Area Manager

Little Snappers Swim Schools | South-East Queensland

Industry Context

Learning to swim is a core life skill in Australia, and demand for it is structural rather than discretionary. Drowning remains a leading cause of preventable death in young children, and teaching water safety early is widely recognised as one of the most effective ways to prevent it. Most families start their children young, well before school age, and government voucher programs in Queensland such as SwimStart and Play On actively subsidise lessons for young children.

At the same time, fewer schools run their own learn-to-swim programs, which has shifted more of the responsibility for teaching children to swim onto private swim schools. Population growth across South-East Queensland, particularly in the outer-suburban growth corridors, is adding families to catchments faster than swim schools can open to serve them.

The industry is highly fragmented. Most operators are single-site, family-owned businesses, with a smaller number of larger multi-site groups and well-funded consolidators building scale. What matters commercially is which operator sits within a short drive of each catchment, because families choose local.

About Little Snappers

Little Snappers is a boutique learn-to-swim operator based in South-East Queensland, founded in 2011 and led by Mark and Mai Dalle Cort. The business runs five sites across the region: Yarrabilba, Berrinba, Moorooka, Highland Park and Greenbank.

The program teaches children from newborn through to squad across sixteen levels, with a focus on small class sizes and technique-led teaching. Alongside retail lessons, the business runs a seasonal school swimming program and works with schools and childcare centres.

The teaching heritage runs deep. Program Director Chris Dellit has more than 40 years in the industry, has built and operated more than 15 Queensland swim schools, and is an active trainer and industry expert. Culturally it is a family-owned, values-led business, built on joy, integrity, respect and excellence, with a No Tears philosophy and a genuine focus on doing right by both families and staff.

The business is now entering a growth phase. Its existing pools run at roughly a third of the capacity they can hold. The plan is to fill that latent capacity, open new greenfield sites across South-East Queensland, and selectively acquire other operators, growing from five sites toward a network several times its current size.

The Opportunity

Little Snappers' existing pools are running at roughly a third of what they can hold.



Your job is to take a portfolio of five to seven sites and turn that latent capacity into full pools, so every catchment we operate in becomes the swim school families choose first.

You directly manage the Site Managers across that portfolio and own its combined profit and loss, not just the supervision of it. You report to the Operations Manager, or to the CEO where no Operations Manager is yet in place.

What You'll Be Responsible For

· General supervision of all sites in the region

· Direct the development and execution of regional business plans

· Hire, direct, develop and manage staff to meet the needs of customers and drive the business

· Foster a culture grounded in accountability, teamwork and a passion for delivering results

· Oversee service and quality standards in line with company needs and customer requirements

· Implement and maintain operational processes and procedures, and prepare reports on performance and potential improvements

· Provide direction, development and leadership across all sites

· Provide accurate and timely submission of KPIs

· Train, mentor and develop site managers and supervisors

· Manage the team's performance, identify and address issues, and hold the team accountable

· Scale the team by interviewing, hiring, training and retaining team members

· Grow and develop the team through regular training and meetings

· Develop in-house training programs for instructors and co-ordinators

· Work collaboratively with marketing on the successful launch and ongoing promotion of programs

· Work with cross-functional partners to improve data usage, reporting, incentives, brand awareness and customer engagement

· Support the implementation of new programs and systems

· Monitor compliance, including regular auditing

· Review key reports, analyse data and make data-driven decisions

· Organise and conduct staff meetings and training for instructors and support staff

Who We're Looking For

Owns the number. Comfortable holding a P&L;, reading site-level margin, and acting on underperformance. Not a supervisor waiting to be told what to do.

Builds and holds a team. Recruits well, gives direct feedback,



and holds site managers accountable to targets without being heavy-handed about it.

Operator's eye. Notices the small things on a pool deck (water temperature, class flow, how fast the front desk answers) that decide whether a parent stays or leaves.

Thrives in a scaling business. Comfortable with ambiguity, happy opening current sites and folding in acquisitions, and calm when several sites need attention at once.

Protects the boutique feel. Scales process and standards without turning Little Snappers into a faceless chain.

You will also bring:

· Aquatic industry experience (desirable, not essential; strong multi-site operational leaders from adjacent service industries are encouraged to apply)

· A business degree or Certificate III or IV, and/or three or more years of industry experience, or a willingness to obtain one

· A proven track record of driving results in a competitive market

· Experience with computers and databases

· The ability to work independently

· Excellent teamwork skills

· A constant focus on impeccable customer satisfaction

· Strong oral and written communication skills

· A valid driver's licence

· Availability to work a flexible schedule as needed, including weekend work

12-Month Deliverables In your first 3 months

· Know the portfolio cold. Meet every site manager and instructor, walk each pool, and produce a per-site diagnostic: where enrolments, utilisation, retention and Google reviews sit today, and the two or three moves at each site that unlock the most growth.

In your first 6 to 12 months

· Fill the pools we already have. Grow enrolments across the existing portfolio by around 10%, by opening the timeslots families actually want (Sunday trading, extended after-school hours), removing makeup-lesson disruption to regular classes, and running site managers to KPI-linked scorecards.

· Contribute to the teacher pipeline. Assist the Manager of Training and Development to build a swim-teacher recruitment and retention engine that hires ahead of demand, so instructor supply never becomes the thing that caps growth.

In your first 12 months

· Open and absorb new sites. Stand up a repeatable playbook for opening greenfield sites and integrating acquired ones into Little Snappers' systems, brand and standards, so each new site reaches breakeven quickly and lifts to standard within its first year.

Location

South-East Queensland, based across the sites in your portfolio, with regular time on the pool deck at each site.

📌 Area Manager (Brisbane)
🏢 Little Snappers Swim Schools
📍 Brisbane