Driving operational excellence by building scalable systems across a growing hospitality platform

Who is Wayfarer?

Wayfarer is an innovative hotel operations and travel startup in Japan. Founded in late 2019, we manage over 400 rooms across our three brands: Wayfarer, Kabin, and ORI.

Our vision as a company is to brighten life for the next generation of everyday travelers. This means we build products that expand beyond just a place to stay; we connect travelers to the local community so they can discover more authentic experiences and explore IRL.

We also leverage in-house technology that enables digital touchpoints for superior operating efficiencies and a seamless traveler experience, all without forgetting the human touch and interactions that make travel real.

We’re not like most companies. We're upstarts. We take the "blueprint" and do it better. We think critically and act quickly. Communication is direct and we move at the pace of change.

Our team is diverse with nearly 40 nationalities, and we primarily communicate in English. Our culture is people-first and our organizational structure helps get things done, while still encouraging new ideas and innovation. We are always looking for bright additions to our team, so join us as we reimagine hospitality for the next generation traveler.

会社概要

Wayfarerは、日本発のホテルオペレーション＆トラベルテックのスタートアップです。2019年の創業以来、Wayfarer・Kabin・ORI の3ブランドで 400室以上 を運営しています。
私たちがめざすのは、“次世代の旅人の毎日を、もっと明るく、もっと豊かにすること。”単なる宿泊場所ではなく、旅を通して地域や人とつながれる “リアルな体験” をつくり出すことに全力です。

ビジョン

旅をもっと「IRL（In Real Life）」に。

テクノロジーを活かしながらも、人とのつながりや温度感を大切に。Wayfarerは自社開発のシステムを活用し、チェックインから滞在、運営管理まで幅広くデジタル化。効率的なオペレーションと、スムーズな宿泊体験を実現しています。
一方で、「旅の本質は人」。スタッフのホスピタリティやリアルな交流が生まれる仕組みづくりにも力を入れています。

企業文化・カルチャー

Wayfarerは、従来の企業像にとらわれない組織です。既存の枠を見直し、より良い形へと再構築する姿勢を大切にしています。批判的思考とスピード感を持って行動し、オープンでフラットな環境の中で迅速に意思決定を進めることが特徴です。

多国籍でダイバーシティに富んだチーム、約 40カ国 からメンバーが集まっています。社内の共通言語は英語で、国籍・文化・背景を越えて協働しています。人を大切にする “People First” の文化ー効率だけでなく、働く人の幸福度や働きやすさも重視しています。柔軟な組織で、新しい挑戦を歓迎する環境です。

Join Us：次世代の旅を、一緒につくろう。

Wayfarerは、未来の旅を再定義する仲間を歓迎しています。「旅が好き」「新しい仕組みをつくるのが好き」「多国籍な環境で働きたい」そんな方は、ぜひチームにジョインしてください。

Role Overview

We are looking for an experienced Executive Director of Operations to lead and scale our hotel operations platform.
This role is not about managing individual properties — it is about building the systems, structures, and leadership layer that enable consistent performance across a growing portfolio.
You will be responsible for driving operational excellence, standardization, and scalability across all properties, while building a strong operational organization that can support long-term growth.

Key Responsibilities

Platform-Level Operations Leadership

• Oversee operational performance across the hotel portfolio (multi-property level)
• Drive key metrics including occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, GOP Margin (Gross Operating Profit)
• Ensure consistently high service quality and guest experience across all properties
• Support commercial business development activities such as site visits, property level documentation, communications with property owners/asset managers, lender Q&A
• Build and manage a strong layer of operational leadership across Operation VPs and OPLs
• Coach and develop property-level leadership teams to foster a culture of ownership, execution, and continuous improvement.

Operational System Building & Standardization

• Refine, elevate, and implement scalable SOPs, performance standards, and reporting frameworks across all operational functions
• Connect operations teams and cluster leaders with broader organizational goals, ensuring aligned execution across the company.
• Build operational frameworks that can support rapid portfolio expansion.
• Continuously identify inefficiencies and drive process improvements both internally and in vendor workflows.
• Drive AI fluency across operational leaders to enhance team capabilities — increasing awareness of AI as a workflow and thought partner.

Cross-functional Expansion

• Be prepared to take on broader cross-departmental coordination and management responsibilities as the organization scales
• Act as a key integrator across operations, revenue management, and traveler experience (TXP) functions
• Drive alignment between operational execution, pricing strategy, and traveler experience to maximize overall performance

Requirements
Experience

• Proven experience managing multiple properties with P&L responsibility
• Experience in managing physical spaces and operations teams nation-wide
  Skills
• Strong ability to build and scale operational systems (not just manage teams)
• Deep understanding of hotel performance metrics, overall business drivers and unit economics
• Strong leadership and organizational design capability
• Process-driven with high attention to detail
• Execution-oriented with a hands-on mindset
• Fluent English + business Japanese

What We Are Looking For

We are not looking for a traditional hotel operations leader.
We are looking for a builder with diverse experience in physical spaces — someone who can:

• Turn operational experience into scalable systems
• Build structure in a fast-growing and evolving environment that is decisive and truth-drive
• Operate effectively without rigid corporate infrastructure; rules and policies are secondary to process and outcomes