Chief Executive Officer
PE-Backed Industrial Manufacturing Company
Location: Southern California (full-time on-site leadership required)
Company Overview
Salt Creek Capital (“Salt Creek”) is seeking a Chief Executive Officer to lead one of its long-standing and top-performing portfolio companies (the “Company”), a designer and manufacturer of proprietary, reusable material handling and protective container solutions serving industrial and automotive end markets.
Founded over 60 years ago and headquartered in Southern California, the Company has built a strong reputation for engineering-driven design, high-quality manufacturing, and long-tenured customer relationships with blue-chip OEMs and industrial remanufacturers. The business has consistently delivered strong profitability and cash flow during Salt Creek’s ownership.
The Company’s proprietary container solutions are engineered to protect heavy, high-value components during transport and storage. These reusable solutions offer meaningful operational and environmental advantages versus single-use alternatives and are deeply embedded in many customer workflows.
Salt Creek Capital is a lower-middle market private equity firm with a long track record of partnering with management teams to build enduring, high-quality businesses. This role represents an opportunity to lead a proven platform and help guide it through its next phase of growth and value creation.
Role Overview
The Chief Executive Officer will serve as the most senior executive of the Company and will report directly to the Board of Directors. The CEO will assume leadership of a stable, high-performing business with an experienced team in place, and will be responsible for scaling the organization, strengthening systems and processes, and expanding the Company’s commercial footprint while preserving the culture and operational discipline that have driven past success.
This is a hands-on leadership role for an executive who can balance strategic leadership with operational engagement, and who is comfortable partnering closely with Salt Creek as a long-term business owner.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership & Growth
- Partner with Salt Creek Capital and the Board to execute the Company’s existing value-creation plan, with a focus on disciplined growth, margin expansion, and predictability in advance of a future liquidity event.
- Drive organic growth across core customers, applications, and end markets, prioritizing initiatives with near-to-medium-term impact on revenue quality and earnings visibility.
- Lead continued and expanded growth in international markets, building upon the Company’s existing global customer relationships and selectively investing in capabilities that support scalable international expansion.
Operational Excellence
- Oversee all manufacturing and operational functions, ensuring continued excellence in safety, quality, delivery, and cost management.
- Build upon existing operational strengths by driving continuous improvement across production, sourcing, inventory management, and working capital.
- Ensure systems, reporting, and KPIs are scaled appropriately to support the Company’s next stage of growth.
Commercial Leadership
- Maintain and deepen relationships with the Company’s largest and most strategic customers.
- Lead efforts to thoughtfully diversify the customer base while protecting the Company’s strong position within core accounts.
- Partner with sales and engineering to ensure pricing discipline, customer-driven innovation, and consistent execution.
Team & Culture
- Lead, develop, and retain a high-performing management team; assess organizational needs as the business grows.
- Preserve the Company’s strong culture while reinforcing accountability, transparency, and performance orientation.
- Serve as a visible, credible leader to employees across the organization.
Financial Management & Board Engagement
- Own full P&L responsibility and capital allocation decisions.
- Deliver consistent financial performance and timely, high-quality reporting to the Board.
- Partner with Salt Creek on budgeting, forecasting, lender relations, and strategic initiatives.
Candidate Profile
Required Qualifications
- Senior executive leadership experience (CEO, President, General Manager, or equivalent) with full P&L responsibility in a manufacturing or industrial business.
- Direct experience in automotive, aftermarket, remanufacturing, or related industrial supply chains, including exposure to OEM or large strategic customer programs, and logistics-intensive operations.
- Demonstrated ability to scale and optimize a high-performing business, including managing customer concentration, pricing discipline, and margin durability - not solely turnaround execution.
- Strong operational and financial acumen, with hands-on experience managing manufacturing operations, working capital, and cost structure in a data-driven environment.
- Collaborative, sponsor-savvy leadership style with the ability to partner effectively with a private equity owner and an engaged Board of Directors.
- High integrity, sound judgment, and executive presence, with the credibility to lead seasoned teams and engage directly with OEMs, Tier 1s, and large aftermarket customers.
Preferred Experience
- Experience leading a private equity-backed company or division.
- Familiarity with Lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, or similar operating disciplines.
- Exposure to automotive, industrial, logistics, or related end markets.
- Entrepreneurial mindset with a long-term ownership orientation.
Compensation & Ownership
The compensation package will include:
- Competitive base salary
- Performance-based annual cash incentive
- Comprehensive benefits package
- Opportunity for meaningful long-term value participation through co-investment, aligned with value creation and exit outcomes
Compensation and equity participation will be structured to attract a high-caliber executive motivated by both leadership responsibility and long-term upside.
Selection Process
Qualified candidates will be invited to participate in a confidential interview process. Candidates advancing in the process will be required to execute a non-disclosure agreement prior to receiving additional company information and engaging in discussions with Salt Creek Capital and the Company’s Board of Directors.
