HENI
Chief Operating Officer
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About HENI
HENI is an international multi-services art business working at the intersection of art and technology. From printmaking and physical artwork marketplaces to NFTs, publishing, news, video production, and art research, HENI works with the world's leading artists and estates to make art accessible to audiences worldwide. We are ambitious, fast-moving, and unafraid to challenge how the art world operates.
With dedicated leadership established across sales and technology, we are now making a pivotal executive appointment: a Chief Operating Officer, with a focus on production, to own and define how our business delivers.
This is a founding seat at the leadership table. The COO will shape operational strategy, drive the performance agenda, and determine the standards to which everything in this business is built and run.
The Role
Reporting directly to the CEO, the COO will hold full accountability for the business’s operational performance; its output, quality, people, infrastructure, and profitability. This is not a functional management role. It is an executive mandate to define how this company operates, build the organisation around that, and deliver the results.
It will also be responsible for creating an environment of continuous improvement in the management of all indirect costs across the business.
You will be expected to set strategic direction across all operational disciplines, make decisions with commercial consequence, and lead the business through a period of deliberate growth.
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Scope of Accountability
Strategy & Performance
- Set the operational strategy for the business, aligned to commercial objectives and the proprietor’s long-term vision
- Own all operating KPIs; output, quality, cost, yield, and on-time delivery - and be accountable for their continuous improvement
- Drive the performance management agenda across the organisation, establishing the metrics, cadence, and culture of accountability
Manufacturing & Production
- Hold ultimate accountability for the full end-to-end production function: throughput, quality standards, scheduling, and cost efficiency
- Define and govern the operating model for how this business manufactures, ensuring it can scale without compromising on quality or margin
- Champion continuous improvement at every level, from process engineering through to operator-led problem solving
People & Organisation
- Build and lead a high-performing operations leadership team; attract, develop, and retain the talent required to execute the strategy
- Set the organisational design for operational functions, including the structure, capability requirements, and resourcing model
- Instil a culture of ownership, precision, and pride in craft which will be visible at every level of the operation
Commercial & Supply Chain
- Work in close partnership with sales leadership to ensure the business can deliver reliably on what it commits to commercially
- Own supplier and vendor strategy, ensuring the supply chain is resilient, cost-effective, and aligned to quality standards
- Provide the proprietor and the broader leadership team with clear, data-driven insight on operational performance and risk
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Governance & Compliance
- Maintain full compliance with health, safety, and all relevant regulatory requirements, setting the standard across the facility
- Oversee capital investment decisions within the operation, ensuring resources are deployed to maximum effect
About You
- Executive or board-level operational leadership experience in a manufacturing setting, ideally high-value or high-precision production and created an environment of continuous improvement
- A proven record of building operational capability, not simply running inherited functions, in environments where the bar was set by you
- Commercial acumen: you understand how operational decisions flow through to margin, customer experience, and competitive positioning
- Exceptional leadership presence - credible with owners and investors, respected on the factory floor, trusted by the team you build
- A strategic thinker who operates with discipline and rigour, but is not too senior to understand what is happening at the production level
- Experienced in privately owned, entrepreneurial businesses where agility matters and leadership carries real accountability
- Ambitious for the business and for yourself - this is a role for someone who wants to build and improve something, not manage something.
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