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FourJaw - Chief Operating Officer
Confidential Candidate Briefing Document
Introduction
FourJaw is a UK-based industrial technology company helping manufacturers improve productivity through a hardware-enabled SaaS platform that provides real-time machine utilisation, productivity, and energy performance data. The business has established product-market fit, serves approximately 150-160 manufacturing customers, generates around £2.25m in annual recurring revenue, and is now focused on scaling towards £10m ARR and beyond.
To support this next phase of growth, FourJaw is seeking an exceptional Chief Operating Officer who can translate strategic ambition into operational execution, build scalable systems and processes, and develop a high-performing leadership team capable of supporting significant future expansion.
Company Overview
FourJaw provides manufacturers with live operational visibility by connecting directly to production equipment and collecting machine performance data. This information enables manufacturing organisations to identify inefficiencies, improve productivity, reduce downtime, and make more informed operational decisions.
The company has successfully evolved from an early-stage technology venture into a growing software business with:
- Approximately 30 employees.
- Around 150-160 manufacturing customers.
- Approximately £2.25m annual recurring revenue.
- A recently rebuilt technology platform designed to support future scale.
The organisation is entering a critical stage where the foundations for future growth must be strengthened without losing the entrepreneurial culture that has driven success to date.
Industry Overview
Manufacturing organisations globally continue to invest in digital transformation initiatives aimed at improving productivity, efficiency, and sustainability. The emergence of Industry 4.0 technologies has accelerated demand for solutions that provide real-time visibility into production operations.
Key trends shaping the market include:
- Increased adoption of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies.
- Growing demand for real-time production monitoring.
- Greater focus on operational efficiency and waste reduction.
- Rising pressure to improve energy management and sustainability performance.
- Increased use of data analytics and AI-driven insights within manufacturing environments.
As manufacturers seek to maximise output from existing assets while managing labour and energy costs, solutions that provide actionable operational intelligence are becoming increasingly valuable.
Technology Summary
FourJaw's platform combines hardware connectivity with cloud-based software to deliver real-time production intelligence.
The solution:
- Connects directly to manufacturing equipment.
- Captures productivity and energy data from the shop floor.
- Creates a single source of operational truth for customers.
- Enables manufacturers to identify improvement opportunities and increase productivity.
- Supports operational decision-making through data-driven insights.
The company has recently invested significantly in rebuilding its platform architecture to provide the scalability required for future growth.
Market Opportunity & Positioning
The manufacturing sector remains one of the largest untapped opportunities for operational data and productivity software. Despite significant advances in digital technology, many manufacturers still lack accurate, real-time visibility into equipment utilisation and production efficiency.
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FourJaw is positioned at the intersection of several attractive growth markets:
- Industrial software.
- Manufacturing productivity.
- Operational analytics.
- Energy monitoring.
- Industrial IoT.
Its ability to combine hardware integration with actionable software insights creates a differentiated proposition for manufacturers seeking measurable operational improvements.
The business benefits from:
- A proven customer base.
- Recurring revenue economics.
- A scalable technology platform.
- Strong sector relevance.
- Clear growth ambitions.
The next phase of value creation will be driven not only by product innovation but by operational excellence and organisational scale.
Project Status & Timeline
FourJaw has achieved strong early-stage growth and established solid market traction. The leadership team is regarded as capable, intelligent, and highly action-oriented.
The business now faces a common scale-up challenge: transitioning from founder-led execution and informal decision-making towards a more structured operating model capable of sustaining accelerated growth.
The company's stated ambition is to grow from approximately £2.25m ARR to £10m ARR while maintaining customer focus, execution quality, and organisational culture.
Over the next 12-24 months, the organisation intends to:
- Strengthen leadership team effectiveness.
- Improve cross-functional execution.
- Develop scalable operating rhythms.
- Enhance reporting and decision-making processes.
- Increase organisational capability ahead of future growth stages.
- Reduce operational dependency on the founder and CEO.
Key Challenges & Risks
One of the most significant challenges facing FourJaw is implementing sufficient structure and governance without undermining the agility that has contributed to its success.
