Travel Operations Lead - Barmy Army

Travel Operations Lead

Barmy Army

This is a hybrid role based in our Chesterfield office, so you must live within a commutable distance.

The Barmy Army have been providing fans with unforgettable, bucket list sporting experiences, both at home and abroad, for more than 25 years. Whether it’s a day at The Test in the UK or a full tour overseas – we pride ourselves on our unique, fun-loving, positive community and our team will be on hand to ensure you’re enjoying the action both on and off the pitch. https://barmyarmy.com/

We are seeking a highly organised and sport-passionate Travel Operation Lead to take a key role in the delivery of long-haul Barmy Army members tours to international cricket events, including The Ashes 25/26, the England White Ball Tour of Sri Lanka 2026, The T20 World Cup 2026 and the England Tour of South Africa 26/27. From ICC tournaments and overseas Test series to bilateral tours, you’ll be responsible for orchestrating every logistical and service element to create seamless, exciting, and unforgettable journeys for cricket fans. This role blends pre-tour operational precision with on the ground tour management, ensuring every tour captures the thrill of the game and the camaraderie of the Barmy Army community.

No two days are the same in this exciting operationally focussed role but on a typical day you will assist with:

Tour Planning

• Design and develop tour packages for international cricket tours.

• Source and negotiate with hotels, ground transportation providers, airlines and DMCs to provide high standard tours at the best possible prices.

• Working with the Head of Operations and Finance Team to develop accurate budgets and costings for all tours, excursions and events, providing forecasted P&L for all tours.

• Coordinate the accurate loading of tours and products onto our booking system and website, including creating detailed sales itineraries with interesting and informative content.

• Brief the wider organisation prior to tours going on sale, ensuring all team members have detailed product briefs.

Operational Execution

• Manage end-to-end logistics of a tour: flights, hotels, ground transport, excursions and tickets to ensure all deliverables are met on time and within budget.

• Maintain tight control of stock and provide accurate financial risk records to ensure accurate and clear data is available to internal stakeholders and suppliers.

• Build and maintain strong relationships with partners, DMCs, and official ticketing organisations.

• Ensuring all H&S requirements are met prior to and during tours.

• Producing comprehensive pre-departure information for travel members alongside details pre-tour briefings to Tour Managers and all on-tour staff.

• Traveling to destinations for on-the-ground delivery of tours, ensuring the smooth running of the tours and proactively addressing any issues that may arise, such as travel delays, unexpected changes in tour plans, or member concerns.

• Tracking tour progress and identifying areas for improvement, and if necessary, implementing changes whilst on tour.

Travel Member Experience & Customer Service

• Be a champion for the fan journey — working with the Head of Operations, Customer Service Manager and Marketing Team to ensure a smooth and high energy experience from pre-booking through to when members return from tour.

• Foster a strong sense of community and team spirit among travel members, along with the wider Barmy Army Membership on tour.

• Reporting & Optimisation

• Working with the Head of Operations and Customer Service Manager to monitor performance metrics including NPS (Net Promoter Score) and complaint resolution.

• Working with the Customer Service Manager to gather and act on Tour Manager and travel member feedback to refine future tour offerings.

• Produce post-tour debrief reports including tour P&Ls and supplier reviews.

To be successful within this role, our ideal candidate will:

• Have extensive experience in travel operations or sports tour management in a similar operationally focussed role, preferably with a focus on cricket.

• Previous experience operating international sport tours (highly advantageous)

• Able to demonstrate a strong network within the cricket &/or sports industry would be highly desirable

• Have a deep knowledge of international cricket formats, schedules, and fan culture (highly advantageous)

• Demonstrate commercial acumen with experience in contracting and negotiating with 3rd parties

• Be operationally focussed with the ability to manage tours end to end from initial design through to completion & post event analysis

• Be confident working with various stakeholders across multiple teams to ensure event success

• Demonstrate strong organisation, administration and time management skills

• Have working experience building & maintaining relationships with partners, suppliers, DMC’s and ticketing organisations

• Demonstrate financial accum with experience setting & managing event budgets

• Be computer literate with solid experience of Microsoft office, especially Excel and Word, CRM, SES and Google Workspace

• Possess outstanding interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate to both internal & external stakeholders at all levels of seniority

• Have excellent attention to detail with the ability to prioritise tasks across multiple tours with often competing deadlines

• Be able to travel both domestically & internationally for work purposes when required

• Flexible working hours including occasional evenings, weekend and bank holidays during cricket events if required

So if you are looking for your next challenge, please get in touch we'd love to hear from you!