Athletic Director

Job Description

Job Description:\n\n The Director of Athletics & Wellness is a senior executive and member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club Executive Committee, responsible for leading and evolving the Club’s complete athletics, fitness, wellness, recovery, and \n rejuvenation platform, including the LAAC Wellness Studio system. The Director oversees a diverse portfolio of specialized Studios and programs while creating one cohesive, personalized, and luxury-level member experience.\n The role is accountable for member experience, programming strategy, participation, retention, membership growth, financial performance, operational standards, team development, and Studio leadership, ensuring LAAC remains a \n compelling destination for fitness, wellness, and lifestyle. The Director continuously evaluates emerging practices and industry trends, incorporating credible and appropriate offerings that enhance the member experience.\n As the senior leader of Athletics & Wellness, the Director establishes and models a culture of exceptional hospitality, personalization, recognition, responsiveness, discretion, and attention to detail, ensuring that every team member \n understands how a member is cared for is as important as the technical service provided. Success is measured by the strength and relevance of programming, member engagement and retention, financial performance, leadership \n effectiveness, and the community and culture created throughout the Club.\n \n RESPONSIBILITIES\n Member Experience & Luxury Service\n • Establish and personally model a consistently elevated, personalized, and highly attentive member \n experience throughout Athletics & Wellness.\n • Create a culture in which members are known, recognized, engaged, and personally supported.\n • Ensure Studio leaders and teams anticipate member needs rather than relying on transactional service.\n • Maintain a highly visible leadership presence throughout Athletics areas, locker rooms, Studios, recovery \n spaces, and the broader Club.\n • Regularly engage members to understand their interests, experiences, concerns, and evolving expectations.\n • Establish and enforce service standards for recognition, communication, responsiveness, personalization, \n discretion, presentation, and follow-through.\n • Ensure member concerns and service failures are addressed quickly, thoughtfully, and to appropriate \n resolution.\n • Develop thoughtful touches, introductions, recommendations, and follow-up practices that personalize the \n Athletics & Wellness experience.\n • Protect member privacy and ensure professional discretion throughout the department.\n Effective: July 2026\n • Ensure physical conditions—including cleanliness, equipment, furnishings, lighting, music, temperature, \n scent, organization, and presentation—support an elevated private-club experience.\n Wellness Philosophy & Programming Leadership\n • Establish and continually evolve the Club’s overall Athletics & Wellness philosophy and programming \n strategy.\n • Ensure the program reflects a contemporary understanding of whole-person well-being while remaining \n professionally credible and appropriate for a private membership club.\n • Maintain current knowledge of established and emerging practices in fitness, mind/body, recovery, \n performance, longevity, nutrition, technology, and wellness.\n • Continually evaluate member interests, utilization, industry developments, and competitive offerings to \n identify opportunities for innovation.\n • Determine which emerging concepts appropriately belong at LAAC rather than simply following wellness \n trends.\n • Lead the development of programming addressing appropriate dimensions of well-being, including:\n o Physical fitness, strength, mobility, and performance\n o Pilates, yoga, Tai Chi, breathwork, meditation, and mind/body practices\n o Recovery, rejuvenation, sleep, mobility, heat, cold, infrared, and related modalities\n o Nutrition, hydration, and healthy lifestyle practices\n o Stress management, resilience, mindfulness, and emotional well-being\n o Social connection, belonging, and community\n o Reflection, restoration, and opportunities to disconnect and recharge\n o Educational programs utilizing appropriately qualified practitioners and experts\n • Ensure specialized medical, nutritional, psychological, or therapeutic subjects are delivered only within \n appropriate professional boundaries and through qualified professionals.\n • Evaluate participation and program performance and make timely decisions to expand, modify, consolidate, \n or discontinue offerings.\n • Maintain consistent standards of technical quality, hospitality, safety, professionalism, and presentation \n throughout all programming.\n Studio Leadership & Organizational Development\n • Provide direct leadership and accountability to Studio Managers, Studio Coordinators, and other Athletics & \n Wellness leaders.\n • Establish each Studio as a clearly defined business and member-experience platform with measurable \n operating objectives.