Group Operations Manager

Job Description

We are an independent group of pubs, between The Cotswolds and London 

• The Bell in Langford
• The Lamb in Shipton under Wychwood
• The Fox in Broadwell
• The Sherborne Arms in Northleach
• The Tivoli in Cheltenham 
• The Hawthorn in Shepherds Bush

 focussing on good simple pub food with a straightforward, well sourced, wine, beer & spirit selection. Comfortable & classically designed bedrooms, cosy bar spaces with open fires. 

We are entering a phase of consolidation and standardisation. Our focus is on strengthening commercial discipline, embedding leadership capability, and ensuring operational consistency before further growth.

This role is central to that next stage.The Group Operations Manager is a pivotal leadership role within the group, responsible for building operational consistency, commercial discipline, and leadership capability across all pubs.

As we continue to strengthen and standardise the business, this role exists to bring structure, clarity, and calm to multi-site operations, ensuring wage control is predictable, standards are non-negotiable, and General Managers grow in both confidence and accountability.

This is not a reactive troubleshooting position. It is a system-building, capability-developing leadership role designed to make the business scalable, stable, and commercially resilient.

Job Requirements

Role purpose 

The Group Operations Manager is a pivotal leadership role within the group, responsible for building operational consistency, commercial discipline, and leadership capability across all pubs.

As we continue to strengthen and standardise the business, this role exists to bring structure, clarity, and calm to multi-site operations, ensuring wage control is predictable, standards are non-negotiable, and General Managers grow in both confidence and accountability.

This is not a reactive troubleshooting position. It is a system-building, capability-developing leadership role designed to make the business scalable, stable, and commercially resilient.

Key responsibilities 

• Labour, rotas & wage control (FOH & BOH): Oversee rota planning across all sites, holding GM's and head chefs accountable, own wage cost performance, coach GMs and Head Chef's on labour control, productivity and prevent wage drift through structured weekly review. 
• Operational standards & guest experience: Drive consistent operational delivery across all pubs, set clear standards, routines, support service delivery where required, and ensure the guest experience is consistently strong. Implementation of our sequence of service at all levels of the FOH team. 
• Bar standards, beverage consistency & service training: Own bar standards, ensure beverage specs and serves are consistent, embed sequence of service training, and build FOH and margin capability through the GM's without creating a robotic culture. 
• Compliance & risk management: Ensure compliance paperwork, certification and FOH implementation is completed and embedded. Maintain audit readiness across H&S, food safety, licensing and employment compliance, and close out actions quickly. 
• Recruitment, retention & succession (with Head of People): Drive recruitment quality and consistency, improve retention through management standards, and build succession plans for future managers and GMs. 
• Onboarding & induction (management): Own onboarding for new GMs and managers, ensuring they understand expectations around wage, standards, compliance and leadership behaviours, and that probation is managed consistently. 
• Training & capability building: Ensure training is implemented across all sites, identify capability gaps, create development plans, and support management development so performance is not personality-led. 
• Reporting, Weekly meetings & WBO management: Guide GM's to produce and manage weekly WBO reporting and consistent weekly meetings, translate data and observations into actions that improve wage, standards, sales and margin. 
• Weekly walkarounds, maintenance & site condition: Produce weekly walkarounds with clear action lists, ensure maintenance issues are logged and followed through, and protect site presentation, cleanliness and safety. 
• Stock, controls & follow up: Ensure stocktake routines are consistent, drive follow-up actions on variances, waste and ordering discipline, and tighten controls across the bars. Maintaining and improving margin. 
• People processes: Support and lead disciplinary processes and appeals when necessary, ensuring fair, consistent and compliant outcomes in partnership with Head of People. 
• Continuous improvement & scalability: Build repeatable systems and ways of working so the group can grow without chaos and standardise what "great" looks like across the business. Implementing and maintaining our culture. Fix the system not the symptom. Coach don't rescue. Build capability, not dependency. 

What success looks like, within 12 months

• Wage cost performance is predictable and within agreed targets, with no unmanaged drift.
• General Managers operate independently, with fewer escalations to Directors.
• Compliance is always audit-ready, not prepared reactively.
• Guest experience standards are consistent regardless of site or leadership presence.
• The business feels calmer, more structured, and more scalable.

Candidate profile 

•  Proven experience in a multi-site hospitality role (area, regional or group level), ideally pubs. 
• Strong labour and wage control capability with confidence using data and reporting. 
•  Credible, hands-on leader who can coach and challenge GMs effectively. 
•  Excellent operational standards focus and an eye for detail.
• Comfortable leading compliance and managing risk across multiple sites.
•  Able to build systems, routines, and structure that scale. 

Culture & behaviours (non-negotiable) 

• Calm under pressure; brings stability and clarity.
• Firm but fair; holds standards and people accountable with humanity. 
• Coaching-led; builds capability and independence rather than dependency. 
• High standards, low ego; consistent, professional, and not status driven. 
• Solutions focused; fixes root causes and follows through. 
• Protective of culture; does not tolerate bullying, cliques or "hospitality excuses." 
• Leads from the front, visible, present, credible in pubs 
• Coaches people to independence rather than rescuing
• Builds trust and accountability 

This is not a role for a firefighter. We want a calm, credible operator who builds strong GM's and repeatable systems. Not someone who fixes the same problems every week. You need to coach, challenge, and hold standards so performance becomes consistent across the group. 

Job Location

London
The Cotswolds GL7/GL54