Corporate Director of Operations

Sethi Management • Carlsbad, CA

2d • $170,000 - $200,000 • Onsite

About The Position

Sethi Management is a second-generation, family-owned investment, real estate development, and hospitality management company. They prioritize their people, fostering a community where employees support each other and lead with shared values. With over 500 employees, Sethi embraces diverse perspectives united by a purpose of expanding opportunity. Founded over 40 years ago, the company has an award-winning portfolio including 14 hotels and a loyal, long-tenured team, known for high brand audit scores, exceptional guest service, and a culture where people feel valued, supported, and able to grow. Currently led by CEO Ganisha Sethi and COO Mohsen Khaleghi, Sethi is entering a new chapter focused on innovation and service, building a stable foundation for future growth. The company is seeking a values-driven hospitality operator to evolve the industry, pairing operational leadership with meaningful innovation in people, risk, performance, and systems to build a more sustainable, human-centered hospitality company. This role involves partnering with the COO to honor past successes while shaping the future.

Requirements

• 12+ years of experience in hotel hospitality, ideally within multi-property hotel management companies.
• Fluency in Hilton/Marriott/Hyatt systems and standards.
• Deep comfort with financials, forecasting, and operational analysis.
• Detail-oriented, thoughtful, and calm in complexity.
• Leads with humility, kindness, and accountability.
• Coaches instead of commands.
• Builds trust quickly and authentically.
• Grows people and elevates teams.
• Welcomes feedback.
• Able to hold both compassion and high standards.
• Thinks long-term, beyond the immediate horizon.
• No false urgency.
• Transparency, clarity, and shared ownership.
• Belief that people are the foundation of performance.
• Purposeful innovation – never settling for industry standards, driven to create and model new standards.

Nice To Haves

• Based in Carlsbad/San Diego (or willing to relocate eventually).

Responsibilities

• Lead operations and ongoing innovation across Sethi’s hospitality portfolio, ensuring high performance, financial health, and exceptional guest experience.
• Lead and develop two Corporate Directors of Operations.
• Support and elevate hotel General Managers.
• Maintain strong performance across brand audits and guest satisfaction.
• Ensure operational discipline, consistency, and continuous innovation and improvement.
• Bring a systems-level lens to people, process, and performance.
• Rethink compensation, reduce turnover, improve structural cost forecasting, and challenge long-accepted hospitality norms.
• Act as a central thought partner for how the company runs, evolves, and grows.
• Help anticipate and navigate healthcare and insurance costs, workers comp trends, turnover risk and labor market dynamics, government/military contract shifts, regional economic, political, and market factors, operational liabilities and structural risks, lender expectations, and cash position and projections.
• Track leading indicators, identify patterns, and help the company take action before challenges arise.
• Lead with humility, curiosity, and emotional intelligence.
• Coach and develop leaders across the organization.
• Build the company’s first formal leadership bench and pipeline.
• Foster transparency, safety, and shared ownership.
• Model conscious leadership practices and values.
• Inspire high performance without unnecessary urgency or pressure.
• Collaborate closely with the CEO and Controller on investor communication and reporting, loan compliance, lender conversations, and financial stewardship.
• Evaluate potential new development or acquisition opportunities.
• Represent the company with franchise partners and brand leaders.
• Build relationships that support long-term growth.
• Partner to support strong investor outcomes, with a continued target of 10% annual returns for investor partners.
• Shape the company’s strategic expansion and future deal flow over time.

Benefits

• Relocation Assistance Provided
• Base Salary: Up to $200,000
• Annual Performance Bonus
• Profit Pool (launching 2026)
• 401(k) and benefits
• Exceptional industry travel perks: deeply discounted rates at Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt hotels worldwide (including luxury properties)
• Relocation support
• A culture deeply committed to the growth and wellbeing of every employee

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed