Senior Hospitality Training Manager

This role is fully remote, we set a location because some job boards require it.

The Role

Kasa's hospitality operations rely on tech-driven tools & systems to deliver a flawless experience for guests, local property partners, and neighbors, and help travelers feel at home in a new area. As a member of the Hospitality Programs team, your goal will be to design and implement portfolio-wide training programs that create a positive, lasting impression of Kasa so that guests come back to stay with us again and again, property partners want to grow with us, and neighbors love having us in their communities.

We are looking for a Sr. Training Manager to define and evolve Kasa's operational programs, balancing quality and efficiency of execution with the need to keep up with Kasa's rapidly growing portfolio of properties. You will be responsible for building out an onboarding and training program for Kasa's on-site Portfolio Ops and Programs teams to ensure we are delivering consistent high standards of quality for every property and every guest stay by developing the systems and tools to effectively roll-out standards and best practices across our entire portfolio. This will include developing a new hire and ongoing learning program for teaching Kasa fundamentals and introducing new processes or systems. The goal is to increase retention and adoption of our standards across a distributed workforce. This role requires deep understanding of our day-to-day operations, cross-functional collaboration and creative problem solving; as well as the ability to identify and execute efficiency and quality improvements at scale through learning and development.

You’ll primarily work virtually and remotely, with occasional visits to Kasas as you collaborate with our on-site teams to test new innovations, impart valuable training, and perform quality assurance checks. Though the work is remote, Kasa has spent years developing a culture that is collaborative, dedicated, and passionate. This role requires regular (8-10 business days per month) visits to our on-site training & testing center for innovation, currently scoped for Chicago. We are open to both local and remote candidates willing to travel regularly.

About the Team

This role is in our Hospitality Programs department, with close ties to teams across Kasa. While the Hospitality Programs team has a broad set of backgrounds in hospitality, real estate, technology, and beyond, everyone joined Kasa because they are passionate about ensuring our guests, property partners, and neighbors receive reliable and consistent high-quality service during each interaction.

A Day in the Life of a Senior Hospitality Training Manager

As the Sr. Training Manager, you will own company-wide program area and your primary focus will be to build scalable and reliable training and learning systems and protocols for our full building and multi-family portfolios, leveraging innovation and optimizing the use of our tools & systems. You will design, launch, and manage multiple training and development projects, including building out our LMS for virtual and on-site learning, creation and management of a team of traveling trainers, and work across internal and external stakeholders to develop and implement best practices that enable Kasa to scale its quality efforts efficiently.

Combining data, conversations, and intuition, you will update and prioritize the Training roadmap and strategy to maintain a set of high-impact projects to accomplish each quarter.

• Strategic Planning - Think ahead and keep the team on track. Use historical data and gather anecdotal information from on-site team members to develop initiatives that support short-term and long-term objectives and design the projects that drive them.
• Analyze - Quantify everything you do. Utilize data-driven, decision-making to understand operational trends and craft your recommendations for growth. You will turn data into programs and then process, to maintain sustainable feedback loops.
• Test & Iterate - Try, try, try again. Be committed to finding the best solutions through iteration and learning from testing. Identify operational weaknesses in our processes and build scalable solutions. Outline, develop, and test high-impact programs and playbooks for our cities reaching scale.
• Build Standards of Excellence (Kasa non-negotiables) - Define our operations-wide governance and hold teams accountable to fostering "The Kasa Way". You will be one of the primary owners in deciding where Kasa negotiates, and doesn't for Operational processes.
• Onboarding - Own the employee onboarding process and its design end-to-end. Set new employees up for success from day one through a robust onboarding program.
• Train (enable best practices & change management) - Provide replicable and consistent training and coaching on quality standards across the portfolio and work with fellow program managers to maximize the reliability of messages getting to all relevant stakeholders. You will do this through a team of remote-based, hands-on training team members.
• Communicate & Report - Establish and maintain regular communication to ensure functional partners and Kasa's leaders are aligned on key objectives for the programs you oversee. Ensure Kasa operations team members are clear on the company's Objectives and Standards and how they contribute to them.
• Collaborate - Work cross-functionally and collectively to identify process inefficiencies, build solutions (process, system or tech), and drive broad operational efficiency.
• Ideate - Bring and nurture bold ideas to the table, including eliciting ideas from front line operations teams who see opportunities every day. These could range from building new maintenance checklists to testing new products to improve our guest experience.
• Be a coach first - Mentor mentality. Coach your team by regularly providing constructive feedback, clearly outlining career growth paths, celebrating the wins, and elevating the team.
• Project Management - Invest in planning. Identify, plan, and execute projects and root cause analyses to improve our existing processes. Own the timelines and budgets and take pride in doing what you say you'll do.

