Tour Ops Manager

A globally renowned organization in the hospitality, travel services, and tourism sector is seeking a Tour Operations Manager to join its onsite team in Austin, TX, supporting expertly curated nature and birding tours across continents. With nearly half a century of experience, the company combines immersive travel with a strong commitment to conservation and education.

You will coordinate intricate domestic and international tours, ensuring every detail is managed with precision so guides can deliver exceptional journeys and travelers can fully immerse themselves in unforgettable experiences. Working alongside knowledgeable colleagues and expert naturalist guides, you will contribute your organizational skills and passion for nature travel within a supportive environment built on teamwork, mutual respect, and knowledge sharing. The role offers meaningful responsibility, supportive leadership, training opportunities, flexible working arrangements, and professional growth within a well-established, mission-driven network.

Key Responsibilities:

As Tour Operations Manager onsite in Austin, TX, you will coordinate nature-focused tours from planning through post-tour reporting. Working with guides and internal teams, you will manage hotels, transport, permits, excursions, payments, flights, including GDS systems—and compliance documentation. You will prepare pre-departure materials and review traveler information to anticipate needs. Throughout each tour, you will support guides and travelers, resolve challenges calmly, and maintain clear communication. You will proactively address obstacles, share knowledge, and contribute to an inclusive team and mission-driven travel experiences.

• Coordinate domestic and international tours from planning to completion, managing advance costing, room blocks, cutoff dates, releases, and key deadlines.
• Serve as the main tour contact for guides, clients, and internal teams, coordinating communication, regulatory compliance, and troubleshooting throughout each journey.
• Arrange hotels, transportation, excursions, permits, and airport transfers, and manage operational payments with finance teams to ensure accuracy and complete documentation.
• Book and monitor flights, manage complex itineraries and schedule changes, resolve air travel issues, and provide guidance on visas and entry requirements.
• Prepare comprehensive pre-departure materials and review travelers’ room preferences, dietary requirements, medical needs, travel details, and passports to anticipate support needs.

Key Requirements:

You bring experience in tour operations or program coordination, particularly international logistics, with strong organizational skills to manage multiple projects and priorities. You confidently use systems and spreadsheets to maintain accurate data and coordinate vendors, payments, and contracts. Familiarity with airfare booking, ideally GDS systems such as Sabre, supports complex flight arrangements. Your clear communication, empathy, dependability, and flexibility help you build relationships, anticipate needs, prepare pre-departure materials, and review traveler information. You value inclusive teamwork and knowledge sharing, with an appreciation for nature travel and conservation rather than specialist wildlife expertise.

• Substantial tour operations or travel logistics experience, preferably international, with strong organizational skills to manage complex programs, details, and long lead times.
• Proficiency in systems, spreadsheets, accurate data management, and documentation, with experience coordinating vendors, payments, contracts, and financial details.
• Familiarity with airfare booking, GDS systems such as Sabre, and flight monitoring, plus experience preparing pre-departure materials or reviewing traveler rooming, dietary, medical, and passport details.
• Clear, empathetic communication with guides, clients, vendors, and colleagues, with the ability to anticipate issues and troubleshoot calmly and sensitively under pressure.
• Appreciation for nature travel, conservation, and mission-driven work, with curiosity about wildlife, ecosystems, and culture; specialist expertise is not required, but inclusive teamwork, knowledge sharing, training, and supportive leadership are valued.

What sets this company apart:

With fifty plus years of experience, this nature-travel organization offers expertly designed journeys led by world-class naturalist guides, respecting local landscapes and communities while advancing conservation and education. Its inclusive offerings span Antarctica, Colombia, East Africa, and U.S. national parks, from birding expeditions and cultural journeys to youth camps and natural history cruises. Team members help create transformative travel experiences within a supportive network offering knowledge sharing, training, flexible working arrangements, and professional growth.

What's next:

If interested in this position, please contact Michelle Carlberg-Segers at michelle.carlberg-segers@robertwalters.com