Operations Team Leader

Inntravel is a widely respected, leading provider of ‘at your own pace’ self-guided walking, cycling and other activity holidays across Europe. This is an exciting time to take on a role with us as we are benefiting from long-term investment to achieve ambitious growth targets, deliver digital transformation projects and retain our place as market leader in the self-guided walking holiday market. You will be part of our bright future, our mission envisions our holidays serving as catalysts for personal growth, environmental awareness, and fostering meaningful connections with both nature and people. Join us on our journey, creating extraordinary travel experiences for all.

We recognise and celebrate that every employee is an individual. Our commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace is reflected in the range of benefits we offer, with some of the key highlights being:

• Enjoy 50% discount off of Inntravel holidays and across our sister brands
• Additional annual leave when you choose to swap a plane for a train
• Career pathing and continuous development opportunities
• Opportunity to take a workation for up to 6 weeks per year and work from anywhere in the world
• 2 volunteer days each year to give back to what is important to you
• A well-being resource hub, online lunchtime yoga classes, annual Steps challenge, employee assistance programmes, cash back health and dental plan
• Enhanced family leave allowances

This is a hybrid role with a minimum of 2 days per week in our Whitwell-on-the-Hill office. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are mandatory office days. Due to the beautiful remote location, access to your own transport is essential. This is a full-time position, however work life balance is important to us and so we are open to discussion on flexible working patterns (minimum 4 days per week). Fixed term contract for 12 months. Working hours will be on a rota basis - Monday to Saturday.

The primary aim is to deliver the best possible service to our customers throughout their journey and this is the key driver for everyone at Inntravel. Our Operations team is the backbone of the customer journey, ensuring every holiday runs smoothly from confirmation through to return. The team coordinates directly with suppliers and customers, resolves issues, manages queries, and maintains the exceptional service standards Inntravel is known for.

Key responsibilities

• Manage the Operations team, who are responsible for all communications with customers and suppliers post-confirmation until they return from their holiday.
• Act as the primary point of escalation for customer complaints, ensuring issues are handled with empathy, professionalism and a clear focus on achieving the right outcome for the customer.
• Oversee the department workflow, to ensure a consistently high quality and efficient experiences to customers and suppliers.
• Provide coaching and regular 1-1's to team members, supporting their personal development.
• Encouraging the team embrace a culture of continual learning and personal responsibility.
• Support the senior members of the Operations team in leading the team and delivering on our long-term plan.
• Use sound judgement to manage difficult customer/supplier situations, respond promptly to the needs of the customer/supplier and solicit feedback to improve service and/or relationships.
• Support the Operations Manager with recruitment, on-boarding and training of new starters.
• Ensure the Operations Manager has sight of any issues within the team or with customers/suppliers that may have a wider impact.
• Participate in the Saturday and out of hours duty phone rota.

Am I the right person?

We are looking for your application to demonstrate:

• Experience in developing and leading teams, coaching to build competence and confidence for high performance.
• Ability to effectively plan, organise and manage own and direct reports workload.
• Communication skills: Highly confident, competent and articulate individual who can communicate professionally across all levels - both verbal and written communication.
• Listening skills: ability to listen carefully, explain with clarity, remain calm, flexible and decisive in difficult situations.
• Innovation and problem solving; proactively identify problems and suggest solutions that will solve them for the customer, team and business.
• Experience in travel is desirable.
• Strong interpersonal skills – communication and listening skills are key to this role.
• Able to work under pressure, motivated to achieve targets and demonstrate a positive attitude.
• Ability to remain calm and maintain a positive outlook when faced with customer issues or complaints.
• Strong commercial focus on initiatives which deliver commercial results.
• Learning orientated.
• Self-starter who will take the initiative.
• Friendly team player.
• Able to multitask, prioritise and establish deadlines to ensure objectives are met.
• Resilient and flexible.
• A hands-on individual who’s willing to go the extra mile.
• Empowered by nature and upholds our company values.

We aim to inspire individual discovery and our values will be close to your heart. Diversity is to be celebrated. Life would be dreary, and change would be slow, if we all thought the same way. We challenge our ideas, each other, and our business partners - always with respect and kindness.