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Why Southwark?
Are you passionate about creating outstanding customer experiences? Are you ready to shape the future of leisure services and make a real difference in your community?
Southwark Council is offering an exciting opportunity to be part of our brand-new leisure centre, empowering residents to lead healthier, happier lives. We are seeking a dedicated and enthusiastic Leisure Team Leader to join our growing team. If you have a passion for customer service, excellent leadership skills, and a commitment to delivering outstanding facilities, this is the perfect opportunity to make an impact in a dynamic environment at Southwark Leisure Centres.
About Southwark
Southwark is the largest local authority social landlord in London, managing 55,000 homes that are lived in by around 40% of our residents. Our borough is home to more than 18,300 businesses, including iconic cultural venues, major employers, and vibrant social enterprises. We are proud of our young, diverse, and growing population.
We are committed to creating a just and fair Southwark, taking meaningful action to address inequalities. Our communities are our greatest strength, and our work is shaped by the values at the heart of Southwark Stands Together—our shared commitment to tackling racism, injustice, and inequality. These principles guide everything we do, including how we serve our residents and support our staff.
What You'll Be Doing
About the role:
As a Leisure Team Leader, you’ll be responsible for overseeing daily operations, ensuring the highest standards of safety, cleanliness, and customer service, and leading a fantastic team of Recreation Assistants. Your leadership will drive the success of the centre, ensuring smooth operations while delivering a great experience for our visitors.
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Your Key Responsibilities
- Maintain the highest standards of safety, cleanliness, and security across all areas of the leisure centre, in line with all policies, procedures, and regulations.
- Provide effective, visible leadership to your team, ensuring high performance and adherence to procedures.
- Ensure your team deliver top-notch customer service, addressing customer queries and complaints professionally and promptly.
- Support the Duty Manager in maintaining operational standards, records, and financial procedures. Take on specific areas of responsibility as needed.
- Ensure the leisure centre opens on time and closes securely at the end of each day, following all necessary protocols.
- Maintain effective communication with the Line Manager and team ensuring smooth shift transitions and operational efficiency.
- Support the ongoing training and development of your team, conducting performance reviews and offering feedback to ensure continuous improvement.
What We're Looking For
About You
We’re looking for a proactive and enthusiastic leader with a passion for customer service and team development. You’ll bring:
- Experience in a leisure or customer service-focused environment
- Strong leadership and team management skills
- Excellent communication and interpersonal abilities
- The ability to stay calm under pressure and handle emergencies effectively
- A commitment to maintaining high operational standards
- A flexible, proactive attitude with a keen focus on continuous improvement
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Additional Information
- Closing date: 10th August 2026
- Interview Date: 17th August 2026
Guaranteed Interview Scheme
Requirements
As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the below criteria:
- Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
- Are currently in care, or have previously been in care
- If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition
We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities. This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together initiative. We particularly welcome applications from members of the black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.
This role is classed as Regulated Activity under safeguarding legislation. To help us ensure the safety and wellbeing of those we support, you’ll be asked to declare all cautions and both spent and unspent convictions as part of the recruitment process.
Southwark Leisure Services operates across several sites, seven days a week from early morning to late night. There is a requirement for the post holder on occasions, to work outside normal office hours and at different venues to meet the needs of the service.
Attachments
Click here to view the Job description and Person specification
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