The complete guide to working in the pickleball industry

Pickleball went from a backyard game to a real industry in about five years. That industry now has payrolls: paddle brands, club chains, pro tours, media companies, software startups and thousands of facilities that need people to run them. Most of those jobs have nothing to do with playing at a pro level.

This guide covers who hires, what the jobs are, what they pay, and how people actually get in.

Who hires in pickleball

Nearly every pickleball job comes from one of six kinds of employer.

Paddle and equipment brands. Companies like Selkirk, JOOLA, Franklin and Babolat make the gear. They hire like consumer-products companies: marketing, ecommerce, product design, supply chain, sales and customer service. Most roles are office or remote jobs.

Indoor club operators. Chains like The Picklr, Life Time and Chicken N Pickle are opening facilities fast. Each new club needs a general manager, front desk and member services staff, coaches, and often a food and drink team. This is the largest source of jobs by headcount, and it's spread across the country.

Tours and leagues. The PPA Tour, Major League Pickleball and others run events and broadcasts. Their teams are small. They hire event operations, sponsorship sales, broadcast and content staff. These jobs are competitive, and they often involve a lot of travel.

Media and content. Outlets like The Dink hire writers, video producers, social media managers and ad sales staff. A portfolio matters more here than a resume.

Software and technology. Companies like DUPR and the court booking platforms hire engineers, product managers, designers and customer success staff. It's the easiest category to move into if you already work in tech.

Parks, rec centers and country clubs. Cities, YMCAs and private clubs are adding courts and programs. They hire pickleball coordinators, coaches and racquet sports directors, and they often post these jobs on their own websites instead of the big job boards.

The jobs, by type

Coaching and instruction. These are the most common pickleball-specific jobs. They include head pros, staff coaches, clinic leaders and junior program coaches. Many are part-time or hourly, and the full-time ones usually combine coaching with running programs.

Club operations and management. General managers, assistant GMs, operations leads and program directors. Clubs want hospitality or fitness management experience more than they want a high skill rating.

Front desk and member experience. Entry-level jobs at clubs, and the most common way into the industry for someone with no connections. A good front desk lead who learns the business can move up quickly as a chain grows.

Marketing and brand. Social media, content, influencer and ambassador programs, email, performance marketing. Brands and tours hire most of these.

Sales and partnerships. Wholesale accounts for equipment brands, sponsorship sales for tours and events, and membership sales for clubs.

Product, engineering and design. Paddle engineering and testing at brands, and software jobs at tech companies.

Events and tournaments. Tournament directors, event staff and referees. A lot of this work is seasonal or contract.

What pickleball jobs pay

The honest answer is that most employers don't say. Of the 529 pickleball roles we tracked over the past 12 months, only 78 listed pay, and 32 of those were hourly coaching jobs. Here's what the listings and the market suggest:

Coaching is usually paid by the hour or the lesson. Experienced pros at busy clubs earn far more than new coaches, mostly from private lessons. We broke down the real numbers in what pickleball coaches actually get paid.
Club management pays like hospitality or fitness management, often with a bonus tied to membership numbers.
Front desk and member services pays at or a little above local hourly retail and hospitality rates.
Brand, tech and tour office jobs pay roughly what the same job pays in the wider consumer-products or software industries. Smaller companies sometimes pay less and make up for it with flexibility or equity.

If a listing doesn't show pay, ask early. It's a normal question, and a good employer will answer it.

Do you need to be a good player?

For most jobs, no. Coaching jobs care about your skill, and most ask for a certification. For everything else, employers want to know that you understand the sport and the people who play it. That means you play regularly, you know the main brands and pros, and you can talk about why people love the game. Your rating isn't the point.

Certifications for coaches

If you want to coach, a certification is the fastest way to look credible to a club. The three main options are PCI, IPTPA and PPR. They differ in cost, format and how much clubs recognize them. We compared them side by side in PCI vs IPTPA vs PPR.

How people actually get hired

Pick a lane. A marketing manager at a paddle brand and a GM at a club have different careers. Choose the type of employer that fits your experience.
Use the skills you already have. Hospitality managers become club GMs. Ecommerce marketers join brands. Software people join the tech companies. Very few people start from zero.
Show up in the community. Play at the clubs you'd like to work for, help run local events, and volunteer at tournaments. Club hiring especially runs on who the staff already know.
Apply when a club is opening. New clubs hire a whole staff in the months before opening day. Watching the openings in your state is one of the best ways in.
Apply quickly. Small companies often fill jobs within a couple of weeks. Being early matters.

We wrote a longer walkthrough on this in how to break into the pickleball industry.

Where to find the jobs

Pickleball jobs are scattered across company career pages, general job boards and small club websites. Third Shot collects them in one place and refreshes them three times a week. You can browse all open roles, look at jobs by state, or see who's hiring the most this year.

If you'd like the best new roles in your inbox every Monday, create a free account.