As the company grows, maintaining alignment across Product, Engineering, Customer Success, Sales, Marketing, and Finance becomes increasingly complex. Strong cross-functional coordination will be essential.
The business must anticipate future organisational requirements rather than reacting to them. This includes people capability, systems, processes, and leadership development.
Continued growth will require effective governance across product development, customer onboarding, implementation, and retention activities.
The Team
The Chief Operating Officer will report directly to the Founder and CEO, Chris Iveson, and will serve as a key member of the Senior Leadership Team.
The existing leadership group is described as talented, ambitious, and highly capable, with strong entrepreneurial instincts and deep commitment to the organisation's mission.
The successful candidate will work collaboratively across:
- Product
- Engineering
- Sales
- Marketing
- Customer Operations
- Finance
to ensure strategic priorities are executed consistently and effectively.
Role Specification
Role Purpose
The Chief Operating Officer will build and lead the operational platform required to support FourJaw's next stage of growth.
FourJaw has a strong, intelligent, and self-aware leadership team. Its present risk is not lack of talent but overlap, informal decision-making, inconsistent follow-through, and a tendency for senior people to solve problems individually. The COO must preserve the team's entrepreneurial energy while introducing the clarity, accountability, and repeatability required for scale.
Working as the CEO's closest operational partner, the COO will translate strategy into action, develop organisational capability, improve cross-functional alignment, and ensure the business is prepared for sustained scale.
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Key Responsibilities
Leadership & Operational Excellence
- Build a scalable operating model.
- Establish effective planning and execution frameworks.
- Drive organisational accountability.
- Improve visibility of key business metrics.
- Enable faster and more effective decision-making.
Strategic Execution
- Translate strategic goals into executable business plans.
- Align resources against growth priorities.
- Manage interdependencies across functions.
- Support long-term organisational development.
Leadership Development
- Strengthen leadership capability.
- Coach senior leaders.
- Create a performance-focused culture.
- Develop succession and talent plans.
Commercial Performance
- Support sustainable revenue growth.
- Improve customer retention and expansion.
- Enhance operational effectiveness.
- Ensure resources are deployed efficiently.
Product & Customer Governance
- Improve alignment between customer needs and product priorities.
- Support scalable customer operations.
- Increase organisational maturity across product delivery and customer success.
Candidate Profile
Experience
- Senior leadership experience within a B2B SaaS or software-enabled organisation.
- Direct scale-up experience, ideally from approximately £2m to £10m+ ARR.
- Proven success building operational frameworks and execution disciplines.
- Strong commercial and cross-functional leadership capability.
- Experience developing senior leadership teams.
Personal Attributes
- Commercially minded.
- Pragmatic and execution-focused.
- Strong relationship builder.
- Low ego and highly collaborative.
- Comfortable operating in ambiguity.
- Data-driven but action-oriented.
- Able to balance strategic thinking with operational delivery.
Success Measures
Success in the role will be demonstrated through:
- Greater organisational alignment.
- Improved leadership team effectiveness.
- Stronger operational discipline.
- Better cross-functional collaboration.
- Enhanced decision-making and reporting.
- Increased organisational scalability.
- Reduced dependency on founder-led coordination.
- Sustainable progress towards the company's £10m ARR ambition.
Engagement Terms
- Location: Sheffield, with regular office attendance expected.
- Reporting Line: Founder & CEO, Chris Iveson.
- Package: Competitive executive salary, bonus, and long-term incentive arrangements.
- Working Pattern: Hybrid, willing to work regularly from FourJaw's Sheffield office, normally three days per week minimum.
Why This Is a Great Opportunity
This role offers a rare opportunity to join a technology company at a pivotal stage of its development.
The successful candidate will have the chance to:
- Shape the future operating model of a growing SaaS business.
- Partner directly with an ambitious founder and CEO.
- Influence strategy and execution at board level.
- Develop a high-performing leadership team.
- Help scale a business from £2m to £10m ARR.
- Contribute to modernising global manufacturing through technology.
- Create lasting organisational impact while retaining entrepreneurial agility.
For a growth-oriented operator who enjoys building scalable organisations and leading through complexity, this represents a genuine career-defining opportunity.
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