Overview
- Freelance contract: 20 – 30 hours per week
- Location: Anywhere (Remote)
- Language: English; knowledge of Greek, Spanish, Portuguese or French is a plus
- Salary: £35 per hour
- Applications closing: 12th October
Job Description
The Retreat Planner is at the operational heart of MLA. You own the logistics and partnerships that make our retreats world-class. From pre-retreat planning to delivery and post-event learnings, the Retreat Planner ensures our itineraries are scalable and executed as planned: everything runs on time, on budget, and at a gold-standard level. You make complex execution look effortless and create the conditions for transformative guest experiences.
Responsibilities
- Own retreat itineraries and operations to deliver world-class retreats
- Own the logistics for multiple retreats per year and ensure the successful scaling of our operations.
- Ensure 100% of retreat logistics are finalised in time for marketing and sales calendars.
- Communicate dependencies to the CEO and the rest of the team.
- Supplier and partner management: build long-term relationships with venues, caterers, transport, and activity leaders. Negotiate for value, reliability, and service guarantees.
- Coach and host liaison: Work with the team to ensure every coach and host is fully briefed, supported, and aligned with MLA’s ethos.
- Itinerary and logistics management: prepare detailed, repeatable itineraries with room for local adjustments.
- On-the-ground recce: travel to retreats as needed to scout, negotiate, and secure local partnerships.
- Ensure all events meet our B Corp commitments. Training will be provided for this part of the role in Q1 2026.
- Suggest processes to improve event and community management.
- Create post-retreat reports within 7 days for 100% of events to identify and document key learnings from each event to improve future execution.
- Work with the MLA team to increase repeat bookings by 20% year-over-year.
Process and systems
- Build scalable workflows, templates, and checklists that reduce cycle time and error rate.
- Deliver post-event reports within 7 days of every retreat, turning insights into future improvements.
- Drive cost efficiency while safeguarding quality and guest experience.
- Maintain risk registers and contingency plans for weather, transport, health and safety, and supplier failure.
Optimise retreat profitability
- Update and manage retreat budgets weekly.
- Keep retreat budgets within 5% variance of planned costs.
- Strive to achieve 10-15% cost savings through supplier negotiation and partnerships.
Build local partnerships
- Research and help secure 3-5 local partnerships in each location that align with B Corp values and contribute to event programming. Assistance will be provided with this.
- Help MLA generate 20% of event revenue through partnerships.
Role Requirements
Essential Skills and Experience
- Fluent negotiator with a record of securing cost improvements, value adds, and service-level guarantees.
- Proven delivery of events or retreats across multiple locations, or equivalent field operations.
- Financial acumen including building budgets, forecasting, tracking actuals, and variance analysis at the event or retreat level.
- High agency and ownership with strong judgment and bias to action.
- Highly personable relationship builder who earns trust with suppliers, venues, coaches, and guests.
- Problem-solving under pressure with robust contingency planning and calm decision making.
- Project management mastery including critical path planning, dependency management, and deadline discipline.
- Outstanding communication in writing and in person, with clear guest comms and coach briefings.
- Fluency in project tools such as Monday, Asana, or similar, and basic CRM.
- Travel readiness with the ability to travel in Europe for recces and retreat delivery. Valid passport required.
Great if you also have
- Experience in wellness, adventure travel, or high-end hospitality.
- Working knowledge of B Corp principles and sustainable procurement.
- Health and safety risk assessment experience.
- Languages such as Greek, Portuguese, French, or Spanish.
- Familiarity with budget tools.
- Clean driving licence.
How to apply?
To apply for this position, please fill in the application form.