General Manager

Drifter is built for curious travellers, free spirits and people who care about great spaces and great experiences. We run hostels and hybrid stays across Australia and New Zealand, alongside food and beverage venues that bring people together and give our properties their edge. The kind of places people remember, not just pass through.

We’re opening our newest property in Auckland, and it’s a big one for us. A new space, a new team, and the chance to bring it all to life from day one.

We’re looking for a General Manager to lead it. Someone ready to put their stamp on a brand-new Drifter and make it a place people want to be part of.

The opportunity

This is a senior leadership role with full oversight of the Auckland property.

You’ll lead across Host, Housekeeping, Food & Beverage and Maintenance, with each Head of Department reporting into you. You’ll be responsible for the guest experience, team culture, financial performance, compliance and the overall rhythm of the property.

The lead-up to opening is a big part of the opportunity. You’ll work alongside the wider Drifter team to build the operation, bring your leadership team together, shape the culture and take a brand-new property from plans and ideas to a living, breathing Drifter.

Once we’re open, you’ll be the person connecting all the moving parts. Staying close to your people and the guest experience, backing your leaders, keeping teams aligned and knowing when to step in. You’ll still own the commercial performance, standards and compliance, but how you bring people together and lead the property forward matters just as much.

A note on timing

As this is a pre-opening role, we’re aiming for a January 2027 start, giving you time to come in early and build out the operation ahead of our March opening. We’re starting the search now because finding the right person for this one matters.

Who we’re looking for

We’re not looking for a traditional hotel GM. Drifter does hospitality differently, and we’re looking for someone who genuinely gets that and wants to be part of it.

We’re looking for someone curious, welcoming and community-minded. Someone with energy and warmth, who genuinely enjoys people and helping them connect with places, experiences and each other. You’re interested in the world around you and get excited about travel, culture and new experiences

Basically, the kind of person who’d happily stay at a Drifter themselves.

You understand what we’re building with Drifter and want to help drive the next part of that journey. You know how to bring different people and teams together around a shared direction, build belief in what you’re creating and bring people with you.

Who you are matters here. Of course, you’ll need some experience behind you too. That probably includes:

• Running a busy hotel or hostel operation with plenty of moving parts
• Understanding accommodation, yielding and what drives commercial performance
• Being comfortable with budgets, labour, revenue and keeping costs in check
• Some exposure to F&B, ideally across bars, restaurants or other busy social venues

Some knowledge of the Auckland hospitality and accommodation scene would be handy, but it’s not a dealbreaker.

When we say the right person, we mean it

We want to know who’s behind the CV. For this role, we want to know you vibe with what Drifter is all about, so we won’t interview without a cover letter.

Tell us a bit about yourself, why this role caught your attention, and answer this:

What is it about Drifter that feels like you? What do you connect with, what would you bring to the place, and what would you want people to feel when they walk into Drifter Auckland? Tells us your favourite place to travel to, your favourite bar/restaurant and coffee shop. Tell us about your best adventure.

There’s no perfect answer. Make it personal and make it sound like you. We’d much rather read something genuine than something polished, generic or written by AI.

What you’ll get at Drifter

You’ll be part of a team that cares about doing good work without overcomplicating things. We back our people, give you space to lead and make sure there’s support where it counts.

You’ll also get to work with a brand that’s doing hospitality a little differently, creating seriously cool spaces that sit somewhere between hotel and hostel and are made for a new generation of travellers.

We’re also big on growing our own. People move up, move across, try new things and take opportunities in different Drifters, so there’s plenty of room to see where working here might take you.

Then there are the other good bits:

• A competitive salary, plus the chance to earn more through a KPI-based bonus
• Mate’s rates across all our Drifters for you, your friends and your travel crew
• Discounts on things you’ll actually use, from JB Hi-Fi to Uber Eats and plenty more
• Online learning to build your skills, explore something new or just follow your curiosity
• Your birthday off, on us
• A paid day each year to get behind a cause you care about
• Enhanced parental leave
• Free counselling and wellbeing support through our Employee Assistance Program

Drifter is collaborative, down to earth and big on being ourselves. We take what we do seriously, but not ourselves. We’re proud to be an inclusive workplace, and welcome people from all races, places, gender expressions and beliefs.

Great people come from all kinds of places. As an Accredited Employer, we’re open to hearing from candidates based in New Zealand or overseas and can support visa applications for the right person.

If you’re reading this thinking Drifter sounds like your kind of place, we should probably talk.