Dog Daycare Supervisor

Absolutely — I’ve tightened it up so it still feels substantial, but doesn’t read like a full employee handbook.

Supervisor.

Southend-on-Sea, Essex.

Full-time | Monday–Friday.

Salary: £13.50+.

Love dogs? Brilliant.

But we’re also looking for someone who loves organisation, responsibility, people and getting shit done.

Paws Indoors Southend is a busy, established indoor dog daycare and we’re looking for an Assistant Manager to become a key part of our management team.

This isn’t just a senior daycare role. You’ll work closely with our Manager to help oversee the day-to-day running of the centre
, support the team, maintain excellent welfare standards and step up to take charge when needed.

You’ll help with:

• Supporting the daily running of the daycare.
• Taking charge when the Manager is absent.
• Supervising, supporting and directing the team.
• Ensuring dogs are safely grouped and properly supervised.
• Monitoring behaviour, welfare and interactions.
• Making sure enrichment, rest and activities are carried out correctly.
• Maintaining excellent standards of cleanliness and hygiene.
• Ensuring company policies and procedures are followed.
• Supporting staff training and development.
• Identifying performance or conduct concerns early.
• Helping with recruitment, interviews and onboarding.
• Ensuring staff training and documentation is kept up to date.
• Communicating professionally with customers.
• Managing minor customer concerns and escalating where necessary.
• Completing incident, accident and welfare records.
• Supporting Health & Safety and licensing compliance.
• Reporting maintenance issues and helping arrange solutions.
• Helping keep the centre organised, stocked and running efficiently.

This is still a hands-on role
, so you’ll be working around the dogs, helping the team and getting involved in the practical side of daycare.

Dog welfare is at the centre of everything we do.

You should be confident recognising canine body language and signs of stress, discomfort or over stimulation.

You’ll help make decisions around dog groupings, manage play appropriately, ensure individual care instructions are followed and report any welfare concerns quickly.

You don’t need to be a qualified dog trainer, but you do need a genuine understanding of dogs and a willingness to keep learning.

A big part of this role is supporting and leading the team.

We need someone who can:

• Delegate tasks.
• Give clear instructions.
• Support staff when they need help.
• Lead by example.
• Help train new employees.
• Recognise problems early.
• Address minor issues appropriately.
• Know when something needs escalating to senior management or HR.

We want somebody who can be friendly and approachable while still being confident enough to manage people.

Sometimes that means praising somebody for doing a brilliant job.

Sometimes it means having an uncomfortable conversation.

You need to be comfortable with both.

As a licensed dog daycare, paperwork and procedures matter.

You’ll support the Manager with:

• Health & Safety.
• Risk assessments.
• Accident and incident reporting.
• Emergency procedures.
• Staff training records.
• Licensing requirements.
• Daily and weekly checks.
• Maintaining accurate records.

You’ll also help ensure staff follow uniform and PPE requirements and that the overall presentation of the centre remains professional.

You don’t need to know every policy on day one — but you do need to be willing to learn and understand why these procedures matter.

We’re looking for someone who is:

• Confident with dogs of different breeds, sizes and temperaments.
• Knowledgeable about basic canine body language.
• Comfortable supervising other staff.
• Organised and able to prioritise.
• Reliable and punctual.
• Calm under pressure.
• Confident…