Chief Operating Officer

Hanover Search has been retained by a PE-backed national independent agency platform supporting property & casualty agencies across more than 35 states. With access to 300+ carriers and a rapidly expanding network of agency partners, our client provides operational infrastructure, market access, and strategic support that enables independent agencies to scale. The business is growing through both organic expansion and strategic acquisitions, and is investing in the operational foundation required to support that growth at scale. About the Role The Chief Operating Officer will serve as a true #2 to the founders and own the day-to-day running of the business. The functional leaders are in place across onboarding, compliance, systems, recruiting, and training — what's missing is the executive who ties it all together, brings structure and accountability across the organization, and ensures the platform runs cleanly as it scales. A meaningful part of the mandate is M&A integration: as the company continues to acquire, the COO will be responsible for folding new agencies into the platform consistently and efficiently. This is an operator's role — translating strategy into execution, building the systems and rhythms that drive performance, and creating a culture of ownership across a distributed team. What You'll Own Operational execution. Day-to-day operations across agency support, onboarding, licensing, accounting, compliance, and technology enablement. Establish workflows, performance standards, and operating rhythms that drive consistency and speed. Organizational structure & accountability. Define roles, reporting lines, KPIs, and scorecards. Partner with department leaders to align priorities and build a culture of execution. M&A integration. Lead operational integration of newly acquired agencies into systems, processes, and workflows. Standardize post-close onboarding to ensure consistency across the platform. Agency onboarding & enablement. Own end-to-end onboarding for new agency partners — licensing, carrier appointments, system setup, training, and time-to-production. Data, systems & compliance. Build a data-driven operating model with dashboards across production, retention, onboarding velocity, and carrier performance. Ensure data integrity across AMS and CRM platforms. Oversee operational compliance and audit readiness. What We're Looking For 10+ years of senior operational leadership within insurance — agency, brokerage, MGA, or network/cluster model Track record of building and scaling operational infrastructure in a high-growth environment Experience integrating teams, systems, or business units (M&A integration experience strongly preferred) Deep understanding of independent agency operations and multi-carrier environments Strong process orientation with the ability to bring structure without slowing execution Preferred Experience inside an insurance alliance, aggregator, or cluster Multi-state or distributed operations experience Why This Role True #2 seat at a scaling, PE-backed national platform with strong organic and inorganic growth momentum Direct partnership with founders and executive team with deep industry expertise Greenfield opportunity to build the operational foundation of the business #J-18808-Ljbffr Hanover