Careers

Black Sheep Adventures is hiring! Do you like the idea of being a big fish in a small pond, part of dynamic, talented team working in a fun industry? We are a small, but rapidly growing, adventure travel company based near Oakland Airport and operate tours mostly in California and various other US destinations with eyes set on returning to the international scene in the near term. We specialize in creating custom multi-day vacations for small groups with a mix of bicycling, hiking, kayaking and sightseeing as well as educational travel programs for prestigious university alumni groups and non-profits such as Stanford and Smithsonian Journeys.

Job Description:

Manage a portfolio of trips from the initial planning through to completion of the tours.

Some (of the many) Roles:

• Research, design and write-up adventure and educational trip itineraries
• Communicate with guests, partner tour companies and vendors via phone and email
• Manage part-time employees to help with your workload
• Process bookings
• Create trip binders and other tour documentation for our tour guides to use in the field
• Identify areas for process improvement and work with the team to implement them

Necessary Skills/Qualifications:

Excellent written and oral communication skills

• Excellent PC computer skills (Word & Excel)
• Excellent analytical skills
• Excellent time management – able to prioritize appropriately to respond to the most urgent & important requests first
• Excellent multitasker – half your day will be spent doing projects, the other half will be spent getting interrupted from those projects
• Aptitude & eagerness to learn new skills
• Ability to work as part of a team as well as on your own with little direction
• Past guiding experience is a huge plus, but not a requirement
• Currently located in the Bay Area (ideally the East Bay) – given the Bay Area's record breaking high cost of living, applicants from outside the area looking to relocate here will be very difficult to consider as solving the real estate equation is harder than you might think

Essential Personality Traits:

• A love of travel – ideally bicycle-based, adventure and educational travel
• Innate passion to deliver excellent service – our guests can sometimes expect a lot and we always try to exceed their expectations
• Exceptional attention to detail – need to appreciate the small details while keeping in mind the big picture
• Ability to think on your feet – Plan A can be quickly derailed, how do you do with plan B through Z?
• Outgoing personality & appreciation of people from a variety of backgrounds – our guests can have very different backgrounds and motivations
• Professional and ethical behavior – all of our employees have a lot of responsibility and are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner when dealing with guests, vendors and colleagues
• Unflappable – a lot is expected of us and we need to deliver without issue
• Desire to work in a small office environment
• Fun sense of humor – we all work hard and value working with people who can laugh, especially at themselves

To apply, please send one email to jobs@blacksheepadventures.com with the subject line: "Operations Manager – Job" and the following:

• One-page resume
• List of three professional references
• One-page cover letter – in your cover letter, please explain why you think you are a good fit for this job, a paragraph describing the best trip you've ever experienced and your compensation requirements.

Note: We will be interviewing on an ongoing basis over the next few weeks with the goal of hiring the best candidate to start immediately. The position is fulltime, with the possibility for a flexible schedule and some telecommuting possible after initial training is completed.

We are always in need of a part-time bicycle mechanic during our busy season (March - October) for our bicycle adventure and rental operation. This position would be ideal for someone working part-time in another role and looking to make some extra money, a student or someone who just wants to wrench without needing to be a salesperson.

We're not your typical bike shop – we have no showroom and are not a walk-in full-service shop. We are geared for bike tours and rentals by delivery. We have fleets of full-carbon road bikes, alloy road bikes, and performance hybrids. For additional information about what we offer, please browse this website (our tour site) and our bike rental site.

Job Description: Part-Time Bi‍‍‍ke Mechanic

• Repairs and upkeep for all fleet bicycles
• General bicycle maintenance, prepping bikes for rental, personalized as per customer specifications
• Occasionally act as mechanical support for local tours and events
• Miscellaneous tasks to support our tour business: gear inventory, w‍‍‍arehouse organization, vehicle prep, etc
• Occasionally act as delivery driver during peak season (as needed)

Hou‍‍‍rs:

• 10-20 hours per week
• Standard hours are Mon-Fri 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, but we operate during events on the weekend sometimes
• Limited work on weekends, generally only as needed in peak season and for special events

Basic Require‍‍‍ments:‍‍‍

• Minimum age: 18
• 1-2 years experience at a bicycle shop as a mechanic
• Must have physical ability to lift 40 lbs
• Current driver's license and good driving record (but you don‍‍‍'t need to own a car)
• Smartphone (with data plan) if you need to do deliveries

