Bruce's Doggy Day Care Ditchling Brighton
General Manager
Full time
Permanent
Lead your own doggy daycare centre with complete autonomy while building a thriving business in the UK's fastest-growing pet industry.
About Bruce's
Founded in 2008, we have become the UK's recognised leader in Doggy Day Care and are fluent in dog.
Our founder, Bruce Casalis, sits on the board of directors for the Pet Industry Federation and has acted as an advisor for the likes of DEFRA, Dogs Trust and RSPCA.
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).
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 8–15 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.
- Upholding exceptional standards of dog welfare.
People & Culture
- Creating a culture of professionalism, accountability, continuous learning and high standards
Customer Experience & Trust Service
- 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
- 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!
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 (£36,000–£42,000) + 10% performance bonus
- 33 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
- 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!
Hours
42.5
Benefits
- Wagestream
- Bravo benefits
- Subsidised uniform
- Employee rewards and recognition programme
- Pension
- Lifeworks membership
- Free dog daycare (must meet happy play criteria)
