Chief Operating Officer

About the Company

Our client is a high-growth, private equity-backed contract manufacturer and packager producing products for many of the leading consumer packaged goods brands in North America. The Company works across dry, liquid, rigid, and flexible formats and partners with everyone from emerging brands to top-tier CPG companies. It operates a multi-site manufacturing network across the Midwest and South and has delivered double-digit organic growth year over year.

Growth comes from three levers: organic expansion, highly selective M&A, and purpose-built facilities co-invested with customers. The Company is known for speed, standing up new production lines in weeks and new facilities in months, and for operating without red tape. It also takes over and turns around plants that customers no longer want to run themselves. This is not a role for someone who wants predictability. It is a role for a builder.

Role Purpose/Position Summary: The Chief Operating Officer (COO) will be responsible for overseeing the Company's overall end-to-end operations (manufacturing and supply chain) with a primary focus on maximizing company profitability, operational excellence and scalable growth, by building strong operating and support teams, and enhancing the company culture. This role requires an entrepreneurial, strategic thinker with strong management skills and a deep understanding of food manufacturing and consumer packaged goods trends, capable of translating business strategy into disciplined execution and sustained results.

The ideal leader is a cross-functional operator who can wear multiple hats and is equally comfortable in the boardroom, in front of a customer, and on the production floor. This person will serve as a teacher, mentor, and coach to an exceptionally strong VP team, bringing new tools and raising the bar on organizational development.

Key Responsibilities/Primary Duties

Strategic Responsibilities

1. Strategic Planning: Develop and implement strategies to optimize the Company's operating results focusing on world-class manufacturing performance.

• Understand the Company's long- and short-term business goals and align operating strategies accordingly.
• Establish site-level and network-wide roadmaps to achieve lowest total delivered cost and improved customer outcomes.
• Analyze the performance of operations in the areas of Safety, Quality, and Productivity and work with the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) to set direction for year-over-year (YOY) improvement.

1. Executive Leadership: Conduct regular market analysis to identify and evaluate opportunities for cost optimization, portfolio alignment, and operational scalability.

• Provide analytics and insights to the Board of Directors that allow for strategic decisions on business growth opportunities.
• Proactively identify and lead growth initiatives across existing and new markets, including organic expansion, mergers and acquisitions, and purpose-built facilities developed in partnership with customers.
• Evaluate acquisition targets with discipline, including cultural fit, infrastructure needs, and food safety standards.
• Lead and develop the VPs of Operations and Supply Chain to drive continuous improvement and YOY improved business results.
• Build and maintain strategic customer relationships that build upon past success and enable long-term strategic growth opportunities.

1. Culture: Champion and strengthen the Company's core values across all locations.

• Be an Entrepreneur and Owner, not just a manager.
• Drive internal culture to build stronger operational and functional teams.
• Reinforce customer focus through operational excellence and consistent product quality.
• Voice constructive, professional disagreement and challenge groupthink to drive better decisions.

Operational Responsibilities

1. Performance Management: Work with VPs of Operations to improve plant performance and consistency across the network.

• Ensure the facilities are operating effectively, focused on Continuous Improvement that drives improved Reliability and Total Efficiency (OEE).
• Together with the Director of Corporate Real Estate, develop a portfolio-wide capital planning program for all building-related activities. Identify and assess deferred maintenance needs, ensuring timely visibility and communication to Company leadership.
• Lead new facility startups, new product introductions, and turnarounds of underperforming or newly acquired plants.

1. Profitability Optimization: Lead culture of Continuous Improvement. Provide the latest industry expertise around operational efficiencies, maintenance, reliability, and waste reduction.

• Ensure that operational excellence is advanced in each operating facility.
• Ensure a culture of Total Productive Maintenance is part of all operations and preventive maintenance programs are optimized and consistently executed.
• Apply a lean mindset that solves problems at the root cause without adding layers or bloat.

