Operations Manager London

OUR MISSION

At Unicorn, we believe that hospitality is more than just a service — it's a promise. We are the operational backbone of some of Europe's most forward-thinking hotel brands: the partner guests never see, but always feel. From immaculate rooms to seamless remote check-ins, we deliver Hotel Operations-as-a-Service — housekeeping, maintenance, and guest operations — white-labelled under our partners' brands.

This is a hands-on, on-site role. Your office is our hotels. You will spend your days in the properties — walking the floors, checking the rooms, and standing shoulder to shoulder with your team leaders and housekeepers. You will own the numbers too, but you'll earn them on the ground, not from behind a desk. If you lead best from a screen, this is not the role for you.

WHAT YOU OWN — AND ARE ACCOUNTABLE FOR

• Operational excellence at the property level: You will be responsible for the day-to-day operations across our partner hotels in London. You'll ensure that housekeeping, maintenance, and service standards not only meet but exceed the expectations of our clients and guests — through daily quality audits and zero compromise on standards.

• Team & coaching: You lead, coach, and develop site managers and frontline crews. You build a team that takes pride in its work, is clearly led, and where talent can grow from cleaning staff to site management.

• Costs & KPIs: You think in terms of unit economics and make decisions based on data. You track cost-per-room and labour cost ratios weekly and report monthly to the General Manager UK — you spot discrepancies before they become a problem.

• Recruiting & onboarding: You build and maintain a talent pipeline in London's highly competitive job market, leveraging job boards, referral programmes, and local networks. You handle onboarding and training in close collaboration with People & Culture.

• Customer partnership: You build trust through reliability and ensure that every SLA is not only met but exceeded. After all, our partners' reputation is our reputation.

• Compliance & standards: You ensure compliance with UK employment law, health & safety regulations, and all Unicorn templates and framework agreements. No special local agreements may be made without the written approval of the General Manager UK. Standards and safety are non-negotiable — we measure, we audit, and we hold the line.
  

WHO YOU ARE

Hands-on housekeeping experience is non-negotiable — you have done the work yourself, not just managed it. You bring several years of it, in hotels, serviced apartments, or hospitality, and you can clearly demonstrate which decisions have driven your success in this field.

• Hands-on and present: You lead from the floor, not from a screen. You're at your best in the rooms and corridors with your crews, and you'd rather catch a quality issue with your own eyes than read about it in a report. Most of your week is spent at the properties.

• Business-minded: You understand labour cost ratios and break-even points, and you translate financial goals into day-to-day operations.

• People-first leader: You lead with empathy and clarity. You know that in a people-intensive business, your team's well-being directly determines guest satisfaction.

• Resilient and calm: You stay composed when things get hectic — and in hospitality, things do get hectic. You solve problems without drama and keep your team leaders and housekeepers on board.

• Versatile day to day: a quality audit at a hotel in the morning, a feedback session at noon, and a rota review in the evening — you switch between these seamlessly.

• Tech-savvy: You use digital rotas, live dashboards, and KPI tracking as naturally as others use email. 100% digital operations are the norm for you.

• Languages: Business-fluent English (C1+). Additional languages are a real plus — our frontline teams are international, and you will move from morning crew briefings to English-language reporting in the afternoon.
  

WHY UNICORN

We're building the next generation of hospitality services — with both feet firmly on the ground. We're founder-led and profitable, which means we focus on margins, quality, and efficiency, not headlines. You'll find a team that takes pride in getting the details right, treats every guest interaction as a promise kept, and believes that the best companies are built by people who truly care.

And because we are growing fast across Europe, this role is a starting point, not a ceiling — for someone who delivers, there is a clear path into regional and leadership positions