Rafting Operations Manager

Position Type: Full Time/seasonal, salaried + guide pay and tips when applicable, one-season, possibility to renew contract. Growth potential for part time shoulder season/off-season duties 

Contract Desired Schedule: 40 hours per week in this managerial role (see description.)

Target Start Date: April 2024

Salary: Based on experience and skills you are bringing to the position (see Compensation and Accountability section below). 

About Wyoming River Trips

Wyoming River Trips is currently the oldest continuously run River Outfitter in Cody Wyoming. It was started in 1978 by Rick and Ron Blanchard. By focusing on community, high standards of operation, and hiring highly trained and multi-faceted staff, WRT quickly became the premier river outfitter in the area. Since then WRT has prided itself on setting a high standard for the community with regard to staff, equipment, upholding industry standards, risk management, emphasis on environmental ethics and providing a quality trip with invested staff.

In 2020 WRT began it’s transition to second generation ownership and renewed it’s focus on community impact and community building within the organization and collaboratively with other businesses. WRT hires employees both locally and from out of state. Our staff are folks we believe want to be part of a larger, high functioning workplace and unique inclusive community. We also hire individuals who are passionate about the outdoors and connection as well as bring their other interests to their role as guide and co-worker.  

Position Summary

The Operations manager (OM) will work as part of a team— working with the Head Guide/s and Owners of WRT to oversee the daily operation of the river float, training and performance of Guides, Office Staff, and performing general customer service and larger community partner tasks. The OM must have a deep love for logistics, planning, scheduling, building and maintaining relationships and budgets. Experience as a river guide preferred. 

OM will manage and coordinate up to 18 guide and driver staff schedules as well as their own schedule. OM will need to balance the needs of the guides and the company when creating schedules, adding additional guests to existing trips or making schedule changes. OM must have an excellent grasp of the interconnectedness of guide schedule changes/ trip changes and overall sales and expense goals. OM will arrive ahead of the river season to train with ownership. The OM should be an excellent communicator, able to give and receive feedback, able to manage challenging customer and staff interaction without compromising company goals and values and take appropriate and timely actions when needed with confidence. 

River season runs May 1 - Oct 1 (potentially later in 2024) 

OM is responsible for ensuring the enjoyment of 7,500 + customers to the best of their ability, providing staff coaching and training when necessary and supporting WRT ownership in their organizational goals. 

The position is currently a 40/ hours+ per week role, single-season contract with option to renew. If a qualified candidate can help us create extra income there will be opportunity to extend a contract to a part-time role in the off-season months.This is an opportunity for growth-minded, highly collaborative and organized individuals who like challenge and a fast paced unique work environment to build on existing managerial or peer-leadership experiences. 

The position reports directly to WRT Ownership and will work in collaboration with Ownership. Ownership will be present to varying degrees throughout the season. You can expect weeks where your workload will be shared with ownership and other weeks where you will need to delegate appropriate tasks or hours to Guide staff. 

Required Skills, Qualities and Abilities  

• Experience managing/working well with individuals older and younger than you, of varying skill levels, with diverse worldviews, political and spiritual beliefs
• High level of personal organization and ability to create structures that are easy for others to understand and interact with 
• Ability and willingness to create weekly and monthly reports
• Ability to utilize existing company manuals and digital documents for your own education and the education of staff 
• Excellent at delegating appropriate tasks to appropriate individuals at the appropriate time
• Manage meal budget and food orders/payments
• Keep receipts and record organized
• Create staff schedules in a timely manner that balance company goals with staff needs/requests. (scheduling depends heavily on when bookings are made. Lots of last minute bookings means sending schedules is a daily task. Lots of advanced bookings means scheduling can be more of a weekly task with daily attention to upcoming changes)
• Demonstrates excellent communications and customer relations skills, both verbal and written. The customer is not always right (neither is the staff), AND no customer should ever leave our business feeling  disrespected and unheard
• Manager candidates should be skilled in de-escalating situations and preserving the dignity of staff AND customers 
• Cultivator of inclusive and welcoming workplace and raft trips
• Proficient with Microsoft and Adobe products including Word, Excel and Acrobat, as well as Google applications
• Able and excited to learn new software that will increase organizational efficiency. 
• Is able to perform detailed work accurately and on time  
• Is a proactive, self-starter while understanding when to ask questions and request help  
• Is punctual, trustworthy and reliable  
• Works efficiently and effectively both independently and in a team with minimal day to-day supervision  
• Valid driver’s license

