Role Overview
The Chief Operating Officer (COO) will be a strategic partner and the operational backbone of this consumer products company — responsible for building and scaling a top-notch operations platform that delivers uncompromising product quality, reliability, and efficiency.
This role owns end-to-end operations, including supply and demand planning, inventory management, manufacturing partnerships, sourcing, quality, and operational readiness within our baby and maternal health categories. The COO will bring deep operational expertise and hands-on understanding of manufacturing processes, materials, and trade-offs — paired with a strong appreciation for how operational decisions directly impact product performance, brand trust, and consumer outcomes. This leader will also be open to leveraging emerging technologies, including AI-enabled tools, to improve forecasting accuracy, operational efficiency, quality oversight, and speed to market.
The ideal candidate is a true operator: someone who understands how products are actually made, how supply chains really work, and how to collaborate deeply with Product Development and Marketing to ensure that products are not only scalable and profitable, but exceptional in quality, safety, and integrity. This is a hands-on executive role in a growing company: the COO must balance strategic foresight with tactical execution, operating in the details while shaping long-term growth.
End-to-End Operations Leadership
- Own all aspects of operations, including supply planning, demand forecasting, manufacturing, sourcing, logistics, and fulfillment.
- Design and lead an integrated demand and supply planning process across DTC, omni-channel retail, and marketplace channels.
- Ensure consistent, reliable product availability while minimizing inventory risk and waste.
- Establish operational rhythms, KPIs, and dashboards to track performance, risks, and opportunities.
Manufacturing & Supplier Partnerships
- Lead and manage strategic relationships with manufacturers, co-packers, and key suppliers.
- Bring deep understanding of manufacturing processes, materials, quality controls, and cost drivers — with particular strength or understanding in at least one of the following product categories - personal care or beauty/skincare
- Evaluate and select manufacturing partners based on quality, capability, scalability, compliance, and values alignment.
- Partner closely with manufacturers to drive continuous improvement, innovation, and cost efficiency without compromising quality or safety.
Product Development & Commercialization Partnership
- Work hand-in-hand with Product Development and Innovation to ensure products are designed for manufacturability, scalability, and quality from the outset.
- Provide operational input into materials selection, formulation, sourcing, process design.
- Lead the operational readiness for new product launches — from pilot runs through full commercialization.
- Serve as a critical thought partner in evaluating trade-offs between performance, materials, cost, and scalability.
Operational Intelligence & Systems
- Evaluate and implement AI-enabled tools to improve demand forecasting, supply planning, inventory management, and scenario modeling.
- Leverage data and automation to identify inefficiencies, reduce waste, and improve margin over time.
- Partner with Finance, Product, and external technology resources to modernize operational decision-making.
- Use data-driven insights to inform manufacturing, sourcing, and capacity planning decisions.
- Build the operational infrastructure required to support growth — including tools, systems, and processes.
Inventory Management & Working Capital Ownership
- Own end-to-end inventory strategy and execution across DTC, omni-channel retail, and marketplace channels.
- Balance service levels with cash efficiency, freshness, and quality.
- Define and manage inventory targets, including weeks of supply, safety stock, and reorder points by SKU and channel.
- Lead cross-functional inventory reviews to align forecasting, production, and demand signals.
- Partner with Finance to manage working capital, inventory turns, and obsolescence risk.
- Implement tools and dashboards (including AI-enabled forecasting) to improve inventory accuracy and decision-making.
Quality, Compliance & Safety
- Ensure all products meet or exceed quality, safety, regulatory, and compliance standards across categories and markets.
- Build and maintain robust quality assurance and quality control processes.
Team and Cross-Functional Leadership
- Lead and develop a high-performing operations team as the company scales.
- Partner deeply with Marketing and Brand to ensure operational decisions support brand promises and consumer trust.
- Translate marketing and growth plans into operational realities — aligning production, inventory, and logistics accordingly.
- Act as a collaborative, solutions-oriented leader across teams, breaking down silos between operations, product, and marketing.
What We’re Looking For
- 12+ years of progressive leadership experience in operations, supply chain, or manufacturing, ideally within baby, personal care, beauty, or wellness categories.
- Deep, hands-on understanding of manufacturing processes, materials, and sourcing — not just oversight.
- Experience adopting or scaling systems, analytics, or automation in operations, supply chain, or manufacturing environments.
- Demonstrated experience working closely with product development and marketing teams.
- Proven experience managing inventory complexity across multiple channels with different service-level requirements.
- Proven ability to scale operations in a growth-stage consumer business.
- Strong judgment and sensitivity to product quality, safety, and consumer trust.
- Comfortable navigating complexity, ambiguity, and trade-offs.
- Possess creativity and flexibility needed to work in a small, entrepreneurial company.
- Mission-driven leader who believes that how a product is made matters just as much as what it does.
