Leisure duty manager
Also known as; Duty manager, duty officer
The leisure duty manager is responsible for overseeing the smooth and efficient day-to-day operation of a leisure facility. They ensure that the venue runs safely and efficiently, providing a high-quality experience for all users. Their work includes supervising staff, maintaining health and safety standards, and ensuring that all scheduled activities and services are delivered effectively.
The role of a leisure duty manager aligns to the CIMSPA Entry Manager occupational professional standard.
What could I earn as a Leisure duty manager?
Your earnings will depend on the hours you work, your location, level of experience and whether you are employed or self-employed. To give you an idea, the data presented reflects the earnings listed in job advertisements across the UK from January to December 2024, as gathered via Lightcast (March 2025). Average annual earnings reflect full-time roles (>32hours/week), however average hourly earnings are a reflection of data collected from full-time, part-time and flexible hours vacancies.
Average UK earnings
Avg. annual earnings
Avg. hourly earnings
total job postings
Evening/weekends/bank holidays
What does a Leisure duty manager do?
A leisure duty manager plays a central role in the daily operation and overall customer experience within a leisure facility. Their key responsibilities include:
- Operational management: Overseeing the day-to-day running of the facility, ensuring all areas are clean, safe and ready for use.
- Staff supervision: Leading and supporting a team of staff including lifeguards, receptionists, fitness instructors and cleaners.
- Health and safety compliance: Ensuring that all safety procedures are followed, conducting regular checks and responding to incidents or emergencies.
- Customer service: Providing excellent customer service, handling enquiries and complaints, and ensuring a welcoming environment for all visitors.
- Facility preparation: Setting up and taking down equipment for activities and events according to the programme schedule.
- Maintenance reporting: Identifying and reporting any maintenance issues promptly to ensure minimal disruption to services.
- Cash handling and administration: Managing bookings, processing payments and completing necessary administrative tasks.
- Team development: Supporting the training and development of staff to maintain high performance and motivation.
Skills and behaviours
The following common or transferable skills are most frequently asked for by employers in leisure duty manager job adverts across the UK:
| Skills and behaviours | % prevalence in job adverts |
|---|---|
| Management | 60% |
| Customer service | 40% |
| Sales | 28% |
| First aid | 22% |
| Operations | 19% |
| Communication | 16% |
| Supervision | 14% |
| Leadership | 13% |
| Report writing | 11% |
| Innovation | 8% |
How to become a Leisure duty manager
There are several ways you can become a leisure duty manager. Look at the options below to explore what might work best for you.
Workplace-based development
If you're currently employed in a relevant leisure role within the sport and physical activity sector – such as a lifeguard, swim instructor or fitness/gym instructor – your employer should support your career development by providing training, mentoring and supervised experience. This will help you to build the knowledge and skills needed to progress toward a duty manager position.
Complete qualifications or continued professional development (CPD) with a training provider
Although there are no mandatory qualifications required to become a leisure duty manager, employers often look for the following qualifications when hiring:
- Pool lifeguard
- Pool plant operation
- Leisure management
- First aid
College or university
Some colleges and universities have embedded content aligned with the Entry Manager occupational professional standard into their learning programmes. The role of a leisure duty manager sits within the Entry Manager occupational professional standard.
In the CIMSPA endorsed training directory, you can check what courses our partner colleges and universities offer as well as course entry requirements, a summary of course content/material and more information on how to apply.
Apprenticeship
You can complete an apprenticeship to become a leisure duty manager. You can find out more about completing a leisure duty manager apprenticeship via The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) website.
Professional Standards
CIMSPA is the guardian of a single professional and apprenticeship standards framework for the sport and physical activity sector – outlining the minimum knowledge, skills and behaviours an individual must understand and demonstrate for every occupation and job role in the sector.
This standards framework is driving the development of quality education products for our workforce and supporting employers in assessing which job roles an individual is qualified for.
What's the best role for you?
Check out the Training Accademy
Career paths and progression
Career pathways
Career progression
Career progression
As well as exploring new career pathways, as a leisure duty manager, you can also choose to progress your career by completing further training or continued professional development (CPD) in your role. This training can be added to enable leisure duty managers to show their expertise in additional populations, in different environments and with technical specialisms.
Find a job as a Leisure duty manager
The content of the job posts displayed on the CIMSPA jobs board are pulled in through feeds from websites which are not under the control of CIMSPA.
CIMSPA will not be liable for any false, inaccurate, inappropriate or incomplete information presented on the jobs board.