Necessary Skills/Qu‍‍‍alifications:

• Be able to "speak bike"
• Thorough working knowledge of modern carbon road bikes, Di2 shifting, hydraulic disc brakes, etc (we will train you on the systems you're less familiar with)
• Good time management, knowing how to triage multiple requests according to urgency, etc
• Excellent interpersonal skills. Black Sheep prides itself in providing exceptional customer service
• Three references (at least two professional)

Personal‍‍‍ity Traits:

• Keen attention to detail, critical thinking, ability to problem-solve
• Ability to think on your feet and prioritize effectively
• Professional and ethical behavior
• Self-sufficient and team player — we are a small business and you'll be working alone for parts of the day and collaborating with others for the balance
• Fun sense of humor — we all work hard and value working with people who can laugh, especially at themselves

Compen‍‍‍sation:

• Hourly wage: $15-20+/hr — depends on experience
• Pro-Deals on gear (30-50% discount on bikes, related outdoor equipment and clothing)
• Casual work environment
• Free Oakland Airport parking (hey, our location has its advantages)
• Working with a small team of people who love bicycles and travel

Black Sheep Adventures is hiring! We specialize in creating custom multi-day vacations and educational tours for small groups with a mix of bicycling, hiking, kayaking and sightseeing. The range of trips we run varies from barebones camping to all-inclusive luxury hotel-based tours for guests arriving by private jet. Most of our tours are mid to high-end and run 4-6 days for groups of 2-20 pax. We operate private tours under our own brand as well as tours for other tour operators. We also work with various non-profit educational travel programs. For additional information about what we do and where we go, please browse this website.

Job Description: We are looking for fun, talented and professional people to help lead our tours which are offered year-round (but our nominal season is March to October). Given our variable tour load, this is a part-time guiding job (some weeks have no trips, while other times we have had up to 6 trips running at the same time). We are looking for folks who can guide anywhere from 1-2 weeks per season to 1-3 weeks per month all season long.

Basic Requirements:

• Must be at least 21 years old
• Physical ability to lift 80 lbs and to lift a 35 lb bike overhead
• Must have an excellent driving record with NO history of DUI
• Willing and able to obtain a Commercial Driver's License upon hire (requires DMV physical, a pre-employment drug test and enrollment in ongoing random drug testing program). Already having your CDL is a huge plus.
• If not already certified, must obtain First Aid/CPR certification upon hire

Necessary Skills/Qualifications:

• Knowledge of bike mechanics (we can help expand skills here if needed)
• Ability to bike 50+ miles/day with up to 5,000 ft of climbing on consecutive days. (but many trips have days that are 20-30 miles and normally guides trade-off days biking and driving)
• Ability to hike 8+ miles/day with 3,000 ft of climbing (but many trips have hikes are 1-4 miles)
• Basic cooking skills (to make beautiful picnics for guests)
• Basic computer skills (primarily to email reports and create trip videos)
• Excellent time management (to manage time well for a group of people with a range of interests and possible last minute changes to the schedule)
• Incredible sense of direction (essential skill for guiding)
• Previous bicycle tour guiding experience is a plus, but not a requirement
• Residency in the San Francisco Bay Area is vastly preferred (it will be harder for us to consider candidates that don't live in Northern California)

Personality Traits:

• Innate passion to deliver excellent service (our guests expect a lot and we always try to exceed their expectations)
• Attention to detail (need to appreciate the small details while keeping in mind the big picture)
• Ability to think on your feet (Plan A can be quickly derailed. How do you do with plan B through Z?)
• Outgoing personality & appreciation of people from a variety of backgrounds (our guests can have very different backgrounds and motivations from each other and you – can you connect with them?)
• Professional and ethical behavior (guides have a lot of responsibility and are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner when dealing with guests, vendors and colleagues)
• Self sufficient & team player (guides generally work with other guides as part of a team of 2 or 3 and eventually may guide smaller groups alone – it is important that you know when to step up, when to be flexible and when to fully step back and let your colleagues shine)
• Great communicator (need to be comfortable as a public speaker in front of the groups. Must also be able to communicate well individually with guests, vendors, fellow guides and office staff)
• Fun sense of humor (we all work hard and value working with people who can laugh, especially at themselves)