General Manager

Description

What makes Woodlawn special?

This opportunity is unlike any other. As General Manager of Woodlawn Cemetery, you won't simply oversee business operations — you'll serve as the steward of one of Detroit's most treasured historic landscapes. Since 1895, Woodlawn has been a place where generations of Detroit families have honored loved ones while preserving the stories that shaped the city itself. Its beautifully maintained grounds are the final resting place of iconic leaders, innovators, artists, entrepreneurs, and public servants whose legacies continue to define Detroit, including Rosa Parks, the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement," and the legendary Aretha Franklin, the "Queen of Soul."

We're looking for a leader who believes that cemeteries are more than places of remembrance — they are places where history, community, and legacy come together. The ideal candidate has a genuine appreciation for Detroit's rich culture, resilience, and future, and understands the privilege of serving families in a location that represents so much to the city. If you're energized by leading people, preserving an important community landmark, and making a lasting impact on the families who trust us every day, this is an opportunity to lead with purpose in one of Detroit's most significant institutions.

Why Everstory

At Everstory Partners, our mission is to create supportive spaces where individuals and families can find solace, meaning, and hope in the midst of loss. At the heart of our mission is a deep understanding of the profound and complex nature of grief. Every person’s journey through loss is unique, and we are committed to providing compassionate and personalized support. 

We also believe that grief is not a problem to be solved or a burden to manage alone, but rather a natural and beautiful part of the human experience. Backed by our national strength and our local partners’ role is to be a steady presence, a source of comfort and guidance, and a partner in celebrating the life and legacy of the person who has passed.

The Impact You Will Make

As a General Manager, you are a unique blend of a seasoned operator and a natural people leader with experience managing a diverse group of functions and departments for a designated portfolio of cemetery and funeral home locations. This leader is hands on and able to hire and motivate a winning team by role modeling honest communication and, integrity and a collaborative attitude. A savvy business leader with acumen, you will measure operational performance by the numbers, identifying underperforming metrics and generating strategic solutions in order to drive profitability and meet or exceed operational goals. You have a passion for promoting service excellence by implementing best-practices, establishing priorities and providing support and guidance in order to successfully service our families. In this role you will also: 

• Be responsible to take full ownership of all aspects of your portfolios daily operations, including full P&L responsibility in order to facilitate growth within your markets.
• Achieve or exceed budgeted sales and profit levels. Review financial results against monthly and quarterly budget goals to ensure efficient operations and that all expenditures and costs remain within budgeted and cost guidelines. Takes a proactive approach to correct any deviation from financial budgets and performance.
• Act as an example of excellent customer service standards for internal and external customers by taking responsibility for escalated customer issues and working to provide timely and satisfactory resolution to complaints or problems.
• Provide motivational leadership to teams to accomplish goals and objectives while working within company guidelines.
• Facilitate weekly managers meeting to review staffing, development, and training needs and discuss operating and sales plans, objectives and results.
• Proactively recruit, hire, train and retain in accordance with companys standards, programs and materials.
• Write and conduct timely performance reviews, create individual development plans, and provide regular follow up to ensure completion of goals. Provide ongoing follow-up, training and coaching to assist team members in achieving developmental objectives
• Manage merchandise and property inventory for each location within designated portfolio.
• Influence and manage relationships with vendors to ensure effective partnership in addressing needs for location or customers.
• Ensures compliance with workplace health and safety standards and plans
• Select and purchase all necessary material for operations within budgetary guidelines using approved vendors.

Core Competencies:

• Compassion - Genuinely cares about people; is concerned about their work and non-work problems; is available and ready to help; is sympathetic to the plight of others not as fortunate; demonstrates real empathy with the joys and pains of others. 
• Customer Focus - Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
• Ethics and Values - Adheres to appropriate (for the setting) and effective set of core values and beliefs during both good and bad times; acts in line with those values; rewards the right values and disapproves of others; practices what he/she preaches.

Requirements

• Strong combination of business operations, quality, continuous improvement, process development and management experience to provide unique business solutions.
• Ability to establish and maintain trust with all stakeholders customers, business partners, investors, and coworkers will be key in this essential role.
• Experienced in developing effective methods of handling location issues including internal and external customer complaints and issues.
• Excellent customer service skills.
• Experience leading and developing teams high performing teams.
• Prior experience managing multiple departments within multiple locations.
• Consistently practice a pro-active approach, understanding urgency and prioritizing getting tasks appropriately.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.

Education and/or Experience:

• Bachelors degree in business in Business or related; or equivalent professional experience
• Minimum five (5) years of experience in management and personnel supervision.
• Prior experience with client-facing service operations with a strong track record of process/operations field leadership and experience running complex operations of varied workflows and disciplines
• General understanding of basic accounting principles; specifically, budgeting procedures.
• Previous Cemetery/Funeral Home Management experience is strongly preferred.
• Must possess a valid driver’s license and access to a personal vehicle. Mileage reimbursement is provided for travel associated with job duties.
• This position requires availability to work some holidays, evenings and weekends as needed.

Our Investment in You

Everstory Partners is proud to provide our employees with a quality work environment and opportunity for both personal and professional growth. As part of our ongoing commitment, we offer a competitive benefits package for our Full-Time Employees including:

• Base salary pay with a performance-driven bonus plan tied to cemetery and funeral revenue
• Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, AD&D and STD Insurance
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Anniversary Award for each year of service
• Career Advancement and Training - Aspiring Managers Program
• Everstory Cares - Employee Assistance Fund
• Legend Award Program
• Funeral and Cemetery Benefits
• Employee Referral Bonus
• 401k with Company Match

Everstory Partners is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to employing a diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, gender identity or expression, or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal law.

The pay range for this role is based on a wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions regardless of race, gender, age, religion, or any other protected characteristic. They include skill set, experience and training, licensure and certification, and other business and organizational needs. This range estimate has been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. Compensation decisions are dependent on the circumstances of each hire. #EverstoryJobs