Recreation Facilities Manager: Job Description & Salary

Recreation facility managers take charge of the day-to-day operations of a recreation facility. This could be a public park, a haunted house, or an indoor skydiving center. Of course, due to the wide range of recreation available to the general public, the job descriptions of a facility manager will change vastly between industries. However, common duties shared between most positions will likely include managing and training staff, interacting with clients or guests of the facility, as well as managing repairs and general maintenance.

Recreation facility managers will typically work onsite, although this could involve multiple locations, depending on the employer. It is possible a recreation facility manager may also perform operational tasks involved in running the facility such as budgeting, marketing, or human resources. These could be stand-alone specific positions within an organization, or rolled into one position, depending on the size and scope of the facility.

Source: *U.S. Bureau of Labor & Statistics

Required Education

Most careers as a recreation facility manager will require a formal degree in the areas of business administration or management. There are also specific degrees offered by universities in the field of recreational facility management, and candidates with those specific skills may be preferred. However some employers may accept industry experience or even excellent work performance in a non-management role, perhaps as a staff supervisor, or customer service lead, for example.

Required Skills

A recreation facility manager will undoubtedly be required to interact with employees, vendors, contractors and customers of the facility. This means excellent communication and customer service skills will be a benefit for potential applicants. Depending on the facility itself, a knowledge and experience of the particular industry and client base being served may also be helpful. For example, it may be appropriate for a public park facility manager to be knowledgeable about different species of trees, just as it would be helpful, and perhaps even required, for a swimming pool facility manager to know CPR.

Career Outlook & Salary

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that employment for general/operations managers and also for recreation workers will grow by 9% from 2020-2030. Within the same time frame, the BLS also predicts employment in the field of administrative services managers (which is inclusive of facility management) will grow by 8%.

The salary of a recreation facility manager may vary dependent on the type of facility being managed and the size of the organization that owns the facility. It is likely that candidates with high levels of experience or appropriate education will receive higher pay than their less experience peers. The BLS reports the median salary for a general or operations manager was $103,650 in 2020.