1. Supply Chain Management: Provide strategic oversight of the supply chain organization.

• Identify and implement Supply Chain improvements that enhance service and cost efficiency.
• Build and strengthen cross-functional Supply Chain management team.

1. Team Development: Build and develop a strong management team across the operations network.

• Work with the ELT to improve cross-functional collaboration and drive business results.
• Champion succession planning and talent development.
• Coach and mentor senior operating leaders, adding new tools and capabilities to an experienced team.

Executive Responsibilities

1. Enterprise Collaboration: Work closely with each VP or C-suite Executive to improve company-wide performance and alignment.

• Partner closely with Finance, HR, Quality, and other functional leaders.
• Drive business results with cross-functional systems improvements.

1. Executive Leadership Team: Serve as a key member of the Executive Leadership Team, contributing to enterprise strategy and decision-making.
2. Board of Directors Engagement: Deliver clear, insightful, and actionable communications and presentations to the Board of Directors.

Compliance and Reporting Responsibilities

1. Compliance: Ensure all operations comply with relevant laws and regulations.
2. Budgeting and Reporting: Prepare and manage the operating budget, providing regular reports on cost savings, financial performance and capital investments. Partner with CFO/Treasurer on financial reporting requirements, including capital expenditures analysis.
3. Quality Management: Ensure adherence to FDA and Safe Quality Food (SQF) standards. Partner with Quality Leadership to ensure that CAPAs are focused on root cause problem elimination and continuous improvement.

Qualifications/Capability Profile

Minimum Education

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business Administration, or related field.
• Master's degree or professional certification (e.g., CPM, CCIM) is preferred.

Minimum Experience

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in food manufacturing or contract manufacturing, with a proven track record of improving operating performance.
• Experience leading multi-site manufacturing operations.
• Experience scaling operations in a high-growth or private equity-backed environment.
• Strong technical background in packaging and packaging materials.
• Broad, cross-functional operating experience rather than ownership of a single function.
• Food industry experience with established industry relationships strongly preferred. Leaders from CPG, emerging brands, or FDA-regulated industries such as pet food, pharmaceutical, or medical device manufacturing will also be considered.
• Experience with plant startups, new product launches, or turnarounds is a plus.
• A track record of meaningful tenure and sustained impact in prior roles, including leading through difficult periods.

Minimum Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

• Strong strategic, analytical, and operational leadership capabilities.
• Strong negotiation, customer orientation, and relationship management skills.
• Expertise in financial management and operational performance drivers.
• Proven ability to translate strategy into execution and measurable results.
• Ability to drive continuous improvement and innovation.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal skills, and executive presence.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, influence, and develop high-performing teams.
• High attention to detail to ensure accuracy and commitment to compliance.
• Ability to lead through ambiguity and drive change.
• Humble, hands-on leadership style with an entrepreneurial, ownership mentality.
• Comfortable owning issues directly with customers while building their confidence in the solution.
• A project manager at heart who thrives on constant change and new challenges.
• Ability to influence experienced leaders to adopt new ways of working.

Working Conditions/Physical Requirements

• Position is based in the Chicago West Suburbs or Northwest Indiana, with regular travel required to operating facilities, customer locations, and corporate offices. Candidates must live within daily commuting distance of Chicagoland, Northwest Indiana, or Southern Wisconsin, or have strong ties to the Chicago area and a genuine desire to return.
• Frequent travel (approximately 30 to 50%) across a multi-site manufacturing network, including occasional overnight stays.
• Regular presence in food manufacturing environments requiring adherence to safety, quality, and GMP standards (e.g., PPE, sanitation protocols, and production floor conditions).
• Interaction with manufacturing equipment, warehouse operations, and active production environments, with exposure to noise, moving equipment, and varying temperatures.
• Extended periods of sitting, standing, and walking, including facility tours and on-site operational reviews.
• Ability to work extended hours as needed to support business operations, including urgent operational issues, peak production periods, and executive responsibilities.
• High level of collaboration with executive leadership, customers, and external partners, requiring effective communication and responsiveness across time zones.