from you.