Assistant Manager

Better; Eastbourne; On-site; GBP 26,000 - GBP 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A charitable leisure operator seeks an Assistant Manager for The Sovereign Centre in Eastbourne. This full-time position involves leading service operations, managing staff, and ensuring excellence in customer care and compliance with health regulations. The role offers career advancement opportunities, flexible working conditions, and a range of employee benefits including a pension scheme and discounted leisure memberships. If you are committed and passionate about leisure services, this could be a fulfilling role for you.

Benefits

Pension scheme

Health Assurance

Ride to Work scheme

Free eye tests

Discounted leisure membership

Qualifications

• Experience in managing a team in a leisure or hospitality environment.
• Ability to develop and implement operational plans and meet performance targets.
• Strong understanding of health and safety regulations in the leisure industry.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage all aspects of the service area’s operations.
• Accountable for service area performance and budget management.
• Ensure compliance with health and safety requirements.

Skills

Team management

Budget management

Communication

Leadership

Customer service

Job description

GLL is looking for an Assistant Manager to work at The Sovereign Centre, Eastbourne. If you have the skills and ambition to join us as an Assistant Manager, there has never been a more exciting time to join us. This is more than an Assistant Manager job, it’s a career.

Responsibilities of an Assistant Manager include the management and development of staff, input to budget management, setting and achieving targets, designing/implementing quality systems, health and safety procedures, and communicating with colleagues and key stakeholders. Assistant Managers play a key part in supporting the smooth running of a leisure centre, ensuring the health, safety, and enjoyment of customers and colleagues alike.

There’s no such thing as a typical day as an Assistant Manager. That’s what makes this hands‑on role so special. You could be doing anything from producing reports, doing building checks, advising Duty Managers, and ensuring compliance with health, safety, and fire procedures, as well as proactively improving sales figures and service standards.

As an Assistant Manager in a demanding environment, you’ll need to be on the ball with all aspects of your centre, area, and the leisure industry as a whole – from managing teams to consumer trends. So, if you’re ready to go the extra mile, in return, we’ll develop and train you to sharpen your skills in this diverse role.

What you’ll do:

• Leading, managing, and organising all aspects of the service area’s operations, ensuring they are carried out efficiently and economically within agreed policies and procedures.
• Being accountable for service area performance, including preparing and monitoring service area budgets, income targets, and business plans (where appropriate).
• Ensuring all organisational, statutory, and non‑statutory health and safety requirements are met.
• Providing visible leadership to all service area staff, ensuring they are motivated and operate at high levels of both performance and efficiency.
• Ensuring all members of the service team are effectively supervised and that all people‑management procedures are effectively operated within the team.
• Ensuring that all staff are aware of developments, policies, practices, and procedures through regular and effective communication processes.
• Taking responsibility for the mentoring and development of service area staff.
• Ensuring the highest quality standards of customer care and service delivery are achieved within the service area.
• Continually monitoring and reviewing the standards achieved, taking appropriate action to rectify adverse trends identified through audit or other mechanisms.
• Developing and maintaining effective relationships within the organisation and with key stakeholders.
• Acting as Centre or Duty Manager as required, supervising operational shifts, and carrying out any other duties as required commensurate with the post’s level of responsibility.
• Taking part in appropriate continuing professional development.

As a leader within the leisure industry, we can also offer scope to progress your career and job variety like nowhere else.

As a charitable social enterprise and cooperative owned by our staff, GLL is a unique organisation for you to have a career with!

The basics:

• This is a Full time position. Hours of work will be negotiated with you in line with the needs of the service; flexible working may be possible. Working from home is not possible in this role.
• We are an accredited Living Wage employer with industry‑leading rates of pay.
• We can offer a career, not just a job, with extensive Learning & Development support available.
• A uniform will be supplied and must be worn.
• GLL is Values Driven, not Profit Driven. We work hard to benefit the communities we operate in.
• As a staff‑owned organisation, you will be given the opportunity to join the Society and have a stake in your business.

Additionally, GLL offers employees a range of employment benefits:

• Access to a pension scheme.
• Health Assurance and access to Counselling services.
• Access to the tax‑efficient Ride to Work bicycle purchase scheme.
• Free annual eye tests.
• Discounted nationwide (over 200 centres) inclusive leisure centre membership for you and your partner. This includes GLL Extras!

GLL Society benefits (if you choose to join the Society after your probation period) include:

• The right to stand for the Society board and to vote for board members to represent you.
• Access to team building and fun events such as treks, concerts, outings, etc.
• Access to a range of benefits exclusive to our people – ask your line manager for details or check out the Intranet.

About GLL:

As the UK’s largest leisure operator and charitable social enterprise, we offer a range of careers for everyone in our local communities. We manage over 400 facilities across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, including public sport and leisure centres, elite sporting venues, libraries, and children’s centres.

Our people are from the communities we serve and help us make real changes in their local area.

One of our core values is ‘More than a Job’, because working with us opens a wide range of possibilities and opportunities for you, starting with how you work with us. To make sure we are having a positive impact on our people, we also offer some flexible and part‑time working options so you can make sure your new job works for you. Subject to vacancies, whether you are after a contractual commitment and a regular work schedule or the freedom of flexible hours, you may be able to choose an arrangement that works best for you and play your part in improving the health and wellbeing of your community.

We offer two different types of work arrangements:

• A permanent employment contract - part time and full time.
• A flexible worker engagement by joining our flexible worker pool.

If you are looking for a regular number of hours that you can work and are flexible to meet the needs of a 7‑day‑a‑week service, then a full‑time or part‑time permanent contract might be the right choice for you.

So whether your ambitions lie in sport and leisure, events & catering, health & beauty, corporate support, or working with children, you’ll be able to find your ideal new job at GLL.

Passionate about seeing our communities thrive, we invest back into our facilities, projects, and people and are Investors in People Gold Award employer.

However you choose to work with us, you can be sure that you will be a valued member of our team, working with great colleagues, and making a real difference to people’s lives.

We are an inclusive employer. We seek and welcome diversity in our teams. All pay rates are subject to skills, experience, qualifications, and location.

To be shortlisted for the role, internal applicants will need to demonstrate their commitment to GLL by becoming a Society member where eligible.