Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

About the Role

The Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer (EVP/COO) position offers a senior leadership opportunity to partner directly with the CEO/Founder to scale a thriving founder-led business. This hybrid role is mainly based in Orange County, California, with the expectation of being on-site approximately three days each week. Alternative locations include Northern California (Union City/San Jose), Las Vegas, or Miami, Florida, with flexibility for significant travel. The EVP/COO will be responsible for building operational infrastructure, leadership, and systems to drive organizational maturity while preserving the entrepreneurial culture that has fueled growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate closely with the CEO/Founder to realize the company's strategic goals and expansion plans.
• Oversee enterprise operations and shared services spanning Operations, Finance, Human Resources, IT, and administrative functions.
• Develop scalable operational systems, leadership frameworks, and performance management routines.
• Ensure operational consistency through standardized workflows, key performance indicators (KPIs), reporting, and workforce planning.
• Promote operational excellence, profitability, and EBITDA enhancement through continuous improvement efforts.
• Advocate for the adoption of technology, automation, artificial intelligence, and data-centric decision making to enhance efficiency and scalability.
• Identify and develop leadership talent, strengthen succession plans, and decrease reliance on the founder.
• Encourage cross-functional cooperation while maintaining the company’s entrepreneurial spirit.

Qualifications

• Over ten years of executive leadership experience within multi-site, labor-intensive service organizations.
• History of successfully leading organizations through periods of rapid growth and transformation.
• Proven capability managing multiple business functions including Operations, Finance, HR, IT, and Administration.
• Strong financial expertise, including responsibility for profit and loss (P&L) and operational performance improvement.
• Experience establishing KPIs, dashboards, forecasting models, and accountability frameworks.
• Ability to lead distributed teams and build highly effective leadership groups.
• Expertise in leveraging technology, automation, AI, and workforce management tools to boost operational productivity.
• Comfort working closely with a CEO/Founder in a dynamic, entrepreneurial setting.
• Exceptional executive presence with strong influence, trust-building, and change leadership skills.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The preferred candidate will have a track record of expanding multi-location, labor-intensive service businesses by introducing structured processes, accountability, and operational rigor without hindering growth or diluting culture. Experience in staffing, workforce solutions, field services, facilities management, hospitality, logistics, commercial services, event operations, or other distributed service sectors is highly desirable.

Critical Success Factors

• Executive-level background as President, COO, EVP Operations, General Manager, or similar.
• Experience directing organizations with revenues between $40 million and $100 million+.
• Proven ability to partner with a CEO/Founder during times of substantial growth.
• Success in reducing founder dependency through leadership development and organizational growth.
• Establishment of scalable operations and organizational infrastructures.
• Demonstrated improvement in profitability driven by operational discipline and KPI-led execution.
• Balance between standardization and operational flexibility while focusing on customer satisfaction.
• Management of large, geographically distributed teams.
• Leadership development and management of complex workforce planning in multisite settings.
• Deployment of workforce management, ERP, CRM, BI platforms, automation, and AI to enhance business outcomes.
• Collaboration with commercial teams to boost customer retention, service quality, and profitable expansion.

Relevant Industries

• Workforce or Industrial Staffing
• Commercial or Business Services
• Field Services
• Facilities Management
• Hospitality
• Event Operations
• Logistics & Transportation
• Distributed, Multi-site Service Organizations

About HireBetter

HireBetter is committed to empowering growth through strategic talent partnerships. We believe that having the right people at the right time is essential for building successful organizations. Our mission is to support both professionals aiming for their next career move and companies aspiring to build exceptional teams by delivering insightful recruitment and advisory services. Join us in unlocking potential, promoting innovation, and achieving remarkable success.