We are currently looking for a new General Manager to join the team.
Reporting to: Managing Director
Location: London (office-based with flexibility)
Salary: competitive depending on experience
Bonus: Performance-related, tied to City Relay P&L metrics
Scope: City Relay brand – short-let, long-let, reservations, sales, account management, CX, property management
Start date: September/October 2026 (target)
1. About City Relay
City Relay is a premium property management brand operating in prime central London, delivering short-let, mid-let and long-let services to high-quality residential landlords. We are evolving from a reactive operator into a structured, metrics-led, AI-augmented property platform. The General Manager will be the person who drives that transition.
2. The role
The General Manager owns the commercial and operational performance of the City Relay brand end-to-end — revenue, margin, team, client relationships and service quality. You report directly to the Managing Director and lead experienced heads across reservations, sales, account management, lettings, property management and customer experience. This is a full P&L role for an operator who builds structure and runs on metrics.
3. Key responsibilities
- Own the City Relay P&L in full – revenue, margin, cost and retention across short-let, long-let and mid-let.
- Lead the Reservations function: WhatsApp-first workflow, hard KPIs, AI-augmented triage and a growing share of direct bookings.
- Build and manage a short-let churn playbook that converts exits into long-let, mid-let or sales revenue.
- Ensure the long-let platform runs cleanly on Alto, with the PayProp to LettsPay migration completed without disruption.
- Build a structured, pipeline-led sales engine targeting multi-property and institutional landlords.
- Raise account management standards across landlord and tenant relationships, increasing lifetime value and net retention.
- Drive tooling rationalisation – audit, exit redundant software and ensure AI is deployed to reduce cost, not add complexity.
- Implement OKRs, a clear operating rhythm and a culture of ownership and accountability across all City Relay functions.
- Ensure AML compliance, complaints logging and regulatory risk are properly owned and monitored.
4. The person we are looking for
- 5–10 years in premium residential property management, short-let, lettings or related hospitality – hybrid experience preferred.
- Has owned a commercial P&L and managed a team of 15+ people in a prime central London context.
- Data-literate, commercially sharp and operationally curious – leads on evidence, not instinct.
- Comfortable with AI tools and modern tech stacks; not required to be technical.
- Tactful and direct – will name what is wrong without creating unnecessary friction.
- This is not a strategy role or a rebuild role – the business is live, the team is experienced, and delivery starts on day one.
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