Location: WaTiki® Indoor Waterpark Resort | Rapid City, South Dakota
Reports To: Chief Operations Officer
Salary: $160,000-$175,000 + Bonus
Direct Reports: General Managers and senior leaders across hotel operations, waterpark operations, event center operations, food & beverage, guest services, facilities, sales/events, finance, and safety.
Scope: Executive oversight of WaTiki® Indoor Waterpark Resort, including five affiliated hotels, the indoor waterpark, event center, arcade/family entertainment, and three food & beverage outlets.
The Vice President of Operations provides executive leadership for WaTiki® Indoor Waterpark Resort, one of LIV Hospitality’s most visible and complex destination assets. This role is responsible for aligning five hotels, the indoor waterpark, event center, arcade, and three food & beverage outlets into one seamless Guest experience while delivering strong financial results, operational discipline, safety, brand compliance, and leadership development.
The ideal candidate is a hands-on, data-driven hospitality leader who can scale standards across multiple brands and revenue centers, develop strong property leaders, optimize labor and revenue, protect waterpark safety, and lead with an owner mindset.
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Lead integrated operations across five hotels, the indoor waterpark, event center, arcade/family entertainment, and three F&B outlets to deliver a seamless destination Guest experience.
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Own financial performance for the full campus, including revenue growth, labor productivity, cost controls, forecasting, budgeting, NOI/EBITDA, RevPAR, occupancy, ADR, and margin improvement.
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Set and reinforce standards for Service Excellence, cleanliness, safety, responsiveness, brand compliance, guest recovery, and inspection readiness.
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Champion waterpark safety, risk management, emergency readiness, sanitation, training, regulatory compliance, and facility condition in partnership with operational and facilities leaders.
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Recruit, coach, develop, and retain General Managers and department leaders while strengthening accountability, associate engagement, bench strength, and succession planning.
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Partner with sales, marketing, revenue management, and event leaders to grow profitable packages, group demand, special events, private rentals, ancillary spend, and community partnerships.
LIV Hospitality is a Black Hills-based hospitality company headquartered in Rapid City with deep operational roots across Western South Dakota. We manage a diverse portfolio of hotels, resorts, dining outlets, gaming, events, and entertainment assets, giving leaders the opportunity to operate complex businesses with local impact and enterprise-level support.
Our culture is built around Connect • Create • Care. We believe happy, empowered associates create memorable Guest experiences, and we invest in leadership visibility, real-time coaching, recognition, cross-training, internal growth, and candid feedback. We value leaders who care about people, take pride in the details, and know how to turn strategy into consistent execution.
Joining LIV means leading with an owner mindset inside a company that prioritizes stewardship over short-term thinking, supports community partnerships through LIV to Give, and gives operators access to shared services, marketing, revenue management, finance, HR, technology, and senior leadership support. Our promise is simple: Work Well. Play Well. Liv Well.
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10+ years of progressive hospitality, resort, entertainment, waterpark, hotel, event center, F&B, or multi-unit operations leadership experience.
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Proven portfolio-level P&L ownership, financial acumen, budgeting, forecasting, labor modeling, cost control, and revenue strategy experience.
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Demonstrated ability to lead complex, guest-facing operations with multiple brands, departments, facilities, revenue centers, and senior leaders.
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Strong record of developing leaders, improving engagement, managing change, holding teams accountable, and building consistent service standards.
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Working knowledge of hotel brand standards, guest satisfaction platforms, safety/risk management, F&B operations, event execution, and facilities maintenance.
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Excellent communication, executive presence, problem-solving, vendor management, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
Strategic & Analytical Thinking • Operational Excellence • Guest-First Leadership • Talent Development • Owner Mindset • Safety Discipline • Cross-Functional Collaboration • Revenue Growth • Culture Carrier
