Multi-unit operators
The same roles keep opening. Stop starting from zero each time.
If you run many locations, your hardest hiring is not one search — it is the same handful of leadership roles coming open somewhere in the footprint, month after month. Sonar is a subscription-based Recruiting-as-a-Service firm for mid-market companies in the United States.
- The same roles, repeatedly
- A hiring pattern that rewards a standing pipeline over a fresh search each time
- Wherever the locations are
- National coverage — sourcing is not limited to one metro or region
- Open roles cost revenue
- A vacant operations seat is felt at that location every week it stays open
- One flat monthly fee
- Not a percentage of each hire, however many you make
The pattern
Multi-unit hiring is a standing requirement, not a series of events.
A district manager resigns in one region. Two months later a regional director seat opens somewhere else. Next quarter a new market needs an operations lead before it opens. Individually these look like three separate searches. In practice they are one continuous requirement showing up in different places.
Per-hire recruiting treats each one as a fresh start: a new brief, a new sourcing push, a new pipeline built from nothing, and a fee attached to each placement. The market has not changed between those searches — only the location has. Rebuilding the pipeline every time is the expensive part, and it is the part that a subscription model removes.
Sonar keeps the pipeline warm between openings. Sourcing runs continuously against the roles you are known to need, so when a seat opens the work of finding candidates has already been happening — often for weeks.
Who this is for
An operating model, not an industry.
Multi-unit describes how a business is structured, not what it sells. The hiring mechanics look substantially the same across sectors.
Retail and specialty chains
Store, district and regional leadership across a national footprint
Healthcare and dental networks
Practice, area and regional operations above the clinic level
Fitness, wellness and services
Club and territory leadership in a fast-turnover environment
Convenience, fuel and grocery
District and regional operations across dense location counts
Distribution and logistics
Site, area and regional operations leadership
Restaurant and food service groups
Multi-unit operations leadership above the location
The roles
Above the location, below the C-suite.
Sonar fills the leadership layer that actually runs a distributed footprint — and does not recruit for hourly, store-level or individual-contributor positions.
- District and area managers
- Regional directors of operations
- Directors and VPs of operations
- Chief operating officers
- Operations HR and talent acquisition leadership
- Supply chain and distribution leadership
- Real estate and development leadership
- Training and field-support leadership
Questions multi-unit operators ask
What counts as a multi-unit operator?
Any organization running the same operating model across many locations — retail chains, healthcare and dental networks, fitness and wellness groups, convenience and fuel, distribution and logistics sites, and restaurant groups. What matters for hiring is not the industry but the pattern: many locations, a repeating set of leadership roles, and a district or regional layer above the location managers.
Why is hiring different for multi-unit operators?
Because the same roles come open again and again in different places. A single search treats each opening as a one-off event, which means starting from zero every time. Multi-unit hiring is not a series of unrelated searches; it is a continuous requirement that happens to surface in a different location each month.
Which roles does Sonar fill for multi-unit operators?
Mid- to senior-level roles above the individual location: district and area managers, regional directors of operations, directors and VPs of operations, and the corporate functions that support a distributed footprint — operations HR and talent acquisition, supply chain, real estate and development, and training. Sonar does not recruit for hourly, store-level or individual-contributor positions.
Does Sonar work in a specific industry?
No. Sonar is cross-vertical and works with mid-market companies across all industries nationwide. Multi-unit is an operating model, not a sector, and the hiring mechanics are substantially the same whether the locations are clinics, stores, gyms, depots or restaurants.
We already have an internal recruiting team. Where does Sonar fit?
Alongside it. Internal teams at multi-unit operators are usually structured for volume hourly hiring, which is a different job from filling a regional director seat. Sonar adds a dedicated pod working the leadership roles continuously, and reports into the talent acquisition leader rather than around them.
When is this the wrong fit?
If you operate a small number of locations and open a leadership role once or twice a year, a contingency search is likely the better economic choice — the subscription model earns its keep on repeat volume. It is also the wrong fit for high-volume hourly hiring, which needs a different approach entirely.
Tell us which roles keep coming back.
If the same seats open across your footprint every quarter, that is exactly the pattern this model is built for.