THE COMPANY
A founder-led manufacturer in the Greenville, SC area, growing quickly and expanding both production capacity and market reach. Strong technical and commercial leadership is already in place, but the business has never had a dedicated operational leader tying those functions together. This search is the company's first move to build that layer.
THE ROLE
This position translates the CEO's strategic direction into scalable operational execution across the business. It reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer and serves as the day to day execution lead across company priorities, with accountability for interdepartmental operations, human resources, technology, compliance, continuous improvement, and internal systems. Direct reports include Human Resources, Logistics, and Vendor Support. Manufacturing, Finance, Development, and Sales and Marketing remain under the direct leadership of the CEO, and this role supports those functions rather than leading them, acting as the connective tissue that keeps them aligned. This is an onsite role.
WHY THIS ROLE
There is no dedicated operational leader in the business today, so whoever steps into this seat inherits real ownership rather than a defined lane. The CEO is a builder by nature and wants to move back toward product, design, and new initiatives, which creates genuine room to run. The systems, management structure, and hiring plans do not exist yet and will be built by the person in this role. This position is also the primary filter for new company initiatives, which places it at the center of every major decision the business makes. The company's stated intent is for this seat to grow into the Chief Operating Officer role as the business scales, making this a clear path to the C suite for the right operator.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Serve as the day to day execution lead across company priorities and ensure new initiatives are deployed efficiently across the business
- Build the systems, procedures, and infrastructure required to support rapid growth
- Provide executive oversight of Human Resources, Technology, Logistics, and Vendor Support
- Partner with manufacturing leadership to support production, quality assurance and control, lean operations, safety compliance, and facility expansion plans
- Optimize sourcing, inventory, material flow, and cost structure
- Support operational budgeting, forecasting inputs, and cost performance in partnership with Finance, which retains ownership of corporate financial strategy and reporting
- Build and maintain internal performance tracking including objectives, key results, and operating dashboards
- Identify bottlenecks and support functional leaders in implementing the systems and staffing models to remove them
- Align operational infrastructure across production, logistics, and field execution to support revenue growth and product launches
- Standardize onboarding, training, and performance oversight for internal teams and outside partners
- Partner with Legal and Compliance to embed compliance requirements into operational processes and keep policies current as operations evolve
- Support board reporting, investor updates, and strategic decision making
QUALIFICATIONS
- Progressive operational leadership experience with accountability across multiple functions
- Track record scaling physical production operations and coordinating field execution across distributed markets
- Proven ability to build systems, processes, and teams from the ground up in a high growth or early stage environment
- Experience leading or overseeing cross-functional support departments such as human resources, technology, logistics, and customer support
- Comfort supporting rather than directly leading sales and product functions
- General finance exposure including budgeting, forecasting, and cost performance
- Experience reporting directly to a founder or CEO is strongly preferred
- Manufacturing experience is a plus
Brandon Clark is the recruiter for this role. Reach out directly on LinkedIn, their DMs are open to messages from anyone: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonclarkrecruiter/
You can also reach Brandon by email at Brandon.Clark@ConnexaSearch.com
Follow Connexa Search Group on LinkedIn to hear about new opportunities as they become available: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-connexa-group
