Area Operations Manager

About Zolo:

Zolo is India’s largest co-living and managed accommodation platform, reimagining the way students and working professionals live. With thriving communities across major cities and verticals like Co-living, Hostels, Student Housing, and Vacations — Zolo combines comfort, community, and convenience through tech-driven hospitality.

About the Role:

Senior Operations Manager – South

newly created regional leadership role

Key Responsibilities:

1. Regional Operations Leadership

• Lead hostel operations across multiple cities in South India.
• Drive standardization and adherence to SOPs across all properties.
• Build and implement scalable systems for service quality, audits, and reporting.

2. People & Process Management

• Manage a large, distributed team of city and property managers.
• Build a strong performance-driven culture through mentorship and accountability.
• Ensure staff training, engagement, and retention for a high-performing operations team.

3. Financial & Business Ownership

• Drive P&L accountability for the region.
• Optimize costs while maintaining service excellence and operational efficiency.
• Track performance metrics and generate actionable insights through reports and dashboards.

4. Customer Experience & Quality Control

• Ensure consistent delivery of guest experience and service quality standards.
• Regularly conduct audits, identify gaps, and implement quick corrective actions.
• Partner with central functions (Tech, CX, Maintenance, Marketing) to ensure smooth operations.

5. Expansion & Scale

• Prepare properties and teams for new city launches and portfolio expansions.
• Build and replicate operational playbooks that support fast, consistent scaling.

Ideal Candidate Profile:

Experience:

• 4–8 years in multi-unit or regional operations roles
• Prior exposure to

  retail, hospitality, fitness, or service operations

  preferred (e.g., Decathlon, Starbucks, CultFit, Zostel, goSTOPS, Dominos, Reliance Trends)

Education:

• Graduate in any discipline;

  MBA preferred but not mandatory

Languages:

• Fluent in

  English

  ,

  Hindi

  , and at least

  two South Indian languages

Key Skills & Competencies:

• Strong understanding of

  SOPs, audits, and operational checklists

• Proven experience managing

  20–30+ locations or units

• Excellent

  analytical, problem-solving, and leadership

  skills
• Strong

  Excel/Google Sheets

  and reporting proficiency
• Hands-on approach with

  people-first management style

• Ability to operate in

  fast-paced, multi-city environments

What Makes This Role Exciting:

• Transition from a

  cluster/area operations role

  to

  regional leadership

• Full

  P&L and regional ownership

  across South India
• Work closely with

  COO and national leadership

  on strategic initiatives
• Opportunity to build scalable systems for one of India’s fastest-growing hostel brands