General Manager

Ask yourself

**Do you want to do something that makes a genuinely, tangible, positive difference to people’s lives?**

**Do you want to be a leader the supports their staff, owns KPIs, profitability and gets rewarded for it?**

**If you answered “yes” to these questions, then you are not just looking for a job but something more, and Water Babies could just be for you**

**Water Babies International**

Founded in the UK, Water Babies is the world’s largest, most professional baby and toddler-swimming franchise business teaching over 54,000 babies and toddlers (Ages 0-5, our youngest client was just 1 day old) per week through an international network of 70+ franchise outlets across 7 countries; the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, China and Canada.

With a determination to be the leading world class organization in our industry in all that we do Water Babies is highly regarded in both the Franchising and Recreation industries winning numerous awards and accolades.

Regarded as a model of professional franchising within the British Franchise Association, we have been voted as Franchisor of the Year at their annual awards competition.

All of this goes to the heart of our company namely the desire to transform the experience of swimming into something magical that gives generations of our children the gift of a lifetime skill that while developing them cognitively and physically quicker than their peers is above all else memorable, inspiring and fun.

**Water Babies Toronto**

Canada is a key element of our planned international growth, our ambition being the creation of a network of franchisees right across the country and to this end we established a company owned Master Franchise in Toronto, now teaching close to 1000 babies and toddlers a week and rising.

Water Babies Toronto, is company owned and now that it is established, we are looking for that special individual to take strategic charge of it, to grow and develop it such that it becomes Canada’s model Water Babies franchise outlet.

**Overview of the position**:
Uniquely you will need to have or develop the skill sets to run a business, develop and motivate people, and passionately teach 0-5 baby and toddler swimming. You do not have to have a background in swimming or even working directly with children, indeed the norm in Water Babies is that you have neither of these, albeit great if you do.

The General Manager (GM) will be hands on from the start, taking part in all aspects of the business, including answering phones and teaching clients

The GM will take full responsibility for the day to day operational management and strategic direction of the Water Babies Toronto franchise. Water Babies Toronto is an agile organization, with 3 office staff and 6 teachers (in addition to this post) and a number of part time employees and contractors.

The GM will need to wear many hats, from strategic business management, across areas such as marketing, HR, finance and office administration to delivering our aquatics program, with its associated teachers and staff to liaising directly with and growing our client base.

This role will require skill in managing both internal (employee and contractor) and external (supplier, customer) relationships. This position will allow you to grow personally by both training our adorable clients, and also coaching our teachers on how to provide the best experience for our swimmers.

Again, first and foremost we are looking for the right level of passion coupled with attitude, work ethic, willingness to learn and to go above and beyond, to which we will provide extensive training and on-going support as part on a global team.

**Responsibilities**:

- Strategic responsibility for all aspects of the business
- Set annual business development goals
- To coordinate, develop and maintain the client administration systems, standards and operational procedures
- To take part in the delivery of aquatics services
- To manage and lead the sales and administrative team, their targets and performance
- To lead and direct all day to day operational interaction with instructors
- To manage and enhance relationships with pools
- To actively seek out new pools and highlight areas where new pools are required
- To ensure all health and safety policies are clearly documented, actioned and reported on where necessary
- To closely monitor and report on pool capacity & operations issues
- To manage, record and report on complaints & customer feedback received and any relevant outcomes
- To be responsible for the coordination and reporting on the pool margins, utilisation, customer retention, client numbers as part of the monthly/termly business planning review processes to meet the business KPI’s
- To direct, manage and take part in the delivery of our photography services
- To direct, manage and take part in the sale of products (we sell related swimming products, warming garments and toys)
- To provide back up and support t