CEO - Sports & Wellness Concept (Greenfield Project, Abu Dhabi)

Michael Page International (UAE); Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 60,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading recruitment agency is looking for a visionary leader to create and manage a new sports and wellness destination in Abu Dhabi. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in high-performance sports management, with a strong commercial mindset and proven ability to develop greenfield projects. This role offers a competitive package with benefits.

Benefits

Competitive package

Benefits

Qualifications

• 10-15 years of senior leadership experience in high-performance sports management, luxury fitness, or hospitality-driven wellness.
• Experience in creating and scaling premium sports and wellness destinations.
• Track record in developing greenfield projects, overseeing design, construction, and commercial ramp-up.

Responsibilities

• Lead creation of a sports and wellness destination from concept to launch.
• Oversee design, development, and operations across multiple facilities.
• Drive brand positioning, customer experience, and commercial performance.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Commercial strategy development

Project management

Job description

• Build a sports and wellness destination in Abu Dhabi backed by a family office.
• Scale a global concept combining padel, wellness & lifestyle from the ground up.

About Our Client

A well capitalised family office developing a new sports and wellness destination designed to redefine how people connect through fitness, competition and lifestyle. Backed by visionary investors with a long-term commitment to building a global concept starting from Abu Dhabi.

Job Description

• Lead the end to end creation of a sports and wellness destination in Abu Dhabi from concept to launch.
• Oversee design, development and operations across padel, fitness, recovery and F&B facilities.
• Build and lead a multi-disciplinary team, manage large-scale budgets and vendor partnerships.
• Drive brand positioning, customer experience and commercial performance.
• Develop long-term growth plans to scale the concept regionally and globally.
• Build sponsorship and franchise opportunities in the medium to long term.

The Successful Applicant

• The successful candidate will be a visionary and hands on leader with a proven ability to create and scale premium sports, wellness or lifestyle destinations from the ground up. They will bring at least 10-15 years of senior leadership experience within high-performance sports management, luxury fitness, or hospitality-driven wellness concepts, ideally with exposure to multi-site or large-format venues.
• They must demonstrate a track record in developing greenfield projects; overseeing design, construction, brand positioning, team recruitment and commercial ramp-up. Experience in integrating sports, fitness, recovery, and F&B elements into a cohesive destination offering will be key.
• A strong commercial mindset, experience managing full P&L and capex programs and the ability to build sponsorship and franchise growth strategies are essential. The ideal leader will possess a global outlook, deep stakeholder management skills and the agility to balance strategic vision with day-to-day execution in a fast-evolving, entrepreneurial environment.

What's on Offer

Competitive package with benefits.