Product Development Executive in London

Full-time - London, UK (open to Sydney, Australia) - 3+ days a week in the office (face to face), plus travel to destinations.

About Salt Escapes

Salt Escapes is a premium fitness retreat and adventure travel company. Since 2018 we've run group retreats in places like Zakynthos, Ibiza, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka and the Dolomites: guests train hard, eat well and explore somewhere extraordinary, and we organise all of it. 80% of guests arrive solo and 100% leave with a crew, and we have 430+ five-star reviews. We've roughly doubled the number of trips each year and are adding new destinations, formats and audiences. We're a small, senior, founder-led team where everyone has real ownership and you can see the impact of your work.

The Role

This role owns the full loop of product development, from the first idea to the guest feedback that shapes the next trip. You'll shape the idea, test whether it works operationally and financially, build it, make sure it runs to the standard we expect, and then find out whether guests got what they were promised. You'll report to our Head of Operations, and work side by side with the founders, who are still closely involved in product decisions and design. You'll sit between their ambition and the operations team who deliver it, and you'll be accountable for the product at every stage. A good chunk of the job happens in person: you'll travel to test activities, meet suppliers and build the relationships that make a trip work.

What You'll Own

• Idea to feasibility: Own idea generation and research - shortlisting destinations, venues and experiences that fit the brand and also sit within the Salt Escapes product ecosystem, and pulling ideas together into clear product concepts.
• Own feasibility on the operational side - can we deliver this well, with the right suppliers, logistics, team and guest experience, and what are the risks?
• Own feasibility on the financial side - costing, per-head assumptions, capacity and margin, so the founders can make a go or no-go decision with confidence.
• Own the partnership product pipeline - researching, pitching and building corporate retreats, brand collaborations and partnerships with gyms, studios and lifestyle brands.

Build and launch

• Own the itinerary and product build - the trip, the inclusions and the end-to-end guest journey, refined until it's right.
• Own supplier and partner relationships - sourcing, negotiating and building long-term relationships with villas, DMCs, transport and activity providers, mostly in person.
• Own the handover to Operations - a spec and handover pack with everything the team needs (suppliers, contacts, booking steps, run of show, risks), so nothing is left to chance.

Delivery and learning

• Own the standard on the ground - making sure each trip runs the way it was designed and meets the standard we expect, working closely with Operations and visiting trips in person.
• Own the feedback loop - collecting and analysing feedback from guests and the on-trip team, checking whether expectations were met, and turning what you learn into changes for the next trip.
• Support the founders and marketing team where it counts - launch planning, product copy and coordination.

What Success Looks Like

In this role, you're succeeding when:

• Ideas reach the founders as clear, costed concepts with operational and financial feasibility already worked through.
• Every new product reaches Operations fully specified and well ahead of launch.
• Costing is complete before pricing is signed off, and actual trip costs land close to what you modelled.
• Trips run to the standard we set, and the ops team rarely hits a problem that traces back to missing product information.
• Guest feedback is captured on every trip, and you can show how it changed the product.
• New destinations and partnership products keep moving from idea to launch, and show up in reviews and repeat bookings.

What You Bring

What matters most:

• Experience building travel, hospitality or experiential products, from first idea through to a launched, operating offer.
• Strong commercial instincts - you can build a cost model and know where margin is won or lost.
• A track record of sourcing and managing suppliers, and negotiating good terms with them.
• Willingness to travel - to test activities, meet suppliers in person and visit running trips.
• Clear, structured writing - specs, handover packs and feedback reports other people can run with.
• Real ownership - you can run several products at different stages at once and make calls without all the information.

Nice to have:

• Experience with corporate, group or partnership-led travel or events.
• Time spent in and passionate about fitness, wellness and adventure travel.
• AI tools as a regular part of how you work - they are for us too.

Compensation and Benefits

Competitive, based on experience - happy to discuss early.

• A place on a Salt Escapes retreat each year, so you experience the product you're building.
• Hybrid working: three plus days a week in the office with the team when you're not travelling.
• Travel to some of the best places in the world, with trip costs covered.
• Real ownership, and a seat alongside the founders on product decisions and design - nothing is filtered.
• A small, talented team that moves fast and cares about the work.