Chief Operating Officer

Location: UK-wide, with a meaningful on-site leadership presence and regular travel

Contract: Permanent, executive leadership

Salary: Significant base salary + performance bonus + significant equity opportunity

Sector: Business Services / Outsourced Services / Multi-Site Operations

A rare opportunity to build, transform and scale a business

Maxwell Stephens Recruitment has been exclusively retained to appoint an exceptional Chief Operating Officer for an ambitious, privately owned UK business entering a significant phase of growth and transformation.

This is a genuinely influential executive appointment, offering the opportunity to work closely with an entrepreneurial board, shape the future of an established business and participate meaningfully in the value created.

Our client has built a successful business with significant revenues and has a clear ambition to more than double its scale, significantly improve profitability and establish the leadership, systems and operational infrastructure required for its next chapter.

We are seeking a commercially astute, financially literate and highly driven operational leader who has already demonstrated the ability to scale a business, improve margins and build the foundations for sustainable growth.

This is not a role for somebody who simply manages an existing operation. It requires an individual who can identify opportunities and problems independently, develop the strategy, make difficult decisions and take full ownership of delivering results.

The Opportunity

The Chief Operating Officer will take responsibility for translating ambitious commercial objectives into a disciplined, high-performing and scalable organisation.

Key priorities will include:

• Leading the operational transformation of a growing, multi-service business
• Developing and executing a clear strategy to support revenue growth
• Delivering measurable improvements in gross margin, EBITDA and overall commercial performance
• Building robust management information, performance dashboards, forecasting and KPI frameworks
• Improving contract profitability, labour productivity, supplier management, pricing discipline and cost control
• Designing scalable operating structures, systems and processes that enable the business to grow without unnecessary complexity
• Building, developing and holding accountable a strong senior leadership team
• Driving a culture of ownership, customer excellence, continuous improvement and high performance
• Identifying underperformance early, establishing its root causes and implementing effective solutions
• Working closely with the Chairman to develop a more autonomous, resilient and investment-ready business

The Person We Are Looking For

We are particularly interested in individuals who can demonstrate a successful track record of taking a business through a significant growth journey.

Crucially, that growth must have been accompanied by demonstrable improvements in profitability, operational effectiveness and organisational capability.

You are likely to be operating as a Chief Operating Officer, Managing Director, Operations Director or equivalent, with genuine responsibility for business-wide operational and financial performance.

You will bring:

• Proven experience of scaling a substantial business, with clear evidence of your personal contribution
• A strong understanding of gross margin, EBITDA, commercial drivers and operational profitability
• The ability to interrogate financial and operational data, identify the real issues and take decisive action
• Experience building KPI-led management systems, operational processes and effective leadership structures
• Strong customer focus and a clear understanding of how service quality supports profitable growth
• The confidence to challenge established thinking constructively and make difficult decisions when required
• A hands-on, high-energy approach combined with strategic judgement and attention to detail
• Experience leading and developing teams through periods of change and transformation
• The ability to work effectively alongside an entrepreneurial Chairman, combining independent judgement with collaboration and mutual respect

We are open-minded regarding sector background. Experience within facilities management, outsourced services, property services, environmental services, technical services, infrastructure, logistics or other operationally intensive businesses may be particularly relevant.

What matters most is the evidence of what you have built, improved and delivered, not simply the size of the organisations you have worked for or the titles you have held.

The Reward

This appointment offers an extremely competitive executive remuneration package, incorporating a substantial base salary, performance-related bonus and a meaningful opportunity to participate in future equity value.

For the right individual, this represents an opportunity to make a defining contribution to a business's next phase of growth, with the potential to develop into a broader executive leadership role over time.

Location

We welcome applications from exceptional candidates across the UK. The role will require a meaningful on-site leadership presence and regular travel, with practical working arrangements discussed confidentially during the selection process.

How to Apply

This is a confidential appointment managed exclusively by Maxwell Stephens. To apply, or for a confidential conversation, send your CV to cv@maxwellstephens.com or call Peter Forshaw on 0203 903 4260.