Salon Operations Manager

Lola Hair Studio; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 75,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Starting Salary $75-80k

Up to $20k KPI-tied Performance Bonus

3 Weeks PTO

Leadership Coaching

Wellness Benefits

Job summary

Lola Hair Studio, located in Cambridge, MA, is looking for an experienced Operations Lead to drive daily operations and support the Founder. This position requires strong operational management skills and emotional intelligence to lead a dynamic team.

The ideal candidate has 5–10 years of experience in a service-based environment and a genuine passion for growth. Key benefits include a starting salary of $75-80k per year, performance bonuses, and a supportive work culture focused on professional development.

Qualifications

• 5–10 years in operations or general management in a service-based environment.
• Proven track record of KPIs, revenue movement, or cost reductions.
• Available for a combination of days and evenings.

Responsibilities

• Lead daily operations ensuring quality, client experience, and team behavior.
• Own KPI reporting, SOP documentation, and budget monitoring.
• Develop and mentor the team to ensure growth.

Skills

Operational Management

Emotional Intelligence

Leadership

Financial Literacy

Job description

Overview

Full time. Cambridge, MA | Reports to Founder & CEO

Are you the operational engine behind someone else’s vision; delivering results without the mandate, the ownership, or the reward? Are you ready for a founder who doesn’t need you to wait for direction; she needs you to pull her forward? Do you believe that how you show up — your hair, your look, your energy — is part of the job, not separate from it?

Why You’ll Love Working With Us

• Starting compensation of $75k-80K DOE — plus up to $20k KPI-tied performance bonus annually, with real room to grow as the business does
• True operational authority — you own the floor, the systems, and the decisions; this is not a coordinator with a manager title
• A founder built for this partnership — emotionally intelligent, not a micromanager, actively making space for you to lead
• 3 weeks PTO + wellness benefits — in the offer, not the negotiation
• Leadership coaching, industry retreats, and awards representation — your growth is part of the deal
• A business in motion — $1.5M today, $3M on the horizon, and your fingerprints on everything in between

Who We Are

Lola Hair Studio is an award-winning boutique destination salon in Cambridge, MA, founded in 2016 by a 20-year industry veteran who rose through every role — receptionist to master stylist to educator — before building a team-first studio rooted in community, craft, and collaboration. Seven consecutive Salon Today 200 awards. 90% staff retention. A team of ~12 driven professionals and a business actively scaling from $1.5M toward $3M.

We Believe

• Happy — Joy is a professional standard here. We bring it to the floor, celebrate each other genuinely, and make sure every client leaves better than when they arrived.
• Brave Leaders — Everyone leads. We speak up, initiate hard conversations, and pull the team forward without waiting to be asked.
• Generous — Clients, knowledge, credit — shared freely. Abundance over scarcity, always.
• Growth Mindset — Learning is not optional. We pursue it independently and apply it visibly.
• Life Harmony — Thriving career, thriving life. We’ve built a model that proves both are possible.

What You Will Accomplish

• First 30 Days: Establish a proactive alignment rhythm with the CEO — KPI dashboards, priorities, and solutions delivered before they’re requested
• 60 Days: Complete a full operational audit and deliver a ranked action plan with owners and timelines — not a list of problems
• 90 Days: Earn the room — trust built through competence, consistency, and showing up like you own it; your 90-day plan includes a concrete target for retail revenue and rebooking rates, and you arrived on day one already knowing what those numbers needed to be
• 6 Months: Core SOPs live across all departments; KPIs moving; Guest Care Coordinator developing into a confident floor leader
• Year One: Lola hits $2M — and your fingerprints are on it

What You Will Do

• Lead the floor daily — quality, client experience, cleanliness, and team behavior in real time; not hovering, but seeing everything
• Model the salon\'s luxury standard on the floor — arriving stage-ready and holding presentation expectations through example first, conversation second; you know that when the manager\'s standard slips, the team\'s follows
• Own KPI reporting, SOP documentation, scheduling oversight, budget monitoring, and vendor coordination
• Delegate administrative execution to the VA so your bandwidth stays focused at the leadership level
• Hold direct, timely accountability conversations with stylists on pre-booking, retail, and service standards — firmly, without apology, and without manufacturing drama
• Develop and mentor every level of this team — from coaching the Guest Care Coordinator into a floor leader to genuinely investing in your youngest team members; this floor includes a 19-year-old who deserves a leader who sees their potential and builds it with intention
• Report proactively to the CEO — decisions already made, priorities already set, issues framed with solutions attached

You’ll Thrive in This Role If You

• Have been the strong #2 who made everything run, and you bring decisions to check-ins already made, not questions waiting for direction
• Can hold a standard with a tenured professional who pushes back without losing the relationship. Know that introducing structure into a relationship-driven culture requires emotional intelligence, not just authority, and you’ve done it before
• Are equally energized by floor leadership and operational desk work, only wanting one is a dealbreaker here
• Are available for a combination of days and evenings — the salon runs until 8pm, Saturdays are non-negotiable, and the specific weekly schedule is built collaboratively
• Show up as a beauty brand ambassador — your presentation, polish, and style reflect the 5-star standard of this salon. You do your hair and makeup before you walk in the door. Not because it\'s a rule, but because you understand that in a luxury salon, you are the brand. Clients choose their stylists based on what they see. You set the visual standard so you never have to enforce it.
• Have a genuine life outside of work — front row at a concert, a great book, Sunday hikes, whatever recharges you, and you bring that full human energy into the building every day
• Light up watching people grow, especially the younger ones; empathy and high standards aren’t opposites here, and the best thing you can do for this team is model what a healthy, driven, purposeful professional actually looks like
• Find scaling a $1.5M salon to $3M genuinely exciting, and want to be compensated when it happens

Essential Experience

• 5–10 years of true operations or general management in a service-based environment (salon, spa, boutique fitness, upscale hospitality, or premium retail)
• Specific, measurable results — KPIs, revenue movement, or cost reductions with before-and-after precision
• Independent leadership authority — proven track record of making hard calls without deferring upward
• Financial literacy — P&L familiarity, KPI ownership, and hands-on budget and inventory management
• Systems thinker — builds SOPs that outlast their creator; thinks in processes, not one-off fixes
• Schedule availability — combination of days and evenings required; Saturdays non-negotiable; specific schedule built collaboratively

Come Prepared

We move fast and we respect your time. To help you prepare, here\'s one of the questions you\'ll be asked in our process:

"Can you share a SPECIFIC EXAMPLE of a time you were given a sales or performance target that felt ambitious?"

The best answers include a real number, a real moment of uncertainty, and what you actually did next.

Ready to Build Something That Lasts?

If you’ve spent years being the person who makes everything work and you’re ready for a role where that work visibly changes the trajectory of a real business and a real team, this is it. Lola is an award-winning, people-first salon at a pivotal moment. Apply today!

We’re proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all team members.

Employment offers are contingent upon the successful completion of a background check — just one of the ways we maintain a safe, trustworthy, and people-first workplace.