Additional Skills/ Abilities that help

• Current CDL 
• Ability to identify new partnership opportunities and present opportunities to Ownership in clear, concise manner siting strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, challenges. All growth opportunities should balance potential growth of company bottom line, with staff retention goals, company and community values. 
• Background in marketing and social media 

Overview of Responsibilities and Expectations

• Invest in honing and uttilizing a variety of leadership styles and techniques to ensure the success of WRT operational goals including staff enrichment, growth and personal well-being. Example: Transformational, Authentic, Adaptive, Situational, Visionary and Organizational leadership methods and styles will be used when appropriate. 
• Be the example of and uphold the standard of office and warehouse cleanliness and organization. Facilitate a “Common Area Clean” with all the staff present for that day, once or twice a week.
• Familiarize yourself with all our policies, procedures, system preferences and resources (available in a Google Drive). Know where they live, how to access them and be able to use them as a resource for yourself and others.  We have a large employee handbook. Guidelines for self and staff evaluations. Partnership documents. Ordering documents and daily/weekly/monthly task outlines.
• Daily Monitoring and Management of interface between WRT booking platform and real physical guide/driver resources. Manage/adjust capacities accordingly based on driver availability, working vehicles, whether or not we have enough people to cover the office and guide availability. Fill staffing holes when needed.
• Use Booking platform to capture useful information that helps the company make decisions about spending in the future. I.E. diligently record all referred business from All Trips, Bill Cody Ranch, Absaroka ranch and other Partners.
• Use scheduling tools to effectively pass useful information to staff in a timely manner. (in 2021 we used Deputy)
• Plan and execute any relevant staff check-ins in a timely manner
• Be present for the mornings guide meeting (listening unless something needs to involve you) and post trip guide debrief. If there are any issues that need a managers attention, this is the first place they should come up. The manager will be responsible for facilitating a larger debrief of the day if necessary—especially on hectic days when guides do not have time between trips. The manager will proactively check in during these times to make sure nothing needs to be addressed immediately. 
• Understand and track budget goals using budget documents. 
• Managers should have 1 to 2 full days off a week and are responsible for scheduling their days off. 
• Organize, utilize and report accurately each week/month using provided paperwork (i.e. keeping, marking and tracking receipts, employee timesheets, deposit slips, low inventory reporting/ordering, merchandise orders)

Education and Previous Experience 

•  High school diploma or GED required; Bachelors or higher preferred
•  Prior experience in an office environment performing administrative duties or equivalent experience with digital organization of people and information
• Prior experience as a guide and ability to coach/teach and perform guide skills

Physical Requirements 

Must be able to spend several hours at a time sitting and operating a computer and other office machinery. Must be able to lift and carry oddly shaped objects 45 + lbs pounds. Must be able to read, write and communicate fluently in English. 

Spanish, French or Asian Languages fluency is an added bonus. 

Compensation and Accountability This is a seasonal salaried position and does not include health or retirement benefits at this time. Housing options for the Cody area will be discussed during the interview process. Salary will be paid bi-weekly and will start at $1500+ commensurate on experience and commitment made. Pay and tips for guided trips will be in addition to salaried pay. Managers are expected to schedule 1 to 2 days off a week when possible and prioritize full time and part time guide hires over themselves when scheduling guided trips. The position will be hired with a one-season contract and the possibility to extend to the off-season and future seasons. Growth opportunities are also available within WRT and it’s sister company Wyoming Rivers Cooperative depending on performance. The position currently reports to WRT Ownership. 

Equal Opportunity Wyoming River Trips is dedicated to the principles of equal employment opportunity. WRT prohibits unlawful discrimination against applicants or employees on the basis of age, race, sex, color, religion, national origin, disability, military status, genetic information, sexual orientation, or any other status protected by applicable state or local law. In addition, WRT will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities unless doing so would result in an undue hardship to WRT or cause a direct threat to health or safety. WRT will make reasonable accommodation for employees whose work requirements interfere with a religious belief, unless doing so poses undue hardship on WRT. WRT will make reasonable accommodations to otherwise qualified employees due to pregnancy, a health condition related to pregnancy, or the physical recovery from childbirth absent undue hardship.