Fast growing, $12M in revenue manufacturing company is looking to hire a Chief Operating Offer to join their executive team. Company is looking to grow to $100M in revenue over the next several years both organically and through M&A activity.
Position Summary
The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is a senior executive responsible for leading day-to-day operations and scaling operational performance across the company. This leader will drive efficiency, throughput, quality, safety, and on-time delivery while strengthening our operating cadence, ERP utilization, supply chain performance, workforce development, and cross-functional accountability.
The COO will oversee manufacturing operations and key enabling functions including supply chain, training, compliance, HR, and finance, partnering closely with the CEO and leadership team to execute strategic priorities and build a high-performance culture.
Key Responsibilities
Operational Leadership & Execution
- Lead company-wide operations with full accountability for safety, quality, delivery, cost, and customer satisfaction.
- Establish a clear operating rhythm (KPIs, daily/weekly/monthly reviews) to drive accountability and performance.
- Translate business strategy into execution plans with measurable milestones and outcomes.
- Partner with Sales/Engineering to improve quoting discipline, order execution, and customer delivery performance.
ERP Mastery & Systems Excellence
- Own operational effectiveness of the ERP system: data integrity, adoption, workflow discipline, reporting, and continuous improvement.
- Drive standardization of processes (order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, production planning, inventory, and costing).
- Build dashboards and reporting that enable real-time decision-making, visibility, and accountability.
- Lead ERP enhancements, integrations, and training to ensure the system supports scalable growth.
- Identify and execute productivity improvements across labor, equipment, scheduling, layout, and process flow.
- Implement Lean/continuous improvement tools (standard work, 5S, waste reduction, root cause analysis).
- Improve capacity planning, constraints management, and throughput without sacrificing quality or compliance.
- Own cost reduction initiatives (materials, scrap, rework, freight, labor utilization) and measure impact.
Supply Chain & Procurement
- Lead supply chain strategy and execution: sourcing, vendor management, purchasing, inventory, and logistics.
- Strengthen materials planning, lead-time management, and supplier performance (quality, cost, delivery).
- Build scalable inventory controls and cycle count discipline to improve accuracy and working capital.
- Develop risk mitigation plans for critical suppliers and long-lead items.
- Training, Workforce Development & Culture
- · Build and lead a training culture: onboarding, skills matrices, certifications, cross-training, leadership development.
- Establish clear expectations, performance standards, and feedback loops for supervisors and team leads.
- Improve workforce engagement, retention, and productivity through structured coaching and development.
Compliance, Safety & Quality Systems
- Own operational compliance across applicable standards (quality systems, safety programs, regulatory and customer requirements).
- Ensure strong documentation, audits, corrective actions, and preventive controls.
- Drive a “quality at the source” culture with disciplined root cause and corrective action processes.
- Partner with leadership to reduce incidents, improve safety performance, and maintain an audit-ready environment.
HR & Finance Oversight (in partnership with functional leads)
- Provide executive oversight and accountability for HR and finance functions to ensure disciplined processes and timely execution.
- Ensure strong hiring plans, org design, performance management, compensation alignment, and employee relations practices.
- Drive disciplined financial management: budgeting, operational forecasting, cost controls, inventory accuracy, and margin improvement.
- Partner with finance to improve monthly close reliability, operational KPIs, and decision support reporting.
Leadership Team & Strategic Growth
- Serve as a key member of the executive team; contribute to strategic planning, capital planning, and growth initiatives.
- Support integration of new products, capabilities, or acquisitions (if applicable) with repeatable playbooks and accountability.
- Improve cross-functional handoffs between Sales, Engineering, Production, Purchasing, Quality, and Accounting.
- Build scalable management systems that support profitable growth and increased operational complexity.
Required Qualifications
- 10+ years of senior leadership experience in manufacturing/operations (Director, VP, GM, Plant Manager, or similar), with progressively increasing responsibility.
- Demonstrated mastery of ERP systems (e.g., Jobboss2 preferred, Epicor, NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, etc.) including implementation or major optimization, training, and governance.
- · Proven success driving operational efficiency, throughput, cost reduction, and on-time delivery in a production environment.
- Strong supply chain leadership experience: procurement, inventory management, vendor performance, and planning/scheduling.
- Experience leading or partnering closely with HR and Finance at an executive level (budgeting, forecasting, labor planning, performance management).
- Track record of building training systems and developing leaders/supervisors.
- Strong understanding of compliance and quality systems and a commitment to safety culture.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to align teams, create clarity, and hold people accountable.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in custom fabrication, engineered-to-order manufacturing, or regulated/technical markets.
- Lean / Six Sigma training or demonstrated continuous improvement leadership.
- Experience scaling operations through growth and/or organizational change.
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Business, or related field (MBA or advanced degree a plus).
