Operations Manager – Employee Engagement

• Company: Adventure Treks, Inc.
• Position type: Full-time, salary, exempt
• Salary and benefits: Starting at $46,500, with potential for higher compensation based on skills and experience, plus monthly health care reimbursements, company cell phone plan, generous PTO and holidays, bonuses, and professional development opportunities
• Start date: September 2025

Do you love building relationships and helping outdoor adventure field instructors experience meaningful personal growth in their career? Adventure Treks is hiring a full-time Operations Manager focused on Employee Engagement to lead the recruiting, acquisition, and onboarding efforts for our seasonal field instructor team.

WHO WE ARE

Since 1993, we’ve guided more than 20,000 people through unforgettable outdoor adventures across North America and the world. We help teenagers build confidence, leadership, and community through the outdoors—and we’re growing to include family and adult programs, too.

Our first year, we welcomed 14 students on one adventure in the Pacific Northwest. Now, we offer more than 20 trips across North America and the world. In 2024, we launched our first family camp in Washington and adult trip in Peru, and we will continue to expand this new programming in 2026 and beyond. We also operate spring and fall educational programs for schools across the United States.

POSITION DESCRIPTION & PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

This person will lead the seasonal staffing process from beginning to end and cultivate long-term, positive relationships with our field instructor team. Our ideal candidate will bring a passion for building community through outdoor adventure and a knack for connecting with a diverse group of people (both over the phone and in person) on a meaningful level. The operations manager should be a self-starter, detail-oriented, and genuinely helping facilitate incredible outdoor and travel experiences for our clients.

They will support a range of employee engagement initiatives. In the first three months, this person will:

• Learn the Adventure Treks philosophy and mission
• Become familiar with our recruitment and hiring process, including all applicable state and federal laws and the hiring workflow
• Begin to manage applicable job boards and recruitment sites
• Shadow post-summer debriefs
• Shadow the director team in screening and interviewing new applicants and reconnecting with returning staff, and begin conducting interviews
• Learn about the other roles in the organization and how each works together to create a seamless, efficient team
• Review trip itineraries in detail, study trip locations, and understand the activities involved on each trip
• Learn how to use our customer/staff relationship management database

By the six-month mark, this person will:

• Answer calls and be able to promote the values and benefits of the Adventure Treks experience to prospective families and staff
• Take ownership over the seasonal hiring process
• Help create staff teams and placements
• Be well acquainted with our CRM
• Refine and/or develop new efficient workflows and systems for evaluating applicants
• Maintain meticulous notes of interviews and conversations with potential and former staff
• Have begun updating and organizing lesson plans and schedules for staff orientation
• Synthesize, organize, and prepare staff records for the summer season

After the first full summer season, we expect this person to:

• Fully own the seasonal hiring process, begin pitching ideas for innovation and growth, and refine the onboarding process and foster a sense of welcoming and belonging to the Adventure Treks community
• Alongside the director team, make recruitment calls for staff
• Be a primary contact for staff throughout the year and during our busy summer season
• Begin training in our email marketing software

Lastly, this position will generally support the year-round and summer operations of Adventure Treks, including (but not limited to):

• Upholding and modeling all Adventure Treks policies, standards, and procedures
• Creating a content strategy to showcase staff stories, backgrounds, and experiences
• Work to maintain and improve staff retention year over year
• Fostering relationships with our alumni network, universities, and other organizations
• Sending individual and mass emails
• Participating in our annual staff training from late May to mid-June in Washington state
• Specific summer duties:
• Managing staff travel and paperwork
• Supporting student travel on opening and closing days
• Communicating with third-party outfitters
• Helping run staff orientation
• Supporting field staff and parent communication
• Supporting professional development (PD), including:
• Promoting PD scholarships
• Encouraging staff to pursue learning opportunities
• And compiling and providing end-of-season feedback
• In coordination with the Operations Coordinator – Logistics and Programming:
• Creating the annual orientation schedule and updating lesson plans
• Coordinating and organizing the annual wilderness first responder course and recertification course offered to Adventure Treks staff prior to orientation
• Miscellaneous administration duties (e.g., writing blogs, answering parent calls) and collaborating with other full-time staff

For the right candidate, there may be the opportunity for more travel and/or field work in the summer.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

• Ideally 2 years of experience in recruitment and/or hiring
• Degree from an accredited university strongly preferred
• Experience working in the summer camp, outdoor, and/or travel industry strongly preferred
• Tech-savvy talents and proficiency in Google Drive and Microsoft Office
• Experience in CampMinder is a plus
• Experience in photo and video editing is a plus
• Sales experience is a plus
• Impeccable communication and interpersonal skills
• A growth mindset and willingness to learn and innovate with our company
• The ability to:
• Consistently set and follow through on goals, projects, and deadlines
• Prioritize responsibilities and seamlessly adapt to evolving projects
• Anticipate and identify roadblocks and use creativity and critical thinking to independently solve problems
• Provide and accept constructive feedback in weekly one-on-one meetings with the director team
• Promote an inclusive work environment and recognize the importance of collaborating with teammates and celebrating their strengths
• Model professionalism in person and over the phone
• Ability to work at a computer most of the day
• Permanent work authorization in the United States

EXPECTATIONS

• Off-season office hours are generally 9 am to 5 pm eastern Monday through Friday. November through January, the office will be closed Fridays
• There will be a few calls required for staff conversations and interviews, character references, etc. after 5 pm eastern each month
• During the busy summer season (June 1 through August 15), this position will be required to work irregular hours (and may include field time for the right candidate)
• Rotate through 24/7 on-call shifts for field staff and travel day
• About 10-15 days per summer will require early mornings or late nights to support student travel days
• 3-4 weeks of travel to Washington state each summer, from the end of May to mid-June to support staff orientation and kick off summer operations
• This includes tent camping (with access to facilities) for 3-4 weeks in late May through mid-June at our basecamp in Washington state

HOW TO APPLY

Please email your cover letter and resume to Amanda Fox at info@adventuretreks.com.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: From $46,500.00 per year

Benefits:

• Employee discount
• Paid time off

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift
• Monday to Friday

Ability to Commute:

• Zirconia, NC 28790 (Required)

Ability to Relocate:

• Zirconia, NC 28790: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: In person

Salary : $46,500