General Manager - Pet Care Operations & Local Growth

Job Description

Job Description

Pup Scouts is hiring a General Manager for Maryland — an experienced dog trainer who can lead a team. You'll run our walkers, groomers, and trainers, set the standard for how dogs are handled and cared for, and put our brand in front of the community that already loves us. Real hands-on training experience is required for this role.

About Pup Scouts

Pup Scouts is a mobile pet-care company making great care convenient — we meet dogs and their people right where they are. We run dog walking, mobile grooming, training, and overnight care across three markets: Orange County, California; Annapolis, Maryland; and Charlotte, North Carolina. Maryland is an established market with a loyal client base, a strong field team, and real room to grow in every service line.

The Opportunity

This is a leadership seat with two halves, and we need someone who's genuinely good at both.

Inside: you lead the team. Our pack leaders, groomers, and trainers are the product — you hire them, train them, coach them, and hold the standard. That starts with dogs: you teach handling, leash skills, body language, and safety, because you've done the work yourself. You own quality control.

Outside: you grow the brand. You're the face of Pup Scouts in Annapolis — at the events, in the partnerships, with the local vets, breweries, apartment communities, shelters, and pet businesses that put us in front of the right dog owners. Local activation isn't a marketing department task here. It's yours.

The systems, the brand, and the client demand already exist. We're hiring the person who takes the day-to-day off the owner's plate, raises the bar on how we deliver, and makes Maryland visibly the best pet-care company in the area.

What You'll Do

Lead and develop the team:

• Hire, onboard, and train pack leaders, groomers, and trainers — including running our pack leader training program and certifying new walkers before they go solo

• Teach real dog skills: leash handling, reading body language, managing reactive or difficult dogs, and keeping every walk safe

• Coach in the field: ride along, observe real walks and grooms, give direct feedback, and follow up

• Build the schedule, handle call-outs and coverage, and keep good people happy and growing

• Set expectations clearly and hold people to them — fairly, consistently, and without drama

Own quality control:

• Define and enforce the standard across walking, grooming, and training — safety, handling, punctuality, communication, and care

• Review report cards, photos, GPS check-ins, and client feedback; catch problems before clients feel them

• Run incident response — injuries, escapes, property, complaints — same-day, honestly and well

• Bring what you learn back to the wider company so all three markets get better, not just Maryland

Run the operation:

• Own the daily walking, grooming, training, and overnight schedule — fully staffed, no gaps, every day

• Hold our client-communication promise: every message answered within 3 hours, every booking request closed all the way through

• Respond to new leads the same day, run consultations, and get clients onto recurring service

• Watch the numbers weekly — revenue, capacity, retention, rebook rates, labor hours, unpaid invoices — and act on them

Grow the brand locally:

• Represent Pup Scouts at community events, adoption days, farmers markets, and neighborhood activations — and create new ones

• Build and maintain partnerships with vets, groomers, shelters, apartment communities, HOAs, and local businesses that refer real clients

• Capture and route great content — dogs, staff, moments — to our marketing team, and keep our local presence active

• Turn visibility into booked business, and know which efforts actually worked

What We're Looking For

• Real, hands-on dog training experience — this is a requirement, not a preference. You've trained dogs yourself: obedience, leash work, behavior problems, and safe handling of dogs that aren't easy

• Able to teach what you know — you can take a new pack leader from nervous to competent and certify them before they go solo

• 2+ years leading a team and a daily operation — pet care, or a comparable field like home services, hospitality, retail, fitness, or field service

• Proven ability to hire well, train people to a standard, and coach them without being a pushover

• A quality obsessive: you notice the details other people walk past, and you fix them

• Outgoing and genuinely comfortable in the community — events, partnerships, introductions, follow-up

• Excellent client communicator, especially when something has gone wrong

• Comfortable owning numbers: revenue, capacity, retention, labor cost

• Confident with software — scheduling, CRM, and messaging platforms (we use Time to Pet, MoeGo, Airtable, and Slack)

• Genuinely good with dogs — able to safely handle large breeds and lift 50 lbs

• Reliable transportation, valid driver's license, and willingness to be in the field, not just behind a desk

• Available for some evenings, weekends, and holiday coverage as the business requires

Nice to have: a professional training credential (CPDT-KA, KPA, IAABC, or similar), board-and-train or private-lesson experience, additional pet-care operations experience, event or partnership marketing experience, or a track record of growing a location's revenue.

Why Join Pup Scouts

• A proven, multi-market brand with real systems behind you — you're not building from scratch

• True ownership of your market, and the authority to run it your way

• Back-end admin support so your time goes to the team, the standard, and the growth

• Your work shapes all three markets, not just this one

• Direct access to ownership, and a real path to grow as the company expands

Compensation & Benefits

• $65,000 base salary, plus revenue bonuses tied to Maryland's growth — you share in what you build

• Health insurance contribution (company pays 50% of premium)

• 401(k) with company match

• Flexible paid time off

• Mileage and business expenses reimbursed

• W-2, full-time

Schedule

Full-time, Monday–Friday with evening and weekend availability for events and coverage as the business requires. Based in Annapolis, MD — in-market and on the road, not remote.

How to Apply

Send your resume and a short note telling us:

1. Your dog training background — what you've trained, how you were taught, methods you use, and any certifications

2. A team you've led — how many people, and how you trained them to a standard

3. A time quality slipped on your watch, and exactly what you did about it

4. Something you built in the community — an event, a partnership, a referral relationship — and what it produced

5. One number you're proud of moving, and how you moved it

We read every application and respond to serious candidates quickly.

Pup Scouts is Annapolis' top mobile dog grooming company. We bring a fully stocked grooming van straight to the client's driveway and work one dog at a time. No crowded shop, no cages, no rushing to the next dog. Our clientele is extraordinary: loyal, booked out for weeks, and they tip well, so real money lands in your pocket on top of 40% commission. Our groomers own their schedule and their client book, and they do the best work of their careers here. If you take genuine pride in your grooming, come do it somewhere that treats it like the craft it is.

Company Description

Pup Scouts is Annapolis' top mobile dog grooming company. We bring a fully stocked grooming van straight to the client's driveway and work one dog at a time. No crowded shop, no cages, no rushing to the next dog. Our clientele is extraordinary: loyal, booked out for weeks, and they tip well, so real money lands in your pocket on top of 40% commission. Our groomers own their schedule and their client book, and they do the best work of their careers here. If you take genuine pride in your grooming, come do it somewhere that treats it like the craft it is.