Operations Manager

Aquavistas: luxury entertainment for Superyacht owners and their guestsWho we areWe’re an entertainment and events company specialising in shows for the Superyacht market. We 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 Moretti founded the company after fifteen years running a film production house in Shanghai, Oscar Harris has been in it from the start and has risen from the original intern to now COO. This role is the third seat at the Leadership Table.The roleYou’d be an integral part of our small team, and this is a real opportunity to learn and grow: you’d be taking charge of how we deliver everything we do, with the two of us teaching you the parts you haven’t done before (and few have done treasure hunt setups in remote locations to be fair…)You’ll be the organiser of the day to day running of everything between a show being booked and our team walking off the yacht, leaving delighted guests. There are two sides to it.Delivering the shows. Being the person who makes an event actually happen, with all the logistics behind it: the crew, the kit, the timings, the standards. Building a treasure hunt across an island (Logistics is a major part of the job once the season is running).Organising transport of a six-foot prop onto a tender and onto the yacht. Dealing blackjack on a deck in Monaco at midnight. Knowing what to do when the band’s flight is cancelled four hours before guests arrive.Running the function. Building and leading the seasonal team, owning the storage and inventory, writing the processes we all work to, and understanding the money behind each show. This is the part we expect to teach you.What the role grows intoDelivery. 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.People. Hiring, training and leading the seasonal team, and making sure we have the capacity for the season we’ve sold.Kit and inventory. Storage, inventory systems, prop maintenance and repairs (with our suppliers), and getting the right gear to the right island on the right day.Process. Deciding how we execute, and owning the play-books, call sheets and standards as living documents.Project P&L. Quoting the logistics (with your team), controlling the spend, and being accountable for a healthy margin on every show.The business. One of three on the leadership team, with the opportunity to contribute where the company goes next.You won’t arrive doing all of this. If it looks overwhelming, don’t worry: we’ve lived it for six years, and we’ll train you properly before letting you loose. Soon though, you’ll be running it. A self-starting attitude is what we need from you.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, busy but genuinely fun time (in incredible places).Christmas and New Year, the Caribbean. Fewer shows than the summer but they are often larger and bigger travel. Due to the nature of charter work, we don’t always know until late in the year when these go ahead.The rest of the year, the build: Systems, planning, recruiting and training crew, improving shows, maintaining kit, all with the support of Charlie and Oscar. 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 more than we’d likeIn season your weekends aren’t reliably your own.Real travel. Early flights, hire vans, moving flight cases in 35°C heat, on tenders.Time away from home in blocks, potentially including Christmas and New Year.Short notice changes and new deadlines, which you’ll be accountable for. Work can land with a day or two’s warning, and you’ll be the one planning (and re-planning).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, gluing a prop back together on Tuesday, dealing Black Jack on Wednesday, Tuesday cleaning a beach, Friday is yet to reveal itself… Nobody here is above the unglamorous jobs, including us. In exchange: a function to build the way you think it should be built, decisions that are actually yours, and shows that are genuinely brilliant to deliver, in some of the most beautiful locations in the world.Who we’re looking forFirst and foremost, someone who fits our values and culture:Make 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 who we are and how we do it.The Obstacle is the Way. We take the difficult thing on rather than route around it.Sometimes You Win, Every Time You Learn. Always improving, always learning.Attitude matters more to us than a CV. We’d rather find someone with the right instincts who’s hungry to grow into this than someone who ticks every box and isn’t excited by it.Your experience:Two or more years’ hands-on experience delivering live events, shows, tours or productions, and having been the person responsible when it matteredIdeally, you’ve been accountable for a budgetSome management experience, or you’re 100% ready to take it onYou understand why process and systems matter, and that they have to work for everyone using themCalm when the plan falls apart (because it will)Organised to the point of mild obsession about kit lists, timings and detailsCredible in front of senior people, clients and their guests, with crew to lead and performers to wrangleCurious about how a business works, not just how a show worksClean 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, Special Forces logistics, prop-making, a second language.Above all, we want someone who wants to be in this industry rather than passing through it. We’re building something special so looking for like-minded people. We work to the yacht industry’s standards of presentation: well-kept hair and facial hair, and no excessive visible tattoos or piercings (scars are ok as long as they come with a good story). 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 are 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, and as you take on more of the role.If you’re further along than this range, tell us anyway and make the case. Equally, if you don’t have the experience we’ve asked for but you have the right values, energy and enthusiasm, make your case.How to applyEmail [EMAIL ADDRESS] with your CV, your availability and notice period, and short answers to these three questions:Why this job, and why now?Tell us about a time something went wrong on an event or job, and what you did about it.Where do you want to be in five years, and what do you need to learn to get there?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 [DATE].