Summary
Gathern is a Saudi Arabia-based alternative accommodation marketplace seeking a Director of Operations in Riyadh. The role leads Content Operations, Contact Centers, and Quality, with responsibility for operational KPIs, service levels, listing content, unit activation, and quality assurance. The director will manage and develop the three teams, report performance and action plans to the Executive Committee, and partner with Product, Data & Analytics, and Commercial. Applicants need 10 or more years in operations, including 5 or more years leading multi-function or multi-site teams, professional fluency in Arabic and English, and KSA or GCC digital-platform experience.
The posting
As published on gathern.co. Pulled from the employer's site and shown as they wrote it.
Gathern is a Saudi Arabia-based alternative accommodation marketplace connecting guests and hosts through a digital platform. Operating at the intersection of hospitality and technology, the business depends on strong operational execution to deliver a high-quality experience for both sides of the marketplace and to turn performance into a reliable driver of growth.
As Director of Operations, you will bring together Content Operations, Contact Centers, and Quality under one accountable operating model. This role is focused on building a disciplined, data-led function that improves customer and host outcomes, strengthens operational consistency, and gives leadership clear visibility into the levers that shape marketplace performance.
Responsibilities
- Own the operational KPI tree and deliver monthly and annual targets for customer satisfaction, complaints per reservation, guest rating, destination search conversion, occupancy of active listings, and unit activation.
- Set, defend, and re-base targets with Strategy and the CSO, ensuring every KPI is instrumented, clearly defined, and scoreable.
- Run the monthly Operations performance cycle and present results, root causes, and action plans to the Executive Committee.
- Own contact-center service levels, including first response time, first contact resolution, average resolution time, and reopened tickets.
- Restore and maintain first contact resolution at or above 80% through root-cause analysis of repeat-contact drivers, agent enablement, and process redesign.
- Manage capacity, scheduling, quality monitoring, and outsourced service partners while reducing cost to serve per booking without compromising resolution quality.
- Own listing content completeness, photo quality, and destination content readiness across the portfolio.
- Scale proven content interventions across destinations, including initiatives that improve click-through and booking performance.
- Set and enforce host content standards with clear controls and consequences.
- Own the unit onboarding and activation journey, including activation rate, time to activate, and time to first reservation with clear SLAs.
- Close the gap between activation and occupancy by partnering with Commercial and Product on destination readiness.
- Run the quality assurance framework across both the guest and host journey.
- Lead, develop, and structure the three function teams, building capability and succession across them.
- Partner with Product on operational defects that require product fixes, including sorting, visibility, and claims.
- Partner with Data & Analytics to close instrumentation gaps and automate departmental reporting.
- Transform the team into the center of operational excellence.
Requirements
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE
- Bachelor’s degree; a postgraduate qualification is an advantage.
- Ten or more years in operations, including five or more leading multi-function or multi-site teams in a marketplace or e-commerce platform.
- Proven turnaround of contact-center service levels, evidenced on first contact resolution, response time, and resolution time.
- A numerate operator who owns a KPI tree, sets targets, runs a monthly performance cycle and defends the numbers to an executive audience.
- Professional fluency in Arabic and English.
- KSA or GCC market experience in a digital platform.
- Working knowledge of a defined operating approach such as weekly operating reviews, KPI trees, SLA management, root-cause routines, or Lean, Six Sigma, DMAIC, or an equivalent process-improvement discipline.
- Experience working with hosts, guests, and outsourced contact-center partners.
- Experience building automation to increase team efficiency and reduce manual work, including introducing automation or AI-assisted tooling into a contact center.
Preferred
- Experience as a transformation leader.