Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Chief Operating Officer

The Opportunity

Our client is a high-growth, private equity-backed contract manufacturer and packager serving many of North America’s leading consumer brands.

With a multi-site manufacturing network across the Midwest and South, the company has delivered double-digit organic growth and continues to expand through three primary levers: organic growth, selective M&A, and purpose-built facilities developed alongside customers.

This is a fast-moving organization known for execution. New production lines can launch in weeks. New facilities come online in months. The company also takes over and transforms operations customers no longer want to manage themselves.

This is not a COO role for someone looking to maintain the status quo. It is a role for a builder.

The Role

The COO will own end-to-end manufacturing and supply chain operations across the enterprise, with a mandate to drive profitability, operational excellence, and scalable growth.

Reporting as a key member of the Executive Leadership Team, this leader will translate growth strategy into disciplined execution across a complex, multi-site network.

The right person will be equally comfortable in the boardroom, with a customer, and on the plant floor. They will lead and develop an experienced VP team while bringing the operating systems, rigor, and leadership needed for the company’s next stage of growth.

What You’ll Own

• Lead manufacturing and supply chain performance across the multi-site network.
• Build site-level and enterprise operating strategies focused on safety, quality, productivity, service, and lowest total delivered cost.
• Improve plant consistency, reliability, OEE, maintenance, and waste reduction through disciplined continuous improvement.
• Lead plant startups, new product introductions, operational turnarounds, and integration of newly acquired facilities.
• Drive scalable operating infrastructure without adding unnecessary layers or bureaucracy.
• Partner with the CEO, CFO, and Executive Leadership Team on growth strategy, capital allocation, and enterprise performance.
• Evaluate operational aspects of acquisition opportunities, including infrastructure, culture, food safety, and integration requirements.
• Provide the Board with clear operational insights, performance analytics, and recommendations.
• Build strategic customer relationships and take direct ownership when operational issues require executive-level involvement.
• Develop, coach, and challenge senior operations and supply chain leaders while strengthening succession planning across the organization.
• Champion an entrepreneurial, ownership-driven culture across every facility.

What We’re Looking For

This role requires more than deep manufacturing expertise. We’re looking for an enterprise operator who has helped build, scale, improve, and transform complex operations.

Ideal experience includes:

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in food manufacturing, contract manufacturing, CPG, or a closely related FDA-regulated environment.
• Significant leadership of multi-site manufacturing operations.
• Experience scaling operations in a high-growth and/or private equity-backed business.
• Strong knowledge of packaging operations and packaging materials.
• Broad operating leadership across multiple functions rather than expertise limited to one discipline.
• Demonstrated success improving profitability and operational performance.
• Experience with plant startups, acquisitions/integrations, new product launches, and/or operational turnarounds.
• Strong command of Lean, continuous improvement, reliability, OEE, TPM, and root-cause problem solving.
• Financial acumen and a clear understanding of how operational decisions impact EBITDA, working capital, and enterprise value.
• Executive presence with the ability to engage effectively with customers, senior leadership, and the Board.

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field required; advanced degree or relevant professional certification preferred.

Leadership Style

The environment moves quickly, and the right leader will thrive in it.

You should be comfortable challenging conventional thinking, making decisions with imperfect information, and moving from strategy to execution without losing momentum.

We’re looking for someone who is:

Entrepreneurial. Hands-on. Humble. Decisive. Customer-focused. A coach. A problem solver. An owner.

Someone who sees a complicated operational challenge and wants to get into itnot work around it.

Location & Travel

The position will be based in the Chicago western suburbs or Northwest Indiana, with approximately 30–50% travel across the company’s manufacturing network and customer locations.

Candidates should 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.