Experience

• 6+ years of onboarding and training work experience in operations, working as a people manager to overseeing complex real-world initiatives, preferably experience leading either a specific training or a team within Hospitality Operations with a combined centralized and decentralized workforce
• You are data-driven, with the ability to interpret and analyze financial and non-financial data
• You're a self-starter and clear communicator, that is able to identify problems, brainstorm solutions, scope and prioritize projects
• You like managing and executing complex initiatives from start to finish that align business goals with technology and operations solutions
• You have been in stakeholder shoes, you understand the realities that Ops team members may face rolling our central programs, and know where to flex, and where to hold the line
• You are a team player, eager to roll up your sleeves, and aren't afraid of technical details. You've worked with task management platforms before and are excited about the opportunities to improve a business system and troubleshoot
• You are an expert in your field, have a strong EQ, and are able to generate deep empathy with operating team members which enables you to truly listen, collaborate, and affect improvements needed, small and large
• You have deep knowledge of hiring, supporting and building culture amongst a distributed team
• You have the ability and willingness to travel as needed (minimum of 1 trip per month, likely two, 2-3 day trips per month visiting our portfolios)

Plus if...

• 2-3 years of experience in a startup environment (and liked it!)
• Experience hiring, supporting and building culture amongst a remote team
• Knowledge of housekeeping, maintenance, property, and/or short-term rental management
• Masters in Business Administration, Operations Management, Training, Hospitality or something similar

In one year, you will succeed at Kasa by having:

• Developed a robust set of operating standards within training that are delivering measurable results and help Kasa meet our company-level objectives
• Shipped multiple high-impact workflow improvements or playbooks that lead to lasting efficiency gains, improved quality and ability to reach our financial goals across operating teams
• Identified and tested a large number of (potentially crazy) innovative ideas, piloting them and rolling out the most successful ones across our full portfolio
• Increased adoption and accountability of team members' use of our platforms, including effective change management communications as standards change
• Become a respected leader and thought partner to your team, the Portfolio Operations teams, and the Kasa leadership team
• Built a program and stood up a team of trainers that enables rapid Portfolio launches or expansion, with a clear understanding of the various stages of growth (walk/crawl/run) as well as our labor and operating model

Benefits

• 🧳 Travel on your schedule: This roles requires 4-6 days per month of travel to gain context, insights and build rapport with the markets you own. It is remote, but we prefer someone in a hub city, or in the center of the country, the job will be easier if you can get to our city's quickly
• 🌏 Remote Work: With flexibility as a core value, and over three-quarters of the team working remotely, Kasa employees are able to work from anywhere!
• ✈ Kasa Travel Credit: We love to travel! Kasa employees get an allowance of free stays with us in any of our locations, plus a 50% discount on any nights for friends and family
• 📈 Generous Stock Option Plan: We believe the success of our business should be shared with our team. As you grow with us, we increase the opportunities for you to become part-owners of our company.
• 🙌 Flexible PTO: Full-time exempt Kasa employees are encouraged to take time off as they need and see fit, ensuring that it's not disruptive to their work
• 📈 401(k) plan: As you invest in yourself and your future, Kasa invests in you too: we match 50% of the first 4% of deferred salary
• 💰 Competitive Salary: We offer base salaries at market rates plus additional earning opportunities based on the position
• 🩺 Health Coverage: We've invested in comprehensive health insurance options to help when you need it most