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- Tasks: Optimise labour for frontline businesses using innovative AI tools and real data insights.
- Company: Join Sona, a cutting-edge AI-native workforce management platform transforming frontline operations.
- Benefits: Enjoy a competitive salary, flexible working, generous leave, and professional development opportunities.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on the hospitality industry while shaping your career in a dynamic environment.
- Qualifications: Analytical mindset, practical experience, and strong communication skills are essential.
- Other info: Be part of a growing team with excellent career growth and exciting challenges.
The predicted salary is between 60000 - 84000 £ per year.
3 billion people across the world work in frontline jobs. Yet, despite rising costs and staff shortages, frontline organisations are still left to choose between paper, Excel, and WhatsApp, or decade-old workforce management solutions to take care of the most important part of their businesses - their people.
Enter Sona: the next generation of AI-native, frontline workforce management. We’ve built an end-to-end platform covering Scheduling, HR, Payroll, and Communications that gives the largest frontline organisations everything they need to staff more intelligently and empower their teams.
In 4 years, we’ve already made a deep impact on the lives of over 100k frontline workers and the operation of their organisations, grown the team to 120+, and secured over $50M in funding from notable VC’s, including Felicis, Northzone, Gradient Ventures (Google), SpeedInvest, Antler, and Notion Capital, plus notable angels like Tom Blomfield (Monzo).
It’s a hugely exciting time to be joining the team as we’re still small enough that you’ll have a significant impact on the company’s growth trajectory and culture, yet large enough to have a great structure, experienced leaders and world-class benefits in place.
About the Role
Hospitality is getting squeezed. Wages are up, margins are down, and customers won’t part with their card-earned cash unless service is both good and fast. The operators who thrive will be the ones who get labour right - enough people to deliver great experiences, not so many that they’re bleeding money on quiet Tuesday afternoons.
The answer is precision: forecast demand accurately, set intelligent labour rules, and let software schedule the shifts. Sona has built the tooling for all three, but getting this right for each client presents a new challenge every time. It’s as much an art as a science, and Sona is looking for an artist-come-scientist to own and grow this immensely important workstream.
In this role, you’ll own labour optimisation at Sona. Your objective: help customers improve the staffing economics of their business, while maintaining customer experience, and making sure employees have busy but achievable shifts.
Responsibilities
- Using Sona's tooling to derive labour rules from real trading data.
- Being on-site in restaurants, seeing the practical realities - stock deliveries, close-down procedures, the difference between a dine-in close and a Deliveroo-only finish.
- Building trust with site managers so they actually follow the workload models.
- Producing impact reporting for C-level executives that proves ROI.
- Being the subject matter expert in sales conversations.
Requirements
This is a jack-of-all-trades role. You’ll need to be:
- Analytical - natural instinct for numbers, can interrogate a dataset and spot what matters.
- Practical - relishes the down-to-earth realities that spreadsheets can’t capture.
- A communicator - can bring operators, execs, and internal teams on the journey.
- A leader - will bring order to ambiguity, set up processes, and ultimately build a team as Sona scales.
You might have been a strategy consultant, a start-up founder, someone analytical in hospitality, or none of these. Regardless, we’ll be looking for a combination of these traits and experiences:
- Analytical chops - fast in spreadsheets, ideally comfortable with SQL or BI tools.
- AI-native - you’ve embraced Claude, ChatGPT, or similar for data analysis and building things quickly.
- Operations exposure - you’ve made resourcing or scheduling decisions, or worked closely with those who do.
- Stakeholder skills - you’ve influenced senior people without authority over them.
- Product exposure - you’ve been responsible for building a tool to solve a novel problem.
- Industry knowledge - hospitality, retail, care, leisure - anywhere with hourly workers and fluctuating demand.
- Workforce management - scheduling systems, productivity analysis, labour modelling.
- Start-up instincts - you’ve built from scratch, operated without a playbook, shipped under uncertainty.
Benefits
- Salary: £70-100k (flexible banding for a first-of-its-kind hire).
- Flexible hybrid working: remote-first with regular in-office (Soho) and customer on-site sessions.
- Share options.
- 35 days annual leave (25 days standard plus 10 flexible public holiday days).
- Extra day of leave for every year of service.
- Pension contributions matched up to 5%.
- Comprehensive health insurance.
- Enhanced parental leave & pay.
- Co-working space stipend for those based outside London.
- Bi-annual all expenses paid team retreats.
- The latest Macbook and equipment budget for your home office.
- Professional development budget.
- Unlimited free books.
Note: this represents a typical benefits package for a UK-based, full-time employee. Exact details may vary based on location and employment type but we try to be as fair as possible to all of our team members. Please ask your contact in the Talent team to clarify the available benefits for you.
Labour Optimisation Specialist employer: Sona
Contact Detail:
Sona Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Labour Optimisation Specialist
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Get out there and connect with people in the industry. Attend events, join online forums, or even hit up LinkedIn. The more people you know, the better your chances of landing that dream job.
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills! When you get the chance to chat with potential employers, don’t hold back. Share examples of how you've tackled challenges in the past, especially those related to labour optimisation or workforce management.
✨Tip Number 3
Be proactive! If you see a company you love, reach out directly. Even if they’re not hiring, expressing your interest can put you on their radar for future opportunities. Plus, it shows initiative!
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to follow up! After interviews or networking events, drop a quick thank-you note. It keeps you fresh in their minds and shows you’re genuinely interested in the role. We all appreciate a little gratitude!
We think you need these skills to ace Labour Optimisation Specialist
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Analytical Skills: Make sure to highlight your analytical chops in your application. We want to see how you can interrogate data and spot what matters, so share examples of your experience with numbers and data analysis.
Be Practical and Realistic: We love candidates who understand the down-to-earth realities of the industry. In your application, mention any hands-on experience you've had in hospitality or similar fields, and how that shapes your approach to labour optimisation.
Communicate Clearly: As a communicator, you’ll need to bring various stakeholders on board. Use your application to demonstrate your ability to convey complex ideas simply and effectively, whether it’s through writing or examples of past interactions.
Embrace the Start-Up Spirit: We’re looking for someone with start-up instincts who can thrive in ambiguity. Share your experiences of building from scratch or operating without a playbook, as this will resonate with our culture at Sona.
How to prepare for a job interview at Sona
✨Know Your Numbers
As a Labour Optimisation Specialist, you'll need to demonstrate your analytical skills. Brush up on key metrics related to workforce management and be ready to discuss how you can use data to improve staffing economics. Familiarise yourself with SQL or BI tools, as these will likely come up in conversation.
✨Understand the Practical Realities
Get a good grasp of the hospitality industry's day-to-day operations. Visit local restaurants or cafes to see how they manage their staff and resources. This hands-on experience will help you relate better to site managers and show that you understand the challenges they face.
✨Build Trust Through Communication
Effective communication is key in this role. Prepare examples of how you've influenced stakeholders in the past, especially without direct authority. Think about how you can convey complex ideas simply and clearly to different audiences, from operators to C-level executives.
✨Show Your Start-Up Spirit
Sona is looking for someone who thrives in a dynamic environment. Be ready to share experiences where you've built processes from scratch or navigated ambiguity. Highlight your adaptability and willingness to take initiative, as these traits are essential in a start-up setting.