\n • Set expectations for member satisfaction, participation, revenue, expense management, labor productivity, \n retention, membership contribution, programming, and service quality.\n • Recruit, select, coach, evaluate, develop, and retain highly capable leaders and technical professionals.\n • Develop succession plans and strengthen internal leadership capability.\n • Create a culture of collaboration rather than independent Studio silos.\n • Encourage Studio leaders to develop programs and teams that become progressively less dependent upon \n the leader as the primary service provider.\n • Establish consistent operating disciplines while preserving the expertise and individual character of each \n Studio.\n • Hold leaders accountable for both business results and the quality of the human experience they create.\n Effective: July 2026\n Business & Financial Leadership\n • Lead Athletics & Wellness as a collection of interrelated business units accountable for financial \n contribution as well as member value.\n • Develop annual budgets, forecasts, operating plans, labor models, revenue objectives, and departmental \n priorities.\n • Hold Studio leaders accountable for revenue, expenses, labor productivity, utilization, participation, and \n operating performance.\n • Analyze departmental and Studio performance and translate results into actionable strategies.\n • Develop appropriate revenue opportunities through personal training, private instruction, specialized \n programming, wellness services, events, clinics, workshops, and other experiences.\n • Evaluate pricing, capacity, utilization, scheduling, and productivity to maximize both member access and \n business performance.\n • Identify underperforming programs and resources and implement corrective action.\n • Coordinate capital, equipment, technology, vendor, and resource priorities with Finance and Club \n leadership.\n • Maintain the appropriate balance between profitability, access, member value, and luxury-level service.\n Membership Growth & Retention\n • Partner closely with Membership to establish Athletics & Wellness as a major driver of acquisition, \n onboarding, engagement, retention, referral, and reactivation.\n • Ensure Studio leaders understand their responsibility for membership growth and retention.\n • Develop prospect experiences that demonstrate the breadth, sophistication, community, and personal \n attention represented by LAAC Athletics & Wellness.\n • Participate in prospect tours, presentations, demonstrations, orientations, and membership events where \n executive involvement strengthens conversion.\n • Develop onboarding strategies that connect new members quickly with appropriate Studios, programs, \n instructors, trainers, communities, and Club experiences.\n • Identify members with declining participation and develop appropriate outreach and re-engagement \n strategies.\n • Encourage cross-Studio participation and expose members to the complete breadth of the Club.\n • Reinforce the principle that every member interaction can influence retention, referral, reputation, and new member acquisition.\n Nutrition, Lifestyle & Club Integration\n • Work across Club departments to make wellness a broader component of the LAAC lifestyle rather than \n something confined to fitness spaces.\n • Partner with Culinary and qualified professionals on nutrition, hydration, healthy menu development, \n performance foods, educational programming, and appropriate wellness products.\n • Partner with Club Programming on speakers, workshops, wellness series, clinics, competitions, \n demonstrations, community experiences, and educational programming.\n • Partner with Marketing to communicate the Club’s Athletics & Wellness evolution, programming, member \n stories, expertise, and new experiences.\n • Partner with Membership on acquisition, onboarding, retention, referrals, and member engagement.\n • Collaborate with Hotel Operations, Housekeeping, Engineering, Security, Food & Beverage, and other \n departments to ensure a seamless experience encompassing arrival, activity, locker rooms, recovery, social \n interaction, and departure.\n Effective: July 2026\n • Identify credible practitioners, organizations, brands, technologies, and outside experts capable of \n enhancing LAAC programming.\n • Ensure partnerships provide genuine member or Club value and do not simply provide outside businesses \n access to the membership.\n Social Connection, Community & Culture\n • Recognize social connection and belonging as meaningful components of member well-being and actively \n incorporate them into Athletics & Wellness programming.\n • Use classes, Studios, competitions, clinics, clubs, workshops, and shared experiences to create \n relationships between members.\n • Develop environments where members feel comfortable participating regardless of experience level while \n maintaining appropriately high standards.\n • Encourage programming that supports personal accomplishment, curiosity, connection, restoration, and \n enjoyment.