VAULT

Private · Master Plan · v1.0
VAULTGM JOB SPEC

General Manager, VAULT Charlotte

Role of record. The GM runs VAULT. Taj is the face and the taste. The GM is the operator, the P&L owner, the head of staff, and the person on the floor at 6:30 a.m. and again at 9 p.m. on opening weeks.

This is a hospitality hire, not a fitness industry hire. VAULT is a 5-star club with wellness inside it, not a gym with concierge on top.

Who we hire, background required

Required background falls in one of two lanes.

Lane 1, luxury hotel hospitality

Prior GM, Hotel Manager, or Director of Operations at one of:

  • Four Seasons
  • Aman
  • Peninsula
  • Rosewood
  • Mandarin Oriental
  • Auberge Resorts Collection
  • Bulgari Hotels
  • Belmond
  • Cheval Blanc

Candidate has run a property or a major department in a Forbes 5-star or AAA 5-diamond environment. Candidate has personally handled guest recovery at the ownership level, service standard audits, and F&B integration.

Lane 2, fitness-hospitality hybrid at the luxury tier only

Prior GM, Regional Director, or Head of Club at one of:

  • Equinox Hotels, GM or Hotel Manager level
  • Life Time Diamond or Life Time Sky properties, GM
  • Bay Club Company, Club GM at a flagship
  • The Wing (pre-close) or Chief Executive Club properties
  • Soho House, House Manager or GM at a flagship house
  • Aviator Nation Ranch or Remedy Place, GM

Standard-tier fitness resumes do not qualify. Not Orangetheory, not Crunch, not Gold’s, not standard Life Time Athletic, not Planet Fitness. Not a boutique studio operator without a hospitality layer.

Skills, non-negotiable

  • P&L ownership at a property doing $6M or more annual revenue
  • Managed a team of 40 or more, direct and indirect
  • Owned a hospitality service ritual, not just SOPs, a real ritual with training and QA
  • F&B literacy, has co-managed a cafe, bar, or private dining room
  • Membership or loyalty program experience, private club, hotel loyalty tier, or luxury retail clienteling
  • Vendor and contract negotiation, has signed for $250K plus vendor deals
  • Comfortable being the face of the club when Taj is not on-site, without ever pretending to be the brand
  • Ability to protect the founder’s calendar and creative time as a core job duty

Skills, strongly preferred

  • Charlotte, Southeast, or Sun Belt market experience
  • Wellness or spa program oversight
  • Pre-opening experience, at least one property taken from build-out to open
  • Private events and buyouts at the $50K plus level
  • Public-facing brand rep experience, press-comfortable, not press-hungry
  • Bilingual English and Spanish

What the GM owns

  • Daily operations, all shifts, all departments
  • Full property P&L, revenue, cost, capex accountability
  • Direct management of Director of Member Experience, Head of Programming (ops line), Director of Finance and Ops, Head of F&B, Head of Instructor Development, Marketing Manager, Community Manager
  • Membership retention, waitlist, and churn as top-line KPI
  • Service standard, training, and audit
  • Vendor relationships and contract renewals
  • Facilities uptime, safety, and compliance
  • Escalation and guest recovery, personally on named accounts
  • Weekly report to Taj, monthly to Trill and Taj together, quarterly board pack

What the GM does not own

  • Brand voice, editorial, look, sound, or scent standards, those live with Taj
  • Programming curation, guest instructor invites, and creative drops, those live with Head of Programming with Taj’s sign-off
  • Capital strategy, franchise strategy, cross-brand strategy, those sit with Trill and Taj
  • Marketing brand system and campaign creative, those live with Tia

Compensation

Charlotte comp basis. Priced above local market to secure hotel-luxury talent for a first-of-its-kind Charlotte property.

  • Base salary, $150,000 to $200,000
  • Annual bonus, 15 percent to 25 percent of base, paid on KPI achievement
    • Membership churn under 6 percent annualized
    • NPS 70 plus
    • Property EBITDA margin at plan
    • Instructor retention above 80 percent
    • Zero critical service or safety failures
  • Equity, 2 percent through the 10 percent option pool, four year vest, one year cliff
  • Sign-on, $25,000 to $40,000, half at start, half at open
  • Relocation, up to $30,000 for out-of-market hires
  • Benefits, full health, dental, vision, life, short and long term disability
  • 401k, 4 percent match after 6 months
  • PTO, 25 days, plus club closure days
  • Club membership, complimentary, family included, includes cafe and lounge tab up to $500 monthly
  • Continuing education, $5,000 annually for hospitality or executive coursework

Total target compensation year one, $195,000 to $265,000 cash, plus equity, plus benefits, plus club perks.

Interview process

Six-stage process, four to six weeks from first screen to offer.

  1. Recruiter phone screen, 30 minutes
  2. Taj, values and taste, 60 minutes, in person if candidate is in market
  3. Trill, strategy, P&L, and franchise-readiness, 90 minutes
  4. Panel with Tia, one operating partner, and one board-adjacent advisor, 90 minutes
  5. Working session, candidate presents a 90-day and 12-month plan for VAULT, 2 hours
  6. Final with Taj, dinner or long walk, unstructured, single question, does Taj want this person carrying her name into the club every morning

Reference checks, minimum five, including one former direct report, one former peer, one former boss, one former guest or member, one former vendor.

Background check and financial check, standard.

Retained recruiter

Retain a hospitality specialty firm. Do not use a fitness industry recruiter. Do not post to LinkedIn as the primary channel.

Preferred firms:

  • J. Patrick and Associates, hospitality executive search
  • Aimbridge Hospitality, internal talent network for referrals
  • Highgate, internal talent network for referrals
  • The DiJulius Group, luxury service and hospitality bench
  • Gecko Hospitality, mid-market backfill for other seats
  • Genesis10 Executive Search, hospitality practice

Retainer, one third at signing, one third at shortlist, one third at accepted offer. Fee, 30 percent of first year cash comp, standard for retained hospitality search at this tier.

Search timeline. Kick off search 14 months before open. Aim to sign the GM 9 to 10 months before open so the GM owns pre-opening hiring, training, and soft-launch. Do not open without a GM in seat for 6 full months.