SF Partners
Chief Operating Officer
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Chief Operating Officer
Location: West Midlands
Salary: c£100,000 - £125,000 plus benefits
Experience Required: Previous work in a large scale logistics business
The Opportunity
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Chief Operating Officer to join a fast-growth, entrepreneurial logistics business in the West Midlands. The organisation has experienced significant growth and has reached a point where it requires an accomplished senior operational leader to help take the business through its next stage of development.
Working closely with the CEO, the COO will bring greater structure, operational discipline, controls and accountability across the organisation while protecting the entrepreneurial culture and pace that have contributed to the company's success.
This is not a role for someone who simply wants to oversee an already established corporate infrastructure. The successful individual will need to be comfortable getting close to the operation, identifying what needs to change and personally driving those improvements through the business.
The Role
The COO will take a senior leadership role across the operational function, creating the infrastructure and operating disciplines required to support continued growth.
A key priority will be introducing clear KPIs, processes, controls and performance management, creating greater visibility across the operation and ensuring individuals and teams are held accountable for delivery.
They will bring an experienced external perspective into the organisation, turning strategic objectives into practical operational delivery.
The role will suit somebody who has developed their career within a larger, sophisticated logistics organisation and now wants the opportunity to use that experience to make a visible impact within a smaller, fast-moving business.
Key Responsibilities
- Take overall leadership of the operational function and support the CEO in delivering the company's growth strategy.
- Review the existing operating model and identify opportunities to improve structure, processes, controls and accountability.
- Introduce and embed meaningful operational KPIs and management information across the business.
- Establish clear performance expectations and ensure managers and teams are accountable for delivery.
- Drive operational efficiency, consistency and continuous improvement.
- Develop scalable processes and infrastructure capable of supporting the company's next phase of growth.
- Identify operational risks, bottlenecks and areas of underperformance and implement appropriate solutions.
- Provide strong leadership to operational teams, raising standards and developing management capability.
- Ensure communication and accountability between operational functions and the wider business.
- Work closely with the CEO and senior leadership team to translate commercial strategy into operational plans.
- Challenge existing ways of working constructively and introduce best practice from larger logistics environments where appropriate.
- Lead change programmes from concept through to implementation, ensuring improvements become embedded rather than remaining theoretical.
- Create a culture focused on performance, ownership, service and continuous improvement.
- Remain sufficiently hands-on to understand the detail of the operation and intervene where required.
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The Person
We are looking for an experienced senior operations leader with a strong background within logistics, freight, transport or a closely related environment.
The successful candidate is likely to have held a position such as:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Operations Director
- Head of Operations
- Senior Operations Director
Experience gained within a larger, process-led logistics organisation would be particularly valuable. However, equally important will be the individual's ability to take what they have learned in a large corporate environment and successfully apply it within a smaller entrepreneurial organisation.
This transition will be critical. The successful candidate cannot be dependent on large corporate support functions, established systems or significant infrastructure to deliver results.
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Experience & Skills
The successful candidate will ideally demonstrate:
- Significant senior leadership experience within logistics, freight, transport or supply chain.
- Experience operating within a large, sophisticated and process-driven organisation.
- A strong track record of improving operational performance.
- Experience implementing KPIs, operational controls and performance-management frameworks.
- Evidence of successfully leading significant operational change.
- Strong continuous-improvement and process-improvement capability.
- The ability to create structure within an environment that has grown quickly.
- Strong commercial awareness and an understanding of how operational performance impacts profitability and growth.
- Experience leading and developing management teams.
- The ability to make decisions and drive change without relying on extensive corporate infrastructure.
- Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills.
Personal Characteristics
The environment is fast-moving, entrepreneurial and demanding, so cultural fit will be just as important as technical capability.
The successful individual will be:
- Hands-on – willing to get into the detail rather than manage purely from a boardroom.
- Commercial – understands that operational improvement must ultimately support business performance.
- Structured – able to bring clarity and discipline to a rapidly growing organisation.
- Resilient – comfortable operating within an environment where priorities can change quickly.
- Pragmatic – able to introduce appropriate processes without over-engineering the business.
- Influential – capable of bringing people with them through periods of change.
- Accountable – sets high standards for themselves and others.
- Adaptable – able to move successfully from a larger corporate environment into a smaller organisation.
- Entrepreneurial – comfortable with ambiguity and able to make decisions without having every process already defined.
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