Senior Park Operations Manager

Location: Chessington World of Adventures Resort Leatherhead Road Chessington Surrey KT9 2NE

Here at Chessington World of Adventures our vision is to be the UK’s greatest place for young families to create lifelong memories​ and we’re looking for a Senior Park Operations Manager to join our team!

In this role, you will lead and support operational teams to ensure an exceptional guest experience, ensuring that all areas of the park are well-prepared and maintained throughout the operational season, working collaboratively with key stakeholders to deliver high performance and an engaging employee environment. 

You will play a pivotal role in ensuring the smooth, safe, and efficient operation of all park functions with a primary focus on our Rides & Attractions team. Reporting to the Operations Director, this role involves overseeing the day-to-day management of operational teams, driving service excellence, and maintaining high safety, presentations and brand standards.

Operational Leadership: 

Provide overall leadership and support for daily park operations, ensuring a safe, efficient, and enjoyable experience for all guests and staff. 
Act as a central point of decision-making during daily operations, coordinating with teams, and contributing to the resolution of escalated guest complaints. 
Oversee the operational readiness of the park, ensuring all areas meet brand standards and are consistently well-maintained. 
Ensure a strong focus on ride availability and performance by collaborating with relevant teams to maximize uptime and operational efficiency. 
Driving continuous improvement initiatives and promoting a culture of excellence in service delivery and operational efficiency
Frequently required to fulfil Incident Management responsibilities as ‘Ops 2’. 

Team Engagement & Development: 

Direct line management of team managers to lead, coach and set standards for operational teams to deliver exceptional guest service and operational standards. 
Drive performance across the team providing guidance and support in issue resolution, ensuring compliance with company policies, and promoting a positive work environment. 
Conduct regular training, briefings, and performance reviews to ensure alignment with park objectives and guest experience expectations. 
Promote engagement initiatives and drive participation in team activities, ensuring alignment with the Merlin values and site objectives. 
Identify and implement opportunities to enhance team development, ensuring direct reports are equipped to fulfil their roles and responsibilities and lead their own teams to the best of their abilities. 

Guest Experience: 

Lead by example in handling guest escalations, utilizing the guest recovery matrix, and ensuring timely and satisfactory resolution of issues. 
Support the team to champion accessibility and coordinate efforts to highlight opportunities for improvement and drive change where required. 
Collaborate with the Central Planning Team to meet business KPIs ensuring effective resourcing to deliver guest experience and objectively reviewing and improving operational processes and team training as necessary. 

Collaboration & Communication: 

Participate in the Operational Delivery Team to build and maintain strong relationships to support the park’s readiness for peak seasons, events, and new openings, ensuring teams are well-briefed and prepared. 
As a key member of the Resort incident management team ensure continuity of critical operations and clear communications between all parties involved. 
Conduct daily briefings and updates and support delivery of regular operational reviews to communicate operational priorities, successes, and challenges. 
Actively contribute ideas for operational improvements and share best practices across the resort. 

Health & Safety: 

Oversee compliance of policies and procedures set forth within the Merlin Entertainments Group Health, Safety and Security Policy. 
Understand risk assessments and ensure reporting of any new risks as appropriate. 
In cases of incidents or accidents ensure appropriate reporting is done in a timely and accurate manner. 
Actively share ideas, comments, and suggestions for improving safety within their work areas with their appropriate line manager. 
Lead response to incidents.