Most gym general manager job descriptions are a list of chores: "manage staff, handle memberships, keep the gym clean." That attracts people who want a title, not people who want to run a business. The candidates you actually want are looking for three things: what they will own, how they will be measured, and how they get paid when they win.
Below is a copy-and-paste gym general manager job description built around exactly that. It was written from the owner's side of the table by someone who has owned, hired for, and sold a gym. Swap the bracketed text for your details and post it.
What a gym general manager actually does
In an independent gym, the GM is the person who runs the business day to day so the owner doesn't have to. That usually means four jobs rolled into one:
- Revenue: leads, tours, intros, and closing new memberships.
- Retention: member experience, follow-up on missed visits, and saving cancellations.
- Team: hiring, scheduling, coaching, and holding coaches and front desk staff accountable.
- Operations and numbers: payroll prep, vendors, facility issues, and reporting KPIs to the owner.
If your description doesn't say which of those the GM owns outright and which stay with you, strong candidates will assume the worst: responsibility without authority.
Gym General Manager Job Description Template
Job title: General Manager – [Gym Name], [City, State]
About us: [Gym Name] is a [CrossFit affiliate / functional fitness gym / boutique studio] with [number] members and [number] coaches. We're known for [what members love about you]. We're hiring a General Manager to run daily operations and grow the business so our owner can focus on [strategy / a second location / coaching].
Role summary: You will own membership growth, member retention, and the performance of our coaching and front desk team. You report directly to the owner and are measured on a short list of clear numbers.
What you'll own:
- Respond to every new lead within [timeframe], run tours and intro sessions, and close new memberships.
- Track attendance and reach out to members who stop showing up before they cancel.
- Handle cancellation and freeze requests, and save the members worth saving.
- Recruit, onboard, schedule, and coach [number] coaches and front desk staff.
- Run weekly team meetings and monthly one-on-ones.
- Prepare payroll for owner approval and manage the staff schedule within budget.
- Manage vendors, equipment repairs, and facility standards.
- Report weekly KPIs to the owner and propose fixes when a number moves the wrong way.
How we'll measure success:
- Net membership growth (new members minus cancellations) per month
- Lead-to-member conversion rate
- Monthly cancellation rate
- Staff retention and coverage (no unfilled classes)
- Revenue against the monthly target
In your first 90 days:
- Days 1–30: learn our systems, meet every coach and member you can, and audit our lead follow-up.
- Days 31–60: take full ownership of sales, scheduling, and member communication.
- Days 61–90: present a plan to hit [specific target] and run the business week to week with minimal owner involvement.
Required:
- [2+] years managing people in a gym, studio, or other membership or customer-service business
- Proven sales experience: you have closed memberships or similar recurring-revenue sales
- Comfortable with numbers: you can read a P&L and explain what moved and why
- Reliable on weekends and early mornings when the schedule calls for it
Nice to have:
- Coaching certification ([CF-L1 / NASM / ACE / other relevant cert])
- Experience with [your gym management software]
- Experience opening or turning around a location
Compensation: $[base salary range] base, plus a monthly or quarterly bonus tied to net membership growth and revenue targets. [Free membership, PTO, continuing education stipend, other benefits.]
Schedule: [Full-time, approximately X hours per week, including some early mornings and weekends.]
How to apply: Send your resume and a short note about a time you grew a membership base or turned around a team.
How to customize it for your gym
CrossFit and functional fitness affiliates: your GM is often also a coach. Say exactly how many classes per week they coach and whether coaching pay is separate from the management salary. Leaving this vague is the fastest way to lose a good candidate after the offer.
Boutique studios: sales and front desk performance usually matter more than programming. Weight the responsibilities and the bonus toward conversion and retention.
Franchise locations: list which systems and playbooks come from the franchisor and which decisions the GM actually controls. Candidates from big-box and franchise backgrounds will ask.
Gym manager duties, skills, and qualifications
If you're deciding what to require, separate the skills that can be trained from the ones that can't:
- Hard to train: ownership mentality, follow-through, comfort with sales conversations, and the ability to hold peers accountable.
- Easy to train: your software, your class format, your cleaning checklist, your payroll process.
Hire for the first list and train the second. A great operator from hospitality or retail will often outperform a great coach who has never managed anyone or carried a sales number.
Common mistakes in gym GM job postings
- No pay range. Experienced managers skip postings that hide pay. A range filters out candidates you can't afford before you spend time interviewing them.
- Duties without outcomes. "Manage memberships" says nothing. "Own net membership growth" tells a candidate how they'll be judged.
- Hiring your best coach by default. Coaching talent and management talent are different skills. Test for sales and accountability before you promote.
- Unclear authority. If the GM can't hire, fire, or change the schedule without asking, say so, and expect fewer strong applicants.
Frequently asked questions
What qualifications do you need to be a gym manager?
There's no required license or degree. Most owners look for prior people-management experience, a track record in sales, and comfort with basic financials. A fitness certification helps with credibility and is often required at gyms where the GM also coaches.
What skills does a gym general manager need?
Sales, team leadership, member communication, scheduling, and enough financial literacy to read a P&L and act on it. The single best predictor is evidence that the candidate has owned a number before and moved it.
How should I structure gym GM pay?
Most independent gyms use a base salary plus a bonus tied to a small number of metrics the GM directly controls, typically net membership growth and revenue. Keep the bonus formula simple enough that the GM can calculate it themselves.
Should my GM also coach?
It depends on your size. Smaller affiliates often need it. As you grow, coaching hours compete with sales and management time, so define the split in writing from day one.
Post your GM job, or have us fill it
You can post your general manager job on Barbell Jobs for free and reach coaches, trainers, and managers who already work in the fitness industry. For more on screening and onboarding, read our tips for hiring a general manager in boutique fitness.
If you'd rather not run the search yourself, our done-for-you GM hiring service handles sourcing, screening, and shortlisting for independent gyms, led by a former gym owner.