Centre Operations Manager - Dog Daycare

Bruce; Reading; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 39,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

31 days holiday

Wisdom Wellbeing

Wagestream

Employee rewards & recognition

Bring your dog to work

Training and development

Pension

Free dog daycare

Job summary

Bruce's Doggy Day Care Wellington Country Park is seeking a Centre Operations Manager to lead a busy dog day care centre in the UK’s fast-growing pet industry. You will own centre performance, coach a team, manage budgets and ensure outstanding customer care and regulatory compliance.

You’ll drive occupancy, lead from the front and partner with local stakeholders to deliver exceptional dog care and service standards every day.

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing a multi-functional operation or site.
• Strong people leadership and coaching skills.
• Commercial awareness with experience managing P&L, budgets and performance.
• Excellent organisational and problem-solving abilities.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of a centre’s performance, profitability and cost control.
• Lead a team of 10–15, build a high-performing culture and customer focus.
• Drive occupancy growth through local marketing and community engagement.
• Ensure licensing, health & safety and animal welfare compliance at all times.
• Develop relationships with customers, suppliers and stakeholders.

Skills

People leadership

P&L management

Budgeting

Customer service

Problem solving

Regulatory compliance

Driving licence

Job description

Bruce's Doggy Day Care Wellington Country Park

Full time

Permanent

Here at Bruce’s we are looking for a Centre Manager to join our Wellington Country Park centre!

About Us:
Founded in 2008, we have become the UK’s recognised leader in Doggy Day Care and are fluent in dog. Our purpose at Bruce’s is to unleash happiness and enrich the lives of more dogs and their families and we achieve this through our values P.A.W.S (Pawsitivity, All fur one, Wag for it and Sniff out the new stuff). We believe that Paw-sitivity rocks! When it comes to our team, our dogs and our customers we’re caring and All fur one. We work hard, are passionate and Wag for it because we love what we do. And, like our doggy friends, we’re forever curious to Sniff out new stuff. Our values help guide how we behave, remind us what’s important to ourselves, to dogs and their families and what fires us up as a pack.
Lead your own doggy daycare centre with complete autonomy while building a thriving business in the UK's fastest-growing pet industry.

Lead a Centre. Build a Team. Make a Difference.

At Bruce's, we're passionate about providing the very best day care experience for dogs and their owners. We're looking for an experienced and driven Centre Operations Manager to take ownership of one of our centres, leading a team of 10 –15 people (growing as the centre grows) while delivering exceptional standards of care, customer service and operational excellence. You'll report to the Operations Manager.

This is more than a management role. We're looking for someone with an owner-operator mindset who thrives on accountability, enjoys leading people, and takes pride in delivering outstanding results. This is a hands-on leadership role. You'll be visible every day; supporting your team, engaging with customers and leading from the front to ensure consistently exceptional standards of care, professionalism and service.

Your centre's success rests on three things: commercial performance, regulatory compliance, and customer experience.

Commercial Performance

Full P&L responsibility for your centre — budgets, profitability and cost control.

Building strong relationships within the local community and supporting sustainable occupancy growth. Driving occupancy growth through local marketing and community engagement.

Managing day-to-day operations including staffing, transport, facilities and fleet.

Operational Excellence & Compliance

Ensuring exceptional operational standards, full compliance with licensing, health & safety and animal welfare legislation, and creating a culture where doing the right thing is simply how your team works.

Ensuring full compliance with licensing, health & safety and animal welfare legislation — our centres are regulated in a similar way to children's nurseries, so this is central to the role, not an afterthought.

Upholding exceptional standards of dog welfare.

People & Culture

Creating a culture of professionalism, accountability, continuous learning and high standards

Customer Experience & TrustService

Leading, coaching and developing a high-performing team.

Building strong relationships with customers, suppliers and local stakeholders.

Building lasting customer confidence through exceptional service, proactive communication and consistently high standards. Delivering a customer experience that keeps owners coming back and drive brand advocacy..

What we're looking for

You'll be a confident and hands-on leader with:

Proven experience managing a multi-functional operation or site.

Strong people leadership and coaching skills.

Commercial awareness with experience managing P&L, budgets and performance.

Excellent organisational and problem-solving abilities.

A relentless focus on standards, accountability and continuous improvement.

Confidence in making decisions and taking ownership.

A full UK driving licence (essential) — you'll occasionally need to drive our “doggy bus.”

Experience working within a regulated environment is desirable.

A love of dogs certainly doesn't hurt!

About You:

It goes without saying you will be someone who is flexible with great communication skills and be able to build important rapports with your team and customers.
You are a multitasker as well as being a creative problem solver and confident decision maker with a full UK manual driving licence should you be needed to help chaffuer our daycare dogs.
You will have previous HR and managerial experience and have strong time management.
You are someone who meets targets and helps those in your team to work towards our business goals.
Your expertise will extend to budgeting and planning with an ability to manage internal and external stakeholders.

Why Bruce's?

We're proud of the standards we set for dog care, customer service and team development. We're looking for leaders who share those values and want to make a genuine difference every day.

We offer:

• Competitive salary (£35,000, with an OTE of £40,000)
• 31 days holiday (including bank holidays)
• Access to Wisdom Wellbeing, our Employee Assistance Programme
• Wagestream, giving you flexibility and control over how you access your pay
• An industry-leading rewards and recognition scheme — Employee of the Month, regular competitions and discounts with quality retailers
• Bring your dog to work (some restrictions apply)
• Ongoing training and development, gaining genuine business management skills in a fun, dynamic, fast-growing business
• Company benefits and discounts
• The chance to spend your days surrounded by dogs!
• Wagestream, Bravo benefits, Subsidised uniform, Employee rewards & recognition programme, Pension, Lifeworks membership, Free dog daycare (providing Bruce's is right for them)

Hours

40