Job Title: Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Position Summary
Privately owned, children’s apparel company is seeking a strategic, execution-focused Chief Operating Officer (COO) to lead and optimize the company’s day-to-day operations across sourcing, production, supply chain, logistics, customer fulfillment, planning, and operational infrastructure. The COO will partner closely with the CEO and leadership team to scale the business efficiently while maintaining strong vendor relationships, operational excellence, and customer satisfaction.
The ideal candidate is a hands-on apparel operations leader with deep experience in manufacturing, sourcing, inventory management, and organizational leadership within the apparel or consumer goods industry.
Key Responsibilities
Operational Leadership
- Oversee all daily operations across sourcing, production, supply chain, warehousing, logistics, customer service, and fulfillment.
- Develop and implement operational strategies that support company growth, profitability, and scalability.
- Build systems, processes, and KPIs to improve efficiency, accountability, and execution across departments.
- Lead cross-functional coordination between sales, production, design, planning, finance, and customer support teams.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on cost reduction, lead-time improvement, and operational excellence.
Supply Chain & Production Management
- Manage domestic and international sourcing and manufacturing relationships.
- Oversee production calendars, inventory planning, forecasting, and order fulfillment.
- Ensure quality control standards and on-time delivery performance are consistently met.
- Negotiate with factories, vendors, freight providers, and operational partners.
- Identify opportunities to diversify sourcing, reduce risk, and improve margins.
Financial & Business Performance
- Partner with finance leadership on budgeting, forecasting, inventory management, and operational planning.
- Monitor operational KPIs including margin performance, inventory turns, production efficiency, fill rates, and customer service metrics.
- Improve operational profitability through better planning, vendor management, and process optimization.
- Support strategic initiatives including acquisitions, integrations, system implementations, and expansion opportunities.
Team Leadership
- Recruit, mentor, and develop high-performing operational teams.
- Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, ownership, and execution.
- Establish organizational structure and reporting processes to support future growth.
- Lead performance management and succession planning within operations teams.
Strategic Planning
- Work with executive leadership to define and execute long-term business strategy.
- Serve as an internal operational leader responsible for aligning teams, driving accountability, and ensuring organizational priorities are executed effectively across the company.
- Develop and manage company-wide operational roadmaps for key corporate initiatives, process improvements, systems implementations, and strategic growth projects.
- Partner cross-functionally with department leaders to establish timelines, milestones, and measurable outcomes for enterprise initiatives.
- Help scale infrastructure, systems, and operations to support growth across wholesale, retail, ecommerce, and licensing channels.
- Evaluate operational technology and ERP/WMS solutions to improve visibility and decision-making.
- Serve as a key executive leader in company-wide planning and strategic decision-making.
Qualifications
Required Experience
- 10+ years of operational leadership experience within apparel, uniforms, fashion, textiles, or consumer products.
- Proven experience managing sourcing, production, supply chain, logistics, and inventory operations.
- Strong understanding of apparel manufacturing, vendor management, and production calendars.
- Experience scaling operational infrastructure in a growing business environment.
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and improve organizational performance.
- Strong financial acumen and experience managing operational budgets and KPIs.
- Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with school uniforms, childrenswear, or licensed apparel categories.
- Experience with international sourcing and factory management.
- Familiarity with ERP, inventory management, and operational planning systems.
- M&A integration or operational transformation experience.
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, or related field; MBA preferred.
Salary
$350,000- $400,000 + 35% bonus
