General Manager

Leisure People Recruitment; Godalming; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 50,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

7% employer pension contribution

5 weeks’ holiday plus bank holidays

private accident insurance

free lunches and parking

Job summary

Charterhouse Club in Godalming is seeking an experienced General Manager to lead its extensive leisure and sporting facilities within Charterhouse's historic environment. You will oversee a wide range of activities from gym and pool to golf, tennis and running camps, guiding a diverse community of pupils, staff and external partners.

The role combines operational excellence, commercial performance and team leadership, with a focus on delivering an outstanding member and pupil experience while

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, support and develop heads of department and frontline teams to deliver consistently excellent service.
• Ensure effective programming across all facilities, with staffing structures and rotas aligned to operational requirements.
• Drive multiple revenue streams, including memberships, learn-to-swim, personal training, private hire and retail.
• Deliver membership sales targets, working closely with the school’s commercial team.
• Work closely with the Directors of Sport across the sporting curriculum, fixtures, matches and competitions.
• Manage key partnerships and SLAs with professional and sporting/swimming clubs and summer camp providers.
• Support and promote sporting events within the Club and the local community.
• Optimise occupancy and yield from external sports bookings and facility hire.
• Responsibility for health and safety and safeguarding policies and procedures.
• Accountable for budgets and financial performance, including the preparation of CAPEX and investment proposals.
• Provide support and guidance across the leisure facilities at Charterhouse’s three preparatory schools.

Job description

An exciting opportunity for an experienced General Manager to lead the extensive leisure and sporting facilities at the Charterhouse Club in Godalming which operates within the unique environment of one of the UK’s most historic independent schools. The facilities include a well-equipped gym, 25m swimming pool, fitness studios, climbing wall, 9-hole golf course, 8-court sports hall, café, outdoor sports pitches and tennis courts.

Charterhouse Club is a busy dual-use facility serving a diverse community of pupils, staff, local residents and external sporting partners. The Club welcomes 1100 leisure and golf members, 1000 pupils and 350 members of staff alongside numerous professional sports clubs, swimming clubs and summer camp providers.

This is a broad and varied leadership role, combining operational excellence, commercial performance, team leadership and stakeholder management. The successful candidate will take overall responsibility for the day-to-day performance of the Club, while working closely with senior leaders across Charterhouse to maximise the facilities and deliver an outstanding experience for members, pupils, staff and external partners.

Key responsibilities

• Lead, coach, support and develop heads of department and frontline teams to deliver consistently excellent service.
• Ensure effective programming across all facilities, with staffing structures and rotas aligned to operational requirements.
• Drive multiple revenue streams, including memberships, learn-to-swim, personal training, private hire and retail.
• Deliver membership sales targets, working closely with the school’s commercial team.
• Work closely with the Directors of Sport across the sporting curriculum, fixtures, matches and competitions.
• Manage key partnerships and SLA’s with professional and sporting/swimming clubs and summer camp providers.
• Support and promote sporting events within the Club and the local community.
• Optimise occupancy and yield from external sports bookings and facility hire.
• Responsibility for health and safety and safeguarding policies and procedures.
• Accountable for budgets and financial performance, including the preparation of CAPEX and investment proposals.
• Provide support and guidance across the leisure facilities at Charterhouse’s three preparatory schools.

We are looking to hear from experienced General Managers who have a proven track record of leading a premium fitness, leisure or sporting operation, or a comparable higher education leisure facility.

You will ideally

• Have experience leading a complex, multi-facility leisure or sporting operation with multiple stakeholders.
• Possess first-class communication and influencing skills, with the confidence to operate at Executive level.
• Be an engaging and inspirational leader with a genuine passion for coaching and developing teams.
• Have strong commercial and analytical skills, with experience managing budgets, revenue streams, and performance targets.
• Be confident balancing the needs of members, pupils, staff, sporting partners and other external stakeholders.
• Have a strong understanding of safeguarding, service delivery, operational standards and customer experience.
• Be Pool Plant qualified although this is beneficial rather than essential as training can be provided.

In addition to a competitive basic salary of £45,000–£50,000, dependent on experience, benefits include

• 7% employer pension contribution
• 5 weeks’ holiday plus bank holidays
• private accident insurance
• free lunches and parking

The position is offered on a 37.5hour contract, we would expect the working hours to be between 8.30 and 5.30 Monday to Friday with an expectation to work 2 weekend days per month.

Interviews are scheduled for w/c 28 September 2026.