Director of Operations

Location: Charleston, South Carolina - regional travel required Reports to: Principals Employment type: Full time, exempt Scope: Above-property leadership across hotel and restaurant operations About the Role Makan Hotels is a family owned hospitality company. It started with a single roadside motel in Lincoln, Nebraska, and three generations later we are building something of our own: a portfolio of boutique hotels and independent restaurants across the Southeast. We are early, but we are not starting from zero. There is real capital committed, assets in the ground, significant renovation underway, and an active acquisition pipeline. The operating platform exists and the systems are in place. What we need is someone to take ownership of it and build it for scale. This is not a property level job. You will sit above the properties and own how this company runs - the standards, the training, the labor model, the reporting discipline. Everything we operate today lands in your portfolio, and so does everything we add next. What You Will Own Standards and execution. Take our existing platform and make it hold across every property. Build and maintain the SOP library for hotel and restaurant operations, and make sure the standard is the same in every building, on every shift. Labor and financial performance. Own labor scheduling, productivity standards, and controllable costs across the portfolio. Partner with the Controller on budgeting and forecasting. Find margin and go get it. People and training. Build the onboarding and training programs for every role, line level through General Manager. Create the structure that tells every team member where they stand and what comes next, and develop the property leaders we will need for the next opening. Performance and visibility. Own the reporting and inspection cadence that gives ownership a first-hand, verifiable view of how each property is actually running, including the properties you are not standing in that week. Run the monthly performance review with each property and drive corrective action. Growth. Lead the operational takeover of new properties and the pre-opening plan for new concepts. Recruit and onboard the leaders who will run them. Who You Are Multi-unit or above-property hospitality operations experience, with a track record of improving labor cost and margin without degrading the guest experience Food and beverage background, and boutique or luxury hotel experience - you know what the difference between good and exceptional actually costs to deliver, and how to get a team to produce it consistently You have taken systems and standards and made them stick across multiple properties, and can point to what changed as a result You have run properties you were not physically standing in every day, and you know what it takes to hold a standard at a distance You lead with structure and clarity. You set the standard, teach it, and hold people to it without micromanaging You want to build an operating company rather than maintain one, and you are comfortable with the ambiguity that comes with growth Willing to travel regularly, including outside the Southeast coast Why This Role You will own operations for the entire company from day one, and your scope grows with every asset we add. Ownership is hands on, decisive, and funding growth. If you want to shape how a hospitality portfolio operates while it is still small enough for your decisions to define it, this is that opportunity. #J-18808-Ljbffr