Chief Operating Officer

About This Opportunity

We are representing a confidential pet nutrition startup in their search for a Chief Operating Officer. Our client is a Miami-based consumer brand focused on health-driven, science-backed pet food products. They've assembled a founding team of veterinary nutritionists, supply chain specialists, and culinary professionals to build a premium direct-to-consumer business with plans for national omnichannel expansion.

This is a highly hands-on role where you will build and scale the complete operating engine—from ingredient sourcing and manufacturing through fulfillment and delivery. You will own the systems, supplier relationships, cost structure, and operational capabilities required to transform an early-stage DTC business into a scaled consumer brand.

Responsibilities

Supply Chain & Fulfillment:

• Own end-to-end supply chain including ingredient and packaging sourcing, supplier relationships, co-manufacturing, production planning, inventory management, cold-chain logistics, fulfillment, and delivery
• Build a resilient supplier and manufacturing network with appropriate redundancy while maintaining exceptional quality and freshness standards

Gross Margin & Unit Economics:

• Own operational levers for gross margin improvement across sourcing, packaging, manufacturing, freight, fulfillment, waste reduction, and vendor negotiations
• Develop a roadmap for improving unit economics at scale, including build-versus-buy evaluations for key capabilities

Manufacturing & Operational Scale:

• Build manufacturing and operational infrastructure to support significant growth
• Manage co-manufacturing partnerships while evaluating long-term manufacturing strategy, including dedicated capacity, vertical integration, and in-house production opportunities
• Translate demand forecasts into production and inventory plans balancing availability, freshness, working capital, and waste

Product Commercialization:

• Partner with culinary, nutrition, R&D, and product teams to bring new products from concept to commercial production
• Own operational commercialization including sourcing, costing, manufacturing feasibility, packaging, production trials, scale-up, and launch readiness

Quality & Food Safety:

• Build and maintain rigorous quality and food-safety systems across the supply chain
• Ensure products meet internal standards and applicable regulatory, manufacturing, traceability, and food-safety requirements
• Create scalable systems that protect quality as production volumes and distribution channels expand

Systems & Operating Infrastructure:

• Build systems and processes for scalable operations without unnecessary complexity
• Own operational technology stack across forecasting, purchasing, production, inventory, fulfillment, and supply-chain visibility
• Take an AI-forward approach to automate workflows, improve forecasting and decision-making, and provide real-time business visibility

What We're Looking For

• 10+ years of progressively senior operations, supply chain, manufacturing, or related experience
• Experience scaling a high-growth consumer business, ideally in food, beverage, supplements, or another operationally complex CPG category
• Deep experience with manufacturing partners, supplier negotiations, sourcing, production planning, inventory, and logistics
• Strong command of COGS, gross margin, and unit economics with a track record of materially improving them
• Experience building operational systems and processes during periods of rapid growth
• Experience evaluating and/or executing in-house manufacturing or vertical integration (preferred)
• Strong analytical and systems-thinking capabilities
• Comfortable moving between executive-level strategy and hands-on problem solving
• High standards for product quality and customer experience
• Entrepreneurial mindset, resourceful, and energized by building from an early stage

How We Work With You

Candidates apply directly through Get A Job.ai. Our talent team will conduct an initial screening to understand your background and fit for this role. Qualified candidates will be submitted to our client for consideration. Please do not attempt to contact the client directly, as all communication should flow through our recruiting team to ensure a professional and coordinated process.

Pay

Compensation details will be discussed with qualified candidates during the screening process.

Equal Opportunity: Get A Job.ai is committed to diverse and inclusive hiring practices. We encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds and experiences.