Ecotourism, Sustainable Tourism & Hospitality Jobs

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Hiring: Program & Operations Coordinator
Company: Maple Leaf Adventures
Location: at our office in downtown Victoria, BC

Are you a keen, energetic, self-starter interested in the putting your skills to work in the eco-tourism industry on the coast of BC? We’re inviting a uniquely skilled individual the opportunity to join the small business team who grew a tiny ecotourism company into one of Canada’s most respected expedition cruise operators, rated “the Trip of a Lifetime” by National Geographic. For over 30 years our mission has been to make travel good for our ecosystems and coastal people.

If being part of a dynamic community of explorers, planners, naturalists, and craftspeople who create trips that inspire wonder in guests, crew, media, and staff alike gets you excited to come to work, we want to hear from you. In this role you’ll have the opportunity to develop new skills and your career through trying new things you might not be able to in a larger company. We are always looking for people with innovative ideas who find or create new and better ways to achieve our mission. We also provide benefits, the opportunity to explore our coast with great people, professional development funding and social events.

About the role

Reporting to the Operations Manager the Program and Operations Coordinator is a key member of the logistics team tasked with administration of programs, maintaining regulatory compliance and developing and implementing corporate responsibility as directed by MLA management. for the company’s three passenger ships. The Program & Operations Coordinator has specific responsibility for developing and measuring quality trip delivery, implementing steps to achieve regular and custom itineraries, training crew, and ensuring compliance through permitting. They will also assist the Operations Department in various logistical tasks. The CEO and CRO are internal clients.

In this role you will have specific responsibilities in the operations department to support our three cruise ships on their ten-day eco-tours through BC’s coastal rainforests. Key responsibilities for this role include:

• Compliance and registration with parks, land-use regulators and First Nations protocol agreements, including training crew on regulations
• Coordinating training, itinerary development and ship support for over 31 distinct itineraries and private charters, in collaboration with subject-matter experts at the company
• Specific logistical responsibilities within a team, including arranging travel, food, supplies, and personnel movements to ships
• Documentation related to communication between ships and executive support, particularly in areas of expertise, as needed

The successful candidate

Your strengths include being an independent self-starter. You excel at analyzing existing structures and systems and making innovative suggestions for improvement. You have exceptional organizational skills and are driven by results. You have no trouble making decisions and communicate in a way that creates clarity and brings others on board. You define success as achieving the goals you set for yourself and delivering on the organization’s goals.

Motivators

You do your best work when you see and understand the big picture and can determine how to execute your responsibilities with that vision. You’re a good communicator and quickly establish rapport with others as well as work effectively with different personalities. You are unique in balancing your desire for connection and people skills with opportunities to work with facts and tap into your analytical side. It’s important to you to have time to develop your expertise and you thrive when you have opportunities to reflect on your learning and growth. You are motivated by a role with variety and flexibility but are also able to balance that freedom within the structures developed over many years in a complex company.

Qualifications

• demonstrated commitment to ecotourism and ecology, particularly in the context of ecotourism and evolving norms amongst coastal First Nations communities
• an understanding of the company’s service and why people buy it.
• multiple years professional experience, with a mix of operational and administrative functions, people or project management, and demonstrating responsibility and initiative.
• some post-secondary education.
• proficiency with professional office software
• good written and verbal communication, and an ability to work on team-based and individual projects
• It will be an asset if you have:
  • familiarity with boats, marine regulations, and marine certifications is an asset.
  • knowledge of the BC coast
  • Sales experience

Detailed responsibilities (shared before interview, but not in the advertisement)

Program coordination (60% of time, more seasonally):

1. Under the direction of one of the product management team and/or the Sales team, research, cost, and put together itinerary plans for custom trip elements (such as new prototype trips, custom trip elements for Canadian Geographic trips, or custom charters), working with subject matter experts on programming, navigation, guest expedition management.
2. Apply for and obtain required permits (or escalate other required regulatory permissions to the appropriate manager to obtain).
3. Administer crew and guest information for customs and immigration
4. Administer all reporting to Parks, First Nations and all other regulatory agencies
5. Vet and hire suppliers as needed by an approved plan.
6. Work with the Operations team to book and make arrangements to support the itinerary.
7. Document trip plans, including instructions for expedition team and/or suppliers; train stakeholders on trip plans.
8. Support itineraries as needed (or train others to support it).
9. Provide Sales support to the Sales Team
10. Maintain database of trip program and itinerary elements that need to be reviewed, updated or replaced, and coordinate periodic meetings of the people responsible for product management.

Logistical responsibilities (30% of time, more seasonally):

1. supporting the ship and crew for the season and coordinating the logistics of ship supplies and all pre- and post-trip movements of people and goods,
2. arranging and managing efficient crew and/or guest travel,
3. transportation in and out of ports on the coast and international border crossings for the ship,
4. arranging suppliers and supply systems as necessary in remote parts of the coast and oversee the supplying of the ship in remote ports,
5. improving efficiency while respecting the principles of ecotourism,
6. assisting in some HR functions, as assigned,
7. providing research, analysis, reports or other documents, as assigned, and
8. learning other tasks to provide vacation coverage for other roles.
9. Plan the general crew training events (online or offline).

Executive Support responsibilities (10% of time, most of the year):

1. From time to time, assist the senior management team in researching and drafting correspondence to external actors; and
2. Maintaining familiarity with the company’s document and database information systems in order to meet managers’ information needs.

Please apply by email:
jobs@mapleleafadventures.com

Please provide an up to date resume and Cover letter with your application. Your cover letter should include a story which demonstrates why you feel you are perfect for this role!

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