Manager Athlete Services, South Africa

The IRONMAN Group; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

The IRONMAN Group in Cape Town seeks a driven Manager Athlete Services to lead the athlete experience across registrations, onsite support, and post-event activities. You will coordinate with Operations, Marketing, and Timing to ensure a seamless, high-quality journey for participants.

Ideal candidates have 3–4 years in sport events or customer service, strong leadership and MS Office skills, and a passion for sport. Expect weekend event work and travel across EMEA as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master degree or vocational school ideally in administration, customer service, sport, or endurance/event business.
• Experience in sport events or customer service is required.
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills are essential.
• Excellent administrative skills with attention to detail and desk-bound planning.
• Enjoy working in a fast-paced, athletic environment with travel on weekends.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing Athlete Services team.
• Coordinate with Operations, Project Management, Marketing, Partnerships, Timing, Medical, and stakeholders.
• Manage day-to-day athlete enquiries via email and phone.
• Deliver excellent athlete experiences across registration, onsite support, and post-event tasks.
• Plan and oversee registration layouts, event setup, and race-office operations.
• Collaborate with local federation, timing partner, and partners for smooth events.

Skills

Bachelor’s degree

Master degree

Customer service

Interpersonal skills

Leadership

Administrative skills

MS Excel

Event operations

Travel for events

Education

Bachelor’s/Master degree

Tools

MS Office

Job description

Brief Description

At The IRONMAN Group, our purpose is clear: to inspire people to unlock their greatest potential through sport, pushing beyond limits to become the fullest expression of human achievement. Through our BE ICONIC vision, we are building the most loved brands, producing the world’s most inspiring events, and fostering deeply engaged communities that change lives. We aim to empower over a million athletes to cross a finish line each year and inspire a billion people worldwide through the power of the human spirit.

As part of our team, you’ll join a high-performance, caring culture where innovation thrives, communities are uplifted, and every achievement, big or small, is celebrated. You’ll help shape experiences that fill hearts, consume minds, and enrich souls. This is more than a job. It’s a chance to be part of a global movement, to lead from the front, and to leave a legacy. Together, we create moments that last a lifetime. The IRONMAN Group is the world's largest operator of mass participation sports, delivering over 200+ events a year across 55+ countries thanks to a passionate global team. For more information, visit www.ironman.com/about-ironman-group.

We are seeking a highly motivated individual for the position of Manager Athlete Services reporting to Director Athlete Services based in our Cape Town office in South Africa.

The Opportunity

As Athlete Services Manager in Cape Town, you will be responsible for delivering a seamless, high-quality experience for athletes across the entire event journey—from registration and communications to onsite support and post-event activities.

You will lead and coordinate the Athlete Services team, working closely with Operations, Project Management, Marketing, Partnerships, Timing, Medical, and other key stakeholders to ensure smooth event delivery.

We are looking for a confident and people-focused leader who can set clear priorities, maintain high service standards, and motivate the team to perform at their best. Strong communication, organisation, and interpersonal skills are essential.

Key Responsibilities

People Leadership, Culture & Performance

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team through clear expectations, regular feedback, and meaningful career conversations.
• Foster a positive, inclusive, and safe environment where diverse perspectives are valued and team members can do their best work.
• Model IRONMAN’s BE ICONIC behaviors and athlete-first mindset in daily decisions, team rituals, and onsite/offsite leadership presence.
• Build a culture of creativity, accountability, and continuous improvement, encouraging experimentation and learning across events.
• Partner cross-functionally to strengthen alignment, shared ownership, and consistency of experience across the event ecosystem.
• Take active ownership of team engagement, clarity of roles, and performance outcomes.

Tasks

• Team Responsibilities (recruiting, evaluating performance, motivating and managing of team)
• Work across IRONMAN Events in EMEA
• Customer Service: Day to day athlete enquiries and services, answering emails and phone calls
• EMEA Athlete Services Projects
• Lead in cross regional projects
• Give constructive input into team calls and team initiatives e.g., office meetings, off-site department meetings & Microsoft Teams meetings.
• Documentation: Prepare any key documentation from an Customer Service Perspective for global approval
• Event Duties - complete pre, during and post event tasks to a high standard including but not limited to:
• Prepare various Athlete Guides
• Maintenance of the registration platform including setting up new events
• Planning and oversee the registration layout, build, onsite running including volunteer briefings and lead on the race office
• Support with delivery of any additional services for riders, pre, during and post event
• Work closely with the local federation, timing partner and other partners to ensure the smooth execution of events.
• Deal with all post event related tasks

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master degree or vocational school ideally in administration, customer service, sport, or endurance/event business
• 3-4 years Relevant experience in the sport event area or customer service
• Strong interpersonal and leading skills
• Strong administrative skills and high attention to detail. While the role requires ‘hands on’ work at event, meticulous planning and documenting thereof is required as the job is primarily desk bound.
• Strong customer service mindset with a calm, friendly and positive demeanour.
• Ability to work under pressure
• Team player
• Excellent computer skills in MS Office, especially Excel.
• Enthusiasm for sport: knowledge of triathlon, cycling and trail preferred but not essential.
• Ability to travel and work in sports events on weekends

We are an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to any protected characteristic under applicable law. We also provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the hiring process and employment in accordance with applicable law.

The above job description is not intended to be an “all inclusive” list of duties, responsibilities, skill and abilities, required to do the job. Rather, it is intended only to describe the general nature of the job and is a reasonable representation of its activities. Duties and responsibilities may evolve over time.