\n • Respect the diversity of members’ personal beliefs and approaches to well-being while creating appropriate \n opportunities for mindfulness, reflection, and personal restoration.\n • Ensure Athletics & Wellness contributes meaningfully to the broader energy, community, identity, and \n culture of LAAC.\n Club & Executive Leadership\n • The Director of Athletics & Wellness is an LAAC executive first and is expected to support broader Club \n management, events, member initiatives, and organizational priorities as required.\n • Serve as an active member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club Executive Committee.\n • Participate in Club strategy, budgeting, operating reviews, membership initiatives, capital planning, \n programming, and organizational development.\n • Think beyond departmental boundaries and take ownership of conditions that influence the member \n experience regardless of where they occur.\n • Maintain awareness of service, cleanliness, maintenance, safety, presentation, and operational standards \n throughout the Club.\n • Reinforce leadership behaviors of accountability, urgency, curiosity, collaboration, hospitality, innovation, \n and continuous improvement.\n • Serve as a visible ambassador for LAAC with members, prospects, employees, partners, and the broader \n community.\n QUALIFICATIONS\n • Significant leadership experience in fitness, wellness, athletics, luxury hospitality, private clubs, resorts, or \n a sophisticated membership environment.\n • Strong preference for experience within an elevated luxury private club, resort, wellness destination, or \n premium lifestyle organization.\n • Professional certification in at least one recognized discipline such as personal training, Pilates, yoga, \n strength and conditioning, or another relevant fitness or wellness modality.\n • Broad working understanding of fitness, mind/body, recovery, nutrition, performance, wellness, and \n emerging industry practices.\n • Demonstrated intellectual curiosity and commitment to remaining informed about the continuing evolution \n of health, fitness, and wellness.\n • Strong appreciation for the physical, emotional, social, nutritional, restorative, and reflective dimensions of \n contemporary well-being.\n • Demonstrated judgment regarding appropriate professional boundaries and the use of qualified experts in \n specialized areas.\n • Experience leading multiple operating areas, managers, technical professionals, instructors, coaches, and \n practitioners.\n • Strong financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, revenue development, labor productivity, \n expense management, and P&L accountability.\n • Demonstrated understanding of luxury hospitality, personalized service, relationship-based member \n engagement, and private-club culture.\n • Proven ability to develop programs that increase participation, satisfaction, retention, and revenue.\n • Strong membership-development and business instincts.\n • Ability to critically evaluate new trends, technologies, practitioners, and partnerships.\n • High emotional intelligence, cultural awareness, curiosity, discretion, and interpersonal sensitivity.\n • Strong organizational, analytical, communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills.\n • Ability to establish priorities, delegate effectively, coach leaders, manage multiple initiatives, and maintain \n exceptional follow-through.\n • Professional, confident, approachable executive presence.\n • High attention to detail and an instinct for identifying service, programming, facility, or presentation \n deficiencies before they affect the member experience.\n • Comfortable moving between strategic executive leadership and direct engagement with members and \n operations.\n • Flexibility to work evenings, weekends, holidays, and Club events based on business requirements.\n EXEMPLIFY OUR MERCURY RISING VALUES AT WORK AND DURING ALL OFFSITE WORK-RELATED EVENTS:\n • Teamwork; Work collectively to realize goals that are greater than what you can achieve individually.\n • Friendliness; create an authentic, welcoming environment for all patrons; be friendly, greet members with a \n smile, give a sincere farewell, and use member’s name whenever possible.\n • Health. Promote health by demonstrating a long-term and all-encompassing approach to health, which \n integrates soundness of mind, body, and spirit.\n • Heritage. Embrace the values and traditions inherited from the club founders.\n • Strive for Wonderment. Create an ambiance of wonder for our members and guests by creating marvels and \n unexpected joy in every club experience.\n CONSISTENTLY ADHERE TO THE LOS ANGELES ATHLETIC CLUB CORE SERVICE STANDARDS:\n • Exemplify high-quality hospitality by making every member, guest, and business partner feel welcomed, \n valued, respected, and listened to; greet at every encounter, offer assistance to anyone who appears in \n need, and escort individuals to correct destination.\n • Take responsibility for maintaining an uncompromisingly clean Clu