Grooming Team Lead

Bark & Mane of South Bay • San Jose, CA

5d • $25 - $32 • Onsite

About The Position

Bark & Mane is seeking an experienced Grooming Team Lead who can deliver high-quality grooming services while improving the performance, consistency, and professionalism of our grooming team. This is a working leadership role. The Grooming Team Lead will maintain an active grooming schedule while serving as a coach, technical resource, and day-to-day leader. The ideal candidate is a strong groomer who communicates professionally, remains calm under pressure, exercises sound judgment, sets a positive example, and helps others improve respectfully and constructively.

Requirements

• At least three years of professional grooming experience.
• Strong bathing, drying, brushing, deshedding, clipper, scissoring, nail-care, and finishing skills.
• Experience with varied breeds, sizes, coat types, temperaments, and grooming conditions.
• Strong commitment to pet safety, humane handling, and quality workmanship.
• Strong communication, customer-service, conflict-resolution, organization, and documentation skills.
• Ability to remain calm, make sound decisions, and provide respectful feedback.
• Dependable attendance and punctuality.
• Valid driver’s license and acceptable driving record.
• Ability to meet the physical requirements of mobile grooming.

Nice To Haves

• Training, mentoring, coaching, or supervisory experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Perform safe, high-quality grooming in accordance with company standards.
• Evaluate each pet’s coat, behavior, age, health, and grooming needs.
• Communicate recommendations, limitations, and concerns clearly to customers.
• Maintain accurate grooming notes, photographs, and service records.
• Follow all safety, pet-handling, comfort-grooming, and incident-reporting procedures.
• Provide day-to-day technical leadership and support to the grooming team.
• Set a strong example in safety, quality, attendance, communication, productivity, van care, and customer service.
• Coach groomers on technique, pet handling, time management, workflow, and customer communication.
• Provide clear, fact-based feedback with specific expectations and next steps.
• Support onboarding, ride-alongs, skills assessments, hands-on training, and groomer development.
• Help determine readiness for greater independence and more difficult grooms.
• Reinforce company standards, accountability, teamwork, and professional conduct.
• Communicate team concerns to management with facts, context, and recommended solutions.
• Help maintain consistent grooming, safety, and customer-service standards.
• Assist management with quality concerns, customer complaints, incidents, and service recovery.
• Provide guidance on difficult, senior, anxious, aggressive, matted, oversized, or medically sensitive pets.
• Help determine when a groom should be modified, stopped, rescheduled, or referred out.
• Identify recurring issues and recommend corrective actions.
• Help maintain grooming procedures, checklists, and training materials.
• Work with management and dispatch to improve scheduling, groom-duration estimates, customer assignments, and daily workflow.
• Communicate delays, equipment issues, pet concerns, and customer problems promptly.
• Support van, equipment, supply, cleanliness, and safety standards.
• Address routine grooming, quality, training, and team-performance matters within the authority provided by management.
• Escalate attendance, conduct, disciplinary, customer, or safety matters when necessary.
• Puts safety, quality, and pet handling before speed.
• Takes ownership and communicates facts, context, and solutions clearly.
• Coaches others without embarrassing or discouraging them.
• Addresses performance concerns directly and professionally.
• Avoids gossip, favoritism, negativity, and unnecessary workplace drama.
• Understands the realities of a mobile home-service business.
• Wants to build a stronger team—not simply hold a leadership title.
• Incorporate leadership, coaching, training, quality review, and administrative responsibilities into the role.

Benefits

• Free uniforms
• Health insurance
• Signing bonus
• Training & development
• Vision insurance
• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Competitive salary
• Dental insurance
• Flexible schedule
• An established customer base and company-provided grooming van and equipment.
• A working leadership role with influence over quality, safety, training, and team development.
• Opportunities to help shape training programs, operating standards, and the future grooming organization.
• A professional environment focused on safety, customer care, accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement.

What This Job Offers

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