Chief Operating Officer

Kenny Recruit are partnering with one of our favourite and long term clients in their search for a COO. This is an exciting position where you will be part of the senior leadership team and help push towards a company sale in 3-5 years time.

Our client is an international e-commerce retailer and brand owner. They have created multiple brands, growing relentlessly in both revenue and profit. They have won awards for this growth and been recognised across the UK and Europe. Their teams (split across 2 offices) are responsible for a breadth of activities - supply chain, trading, customer experience, finance and design is all covered in house. The future is exciting; however, they recognise the need for continued evolution and innovation to stay relevant and successful as competition, the macroeconomic, and geopolitical landscape is ever changing.

In order to trade successfully, they have built a sophisticated, scalable operation. This operation has changed many times over the years and no doubt will continue to evolve alongside the fast-paced demands of the retail industry. It is essential that the CEO has a reliable, proactive and tenacious COO to drive the business strategy forward and take significant ownership over the realisation of the company’s goals and objectives.

You will be part of the senior management team and will need to have the confidence to be on of the leaders of this business.

Pay: £110,000 - £130,000 per annum (dependent on experience) +benefits + future share options

Location: Central London - 5 days in the office to begin with

Working hours: 9.00am - 6.00pm

Key Responsibilities:

Operational Management:

• Maintain the existing operation. Intervene to course correct when required.
• Enhance & optimise processes to increase efficiency and reduce costs across the supply chain and in all business operations.
• Oversee the purchasing, compliance & quality and operations (freight & logistics) teams. Direct line management of heads of these departments.

Risk Management:

• Identify, quantify & mitigate business risks. Resolve issues. Do this through the demonstration of leadership, project management and effective communication.

Innovation, improvement & growth:

• Facilitate the creation of new capabilities that unlock revenue and profit generating activities across geographies, channels and products.
• Promote the use of technology, automation and data led solutions to create a scalable, built to last business.

Team support & development:

• Support the middle management to build and manage high performing teams.
• Motivate the people in our business to drive for a collective and shared success.
• Contribute to a culture that encourages, entrepreneurship, innovation and collaboration.

Strategic Planning & Execution:

• Work with the Senior Management to develop, enhance and critique a multi-year plan that delivers future company value.
• Deliver this plan - action has been the backbone of our success.
• Where necessary, re-plan, change goals and objectives. Be relentless in striving for success whilst having awareness of external factors that may require a change of course for the business.

Financial Oversight:

• Partner with the Finance Director to oversee effective management of the budget, actual performance and cost control.
• Monitor financial performance and implement measures to achieve financial targets.

Reporting & Communication:

• Report to the CEO highlighting successes, opportunities risks and issues in a prioritised, succinct and effective manner.
• Ensure clear and effective communication across the organisation to align teams and drive business objectives.

And anything else:

• The company has grown organically, without fundraising. Everyone has had to wear multiple hats and there is still a need to do so. There may be a need to pick up elements of IT, legal, HR amongst other things.

Ideal candidate would be:

• Understands that no task is too small. Getting our hands dirty is at the core of our culture
• Has a strong background in transformation, process optimisation, and strategic planning
• Can take a holistic view of the business, bridging the gap between teams, processes, mindsets and priorities.
• Identifies, implements and communicates change opportunities effectively.
• Solves problems, thinks critically, makes quick decisions and is adaptable to changing circumstances.
• Has experience leading and achieving success within a multi-channel retail and/or eCommerce business.
• Demonstrates effective communication skills, influencing teams to follow them on the company’s journey to success.
• Understands how to bring physical product to market from product development and manufacturing through to the product arriving at the customer’s door. (And beyond - aligning with the CRO and Head of Customer Experience to enhance returns, refunds, refurbishments and more).
• Is tech savvy; technology implementation and automation will require a technological appreciation and understanding.
• Can balance and synchronise the delivery of results for the CEO with maintaining happy, motivated teams and team members.
• Wants to be part of a multi-year journey to create a business of significant value.
• Maintains incredibly high standards. Competition is at an all-time high. Geopolitical conditions have made trading tricky to navigate at times. By being better than the competition we have a strong chance to deliver our strategy.

Next Steps…

Short-listed candidates will obviously be contacted for this specific role and if you haven’t heard from us within a week, please assume you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.

We will keep your CV on file to contact you with regards to future roles and any other advice to help you, however if you do not wish to remain on our database, please let us know and we will obviously remove you. Alternatively, feel free to contact us for a chat.