Director of Commercial
YHA
Home based, but with the ability to travel periodically to our HQ in Matlock
c.£80,000
We are YHA. We believe in the power of travel and adventure to connect people to each other, to nature and the outdoors, to culture and to heritage. Since 1930, YHA has operated a unique network of hostels throughout England and Wales — a community of shared spaces, open to all and for the benefit of everybody. We provide inclusive adventures, in extraordinary buildings, in amazing places — welcoming over a million people each year. Yet we offer much more than accommodation. YHA is a sector-leading residential provider, a champion of inclusive volunteering and work experience, and an Investors in People Gold employer.
THE ROLE
YHA is at a pivotal moment in its journey. We’re emerging from the challenges of the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and steep inflation and are embarking on an ambitious path to secure our long-term prosperity. Our mission to enrich young lives through access to nature, heritage, and meaningful connections has never been more important, and embedding our impact in our commercial strategies is fundamental to achieving our aims. We want more people – especially young people facing adversity – to benefit from connecting to nature, the outdoors, heritage and each other while staying in our c140 amazing hostels across England and Wales.
We have made real progress delivering YHA’s mission, with groundbreaking initiatives such as Generation Green, Outdoor Citizens and the Festival of Walking that generate income while putting equity, access and inclusion at the heart of everything we do.
In 2023 we set out our three-year plan to take the steps necessary to secure YHA’s long term prosperity. A key part of this plan is YHA’s commercial strategy to drive revenue growth and profitability balancing our commercial aims to support our social purpose. As Director of Commercial, you will shape the vision for transformation of the commercial and sales teams, implementing changes in ways of working, systems and efficiencies, to optimise the customer journey and reduce complexity
Over three years, we are reviewing the operating model of up to a third of our hostels where we are looking for partners to take over running and managing hostels as part of our franchise model. Those that don’t become franchises will be sold and the money raised invested into the upkeep of our core strategic hostels which we expect to run at higher occupancy and efficiency.
If you’re energized by the prospect of applying your commercial, sales and marketing expertise to make a lasting impact on young lives, we’d love to hear from you!
