Retreat Team Manager

RETREAT TEAM MANAGER

Full-Time · Hybrid + on-trip · UK-Based

WHO WE ARE

Salt Escapes is a premium fitness retreat and adventure travel company operating globally - from Ibiza, Zakynthos, and the Dolomites to Costa Rica, the Caribbean, Austria, and Africa. Founded in 2018, we bring together coaches, chefs, hosts, and movement specialists to deliver retreats built around three pillars: Sweat, Explore and Relax. Nearly a decade in, we are now building the infrastructure to match our ambition.

We are a small, founder-led team with very high standards. We move quickly, we care deeply about the people on our retreats - and just as deeply about the people who run them. If you have built teams before, know what it takes to hold a culture together under pressure, and want to do the best work of your career in one of the most exciting corners of the travel industry, read on.

THE ROLE

The Retreat Team Manager owns the people who make a Salt Escapes retreat work. You find them, train them, manage them, and develop them - and you make sure that week after week, across multiple destinations and programmes, the team on the ground delivers something exceptional for our guests.

You will be in the room during the Salt Academy. You will be on the ground when it matters. And you will be building the systems and culture that let us scale without losing what makes us special.

• Reports to: Head of Operations
• Manages: All on-trip team leads and retreat staff
• Based: UK - hybrid with on-trip travel required
• Start: As soon as possible

SALT ACADEMY

One of your first and most important responsibilities will be building and running the Salt Academy - our induction and training programme for every new retreat team member.

WHAT THE ACADEMY COVERS

• Craft training - coaches learn to deliver our sessions, chefs learn how we plate up and write menus, hosts learn the Salt Escapes guest journey and how to ensure a world class experience for them - every time, on every trip. Every role trained to the standard the product and the founders demand.
• Team cohesion - how we work together, support each other, and hold a high bar as a unit across a full retreat week.
• Guest management - the Salt Escapes Way. Our approach to delivering a genuinely world-class guest experience from arrival to departure.

You will design and own this programme. You will facilitate it, iterate on it, and eventually build the systems that let it run consistently at scale. This is the foundation of everything else.

WHAT YOU'LL OWN

BUILDING AND MANAGING THE TEAM

• End-to-end recruitment - application management, screening, interviews, selection, and the full candidate journey for all on-trip roles
• Contracting and onboarding of all retreat staff - every team member contracted, compliant, and ready before day one
• The staff portal - all documents, certifications, accreditations, and compliance records current and complete for every person on every retreat
• A team hierarchy and leadership structure that drives the right culture across all retreat programmes
• Performance management - reviews, accountability conversations, and disciplinary processes where needed

THE HEADS OF / LEAD ROLES

You will directly implement a leadership structure across each of the disciplines within the Salt Escapes retreat experience: Head of Fitness, Head Yogi, Head Chef, Head Host.

RETREAT OPERATIONS

• Rostering for all retreats across the full annual calendar
• Team profiles aligned to retreat type - Sweat, Explore, Relax - matching the right people to the right week
• On-the-ground oversight during retreats, supporting team leads and making sure the product is delivered to the Salt Escapes standard

SALT ACADEMY

• Design, build, and run the week-long Salt Academy for all new retreat team members
• Facilitate ongoing training days and weekly team sessions throughout the year
• Develop and own the Salt Escapes accreditation programme - the qualification framework for all retreat roles

CULTURE AND COMMUNITY

• The retreat team community - the culture, the energy, the belonging that makes Salt Escapes a place people want to be part of
• Community events for retreat team members - regular, meaningful, never an afterthought
• A team awards scheme - recognising and celebrating excellence across the retreat team
• A referral programme - building a culture where great people bring great people

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

YOU NEED TO HAVE

• 5+ years managing teams - in person, remotely, and across geographies
• Serious recruitment and training experience - you have built hiring processes and training programmes
• A track record of building high-performing teams where the bar is high and the pace is fast
• Comfort with data - you use it to make decisions, not to fill slides
• Experience managing external suppliers and agencies
• Communication that moves people - you are the kind of person a room listens to
• Experience in a founder-led business - you understand what high expectations look like when they come from the top
• A background in premium travel, wellness, hospitality, or a related sector
• High personal organisation - you run multiple workstreams without dropping anything
• Fluency with AI and technology tools - we use them across the business and we expect you to as well

YOU CARE ABOUT THE RIGHT THINGS

• You believe great brands make people feel they belong - not just that they've bought something
• You take culture seriously because you know it's the thing that actually holds a team together under pressure
• You have the humility to listen and the confidence to lead

NICE TO HAVE

• CIPD qualification or equivalent HR / people management accreditation
• You have built a community programme before - not just organised events, but genuinely built something people feel part of
• You have done a fitness retreat or endurance event - you understand from the inside what draws people to this world
• You use AI tools as a standard part of your workflow, not as an experiment

WHAT YOU GET

A role that matters at a company that is genuinely building something. You will have real ownership, real autonomy, and the chance to put your fingerprints on a people operation that will define what Salt Escapes is capable of.

• Competitive salary, commensurate with experience
• Access to Salt Escapes retreats - experience the product you are building the team for
• Flexible working - hybrid remote base with meaningful on-trip time built into the role
• A small, talented, ambitious team that cares about what they are building
• The room to build - if you see a better way, we want to hear it

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