Studio Manager [GM‑track] Flagship All‑Female Portrait Studio in London

Base: £55,000–£65,000. OTE: £75,000–£95,000 for top performers.

About Body & Soul: We’re an all‑female intimate portrait studio in Hackney. We’ve helped 1,900+ women transform how they see themselves through luxury portrait experiences and artwork they keep for life. We’re turning our East London studio into a multi‑room flagship we can copy to other cities (starting with the US).

Your job: ensure what we promise in our ads is exactly what happens in the room, every single day – without the founders needing to be there. You will be our first layer of middle management inside the studio. Until now, everyone has effectively reported to the founder. We have strong demand and a great team, but the day‑to‑day studio operations need to grow up. You’ll help finish building that operating system and then run it.

The role: You own everything from “she’s booked” to “her artwork is delivered” inside the four walls. Abbey (founder) currently owns sales and will be stepping into a Sales Manager role while you take over operations and experience. If the founders leave the country for a month and guests can’t tell, you’re winning.

• The rough split (Year 1): 50–60% leading & coaching on the floor
• 40–50% running the studio (hiring, rotas, dashboards, improvements)

You will:

• Lead an 8–12 person all‑female team (photographers, HMUAs, Guest Experience, ops/production) with daily huddles and weekly 1:1s.
• Be on the floor most days in your first year: protect emotional safety, keep the studio on time, and run short, consent‑based guest check‑ins.
• Hire, onboard, and, when needed, fire to keep the team high‑performing.
• Get on the phone with the rare angry guest, calm them down, and protect the brand.
• Run role‑plays and game‑tape reviews so service standards keep improving.
• Keep the studio running like a luxury hotel meets high‑end clinic: immaculate space, smooth handovers, no chaos, artwork on time.
• Run the studio off a simple dashboard: spot issues early, fix them with checklists and rhythms, not heroics.
• Co‑own finishing and hardening our ClickUp / Slack / Notion systems with the founder, then run them.
• Report directly to the CEO with clear numbers and clear plans.
• As the flagship becomes boringly consistent, your time will naturally tilt more toward systems, hiring, and multi‑room throughput.

How we measure success: Your bonus is tied to a small handful of numbers you directly control:

• On‑time sessions
• On‑time artwork
• Guest experience (5‑star rate / CSAT ≥ 4.8)
• Throughput vs plan at target margin
• Operational reliability (guest / safety incidents, staff reliability)

You only earn top‑of‑range if the founders are not being dragged into fires you should own.

You might be a fit if…

• You’ve run a busy, high‑emotion environment (luxury hotel front‑of‑house / guest experience, spa, clinic, med spa, salon, boutique fitness, fine dining) with 5–15 people.
• You’re comfortable hiring, holding people to standards, and letting them go when needed.
• You actually enjoy coaching: huddles, 1:1s, feedback, practice.
• You’re calm with upset clients and confident handling difficult calls.
• You think in checklists, flows, and dashboards, not “I’ll just wing it.”
• You notice tiny luxury details and can teach younger creatives to see them.
• The idea of taking a strong studio, doubling throughput cleanly, and helping copy‑paste that model to the US excites you.

Not a fit if…

• You want to sit in an office doing rotas instead of being on the floor.
• You avoid confrontation or need everyone to like you.
• You want £80k+ guaranteed in Year 1 just for turning up, rather than earning it by building a machine.

Compensation & logistics:

• Base: £55,000–£65,000 (experience dependent)
• Performance bonus: Target £15,000–£20,000/year, paid quarterly, based on the scorecard above
• As the flagship grows into a multi‑room, high‑throughput studio and you keep it founder‑out, total comp can reach £75,000–£95,000+
• In‑studio, full‑time role in Hackney (5 days/week). Weekends are a normal part of your pattern. Early starts and late finishes on busy days.
• You must be able to reliably commute, commit for 2+ years, and be comfortable in an all‑female, intimate portraiture environment.

Due to the intimate nature of our work with nude female clients, this role has a genuine occupational requirement for female staff under Schedule 9 of the Equality Act 2010, to ensure privacy and decency.