Head of Operations
Aquavistas · Bristol, England, United Kingdom
Apply & track with Apply EdgeWe started life as Luxury Treasure Hunts before launching Aquavistas, now offering over 20 different shows, such as immersive Murder Mystery parties, magicians, live bands and tribute acts, entertainers and our original onshore Treasure Hunts. We deliver luxury entertainment worldwide, onboard, anywhere.Now in our sixth year, our summer season runs primarily in the Mediterranean: South of France, Italy, Greece, Croatia and Spain, with a winter season in the Caribbean. We’ve just finished our busiest season to date and next year is looking bigger still. We’re a small team. Charlie founded the company after fifteen years running a film production house in Shanghai, Oscar runs sales and finance, and this role is the third seat at the table.The roleEverything between a show being sold and a guest walking off a yacht delighted is yours: how we deliver, who delivers it, what it costs, and how we get better every time. Logistics is also a major part of the job once the season is running.Delivery. Maintaining show standards and coordinating crew, kit and timings. You won’t be at every show, but project managers and logistics crew report to you.Project P&L. You quote the logistics, control the spend, and are accountable for a healthy margin on every show.Process. You decide how we execute, and own the run books, call sheets and standards as living documents rather than files nobody opens.People. You hire, train and lead the seasonal execution team, and make sure we have the capacity for the season we’ve sold.Kit and inventory. Storage, inventory systems, prop maintenance and repairs, and getting the right gear to the right island on the right day.Learning. You capture what each show teaches us and deliver continuous process improvement.The business. One of three on the leadership team, expected to bring ideas about where the company goes next, not just how we deliver what’s already sold.The shape of the yearJune to September, the Mediterranean season. This is the period everything else in the year builds towards. It’s an intense and busy time.Christmas and New Year, the Caribbean. Fewer shows than the summer but they are often larger and further to travel for. Due to the nature of charter work, we don’t always know until late in the year whether these go ahead.The rest of the year, the build. Systems, planning, recruiting and training crew, improving shows, maintaining kit. This is where most of the thinking happens, and where you’ll have the space and time to do it.The less glamorous sideWhile the role gives you lots of freedom and opportunity, we want to be open about some of the less-glamorous aspects of the role.Long days. 6am starts and 2am finishes happen, and in season your weekends aren’t reliably your own.Real travel. Early flights, hire vans, moving flight cases in 35°C heat.Time away from home in blocks, potentially including Christmas and New Year.Short notice. Work sometimes lands with a day or two’s warning, and you’ll be the one replanning.No office, no ops department, no warehouse team. We get together in person regularly, but there’s a lot of working from home until the seasons pick up.You’ll be strategic on Monday and gluing a prop back together on Tuesday. Nobody here is above the unglamorous jobs, including us.In exchange: a department to build the way you think it should be built, decisions that are actually yours, and shows that are genuinely brilliant to deliver.Who we’re looking forFour or more years delivering live events, shows, tours or productions, hands-on rather than purely from a deskYou’ve been accountable for a budget, not just spent to someone else’sYou’ve hired and led freelance or seasonal crewYou’ve built a process or system that other people kept using after you left the roomCredible in front of demanding clients: yacht crew, management companies, owners and their guestsOrganised to the point of mild obsession about kit lists, timings and detailsClean driving licence, confident swimmer in open water, not prone to seasicknessRight to work in the UK and able to travel for extended periods through the seasonUseful but not essential: Yachting or marine experience, cruise entertainment, immersive theatre, stage management, technical AV, forces logistics, prop-making, a second language.Above all, we want someone who wants to be in this industry rather than passing through it. When you apply, tell us where you want to be in five years.We work to the yacht industry’s standards on presentation: no excessive visible tattoos or piercings, and well-kept hair and facial hair.Our valuesMake it Happen. Turning no’s into yes’s, finding a way.Attention to Detail. You notice, improve and change the little things.Willing to Join the Circus. Real enthusiasm for what we do and how we do it.The Obstacle is the Way. We take the difficult thing on rather than route around it.Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn. Always improving, always willing to learn.Package£30,000 to £35,000 depending on experience, plus a season performance bonus tied to delivery and project margin, and a route to equity for the right person. Travel, accommodation and meals covered whenever you’re working away. 28 days holiday plus bank holidays, taken mainly outside the seasons. Workplace pension. A formal review after your first full summer season, with a clear path upwards. Pay has and will continue to grow as the company does.If you’re further along than this range, tell us anyway and make the case.How to applyEmail oscar@aquavistas.com with your CV, your availability and notice period, and short answers to these three questions:1. Why this job, and why now?2. Tell us about a system or process you built that outlasted you.3. Where do you want to be in five years?No covering letter needed, a few paragraphs is plenty. We read every application that answers all three questions. We don’t read the ones that don’t.Applications close 27th September, 2026