Chief Operating Officer

Chief Operating Officer at Confidential Chief Operating Officer at Confidential in River Grove, Illinois Posted in 1 day ago.

Type:

full-time

Job Description:

Confidential Company is a rapidly growing consumer meat business ($500M) with a strong brand. The Chief Operations Officer (COO) will lead and oversee Company's Manufacturing, Engineering, Supply Chain, Customer Service, Logistics, Quality & Regulatory, Safety and Procurement functions. Additionally, the COO will collaborate closely with other functions to align with the business strategy and CEO objectives. This crucial role will provide leadership and strategic direction to drive operational excellence. The position will ensure that leadership, people processes, and systems are in place to foster organizational growth, financial strength, and operational efficiencies, in alignment with business strategy. With the objective of creating a best-in-class operations team, the successful candidate must be able to manage the interface between people and technology, to foster a motivated and well-trained organization. The executive must have a deep appreciation for, systems and process improvement methodologies (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma, Process Reliability, JIT, Loss Analysis) and understand their impact on operational success. A successful candidate will achieve these goals through a respectful, constructive, and visionary approach, securing a competitive advantage in operations. Responsibilities Provide strategic direction and leadership to elevate operational excellence across the Operations function. Lead business planning for Operations, ensuring clear prioritization, organizational focus, and strong employee engagement. Champion customer-focused manufacturing practices that align with Company's strategic goals, service expectations, and operational excellence. Build and sustain a robust talent pipeline, support succession planning, and foster a high-performance culture committed to safety and quality. Drive continuous improvement and standardization across manufacturing processes to enhance plant reliability, reduce waste, and improve efficiency. Oversee engineering and project management initiatives, ensuring the use of cost-effective technologies and successful delivery of operational KPIs. Collaborate with Procurement to strengthen purchasing power, improve supplier relationships, and implement best-in-class procurement strategies. Manage operations costs and capital strategy, oversee budgeting and forecasting, and analyze performance metrics to support growth and efficiency. Support the assessment and integration of mergers, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships to advance Company's business objectives. Ensure alignment of infrastructure and priorities across regulatory, safety, and quality functions to maintain high standards and compliance. Qualifications Industry 15+ years of food industry experience with exposure to animal protein High growth CPG experience Experience within best-in-class F&B operations Functional Experience leading multi-site operations of relevant scale/complexity Experience scaling operations (greenfield, 3rd party partnerships, network strategy) E2E Exposure

• Sourcing, IBP, Quality, Processing, Manufacturing, Distribution Leadership Results oriented
• naturally inclined to establishing and exceeding goals and expectations Curious
• able to develop and recommend strategic options; spirit of continuous improvement Highly collaborative and able to work within a dynamic operational environment Hands-on, decisive driver of change and results Highly principled and consistently guided by integrity and ethics