Interim COO: the operational backbone your growth has outgrown
Growth is good news, until the organisation stops keeping up. Orders arrive, but decisions still queue behind the founder, deliveries slip, and the people who should hear about a new process learn of it afterwards.
An interim COO steps in to rebuild the operational backbone: who decides what, how work flows, how performance is followed. Not as an adviser on the sidelines, but with real operational responsibility, for as long as the mission requires. Then the COO hands over and leaves.
When companies call an interim COO
The trigger is rarely a crisis. More often it is a slow accumulation of signs.
The founder still approves every supplier order, every exception, every hire.
Deliveries slip, not for lack of resources, but because the structure never grew at the pace of the order book.
Quality, production and sales learn about each other's decisions after the fact.
A COO has left, or the role never existed, and the managing director covers operations on top of everything else.
An acquisition, a new site or a new subsidiary has to be brought into line quickly.
A turnaround needs someone to take hold of operations while the plan is executed.
What an interim COO does
Maps how decisions are really made, not how the organisation chart says they are.
Redefines responsibilities and decision rights, so that people can act without waiting for a signature.
Stabilises delivery, quality and supply, starting with what hurts customers first.
Puts in place routines the team can run on its own: a weekly rhythm, a handful of indicators, clear escalation.
Prepares the successor or the internal team, and hands over.
It is a plumbing job, in the best sense of the word. It is rarely glamorous, and it is often what a fast-growing company needs most.
How it differs from the alternatives
A consultant diagnoses and recommends. An interim COO takes the responsibility and does the work.
A permanent hire takes months to find, and the need may have changed by the time they arrive. An interim COO starts when the need is real and leaves when it is met.
A project manager needs daily direction. An interim COO takes direction from the CEO or the board, then runs operations independently.
The profiles
More than 70 executives in our network are open to interim COO mandates.
More than half have fifteen years or more of C-level experience, and almost three in four have held a COO or operations role.
Nearly all are also open to general management mandates, so the role can grow if the situation demands it.
Three in four have worked in a regulated industry.
More than eight in ten list turnaround among their specialisations. Almost three in four also list M&A and international experience, and two in three list scale-ups.
Almost two in three have worked in family-owned businesses, and about half in PE-backed companies.
Their backgrounds include technology, financial services, manufacturing, retail, logistics, energy and healthcare.
All work in English, about two in three also in French, almost one in three in German and nearly one in five in Dutch.
Most are flexible on the format: full-time, part-time or fractional.
A situation we see often
A Luxembourg SME grows from 15 to 50 employees in two years. Orders keep coming and revenue follows, but nobody has redesigned who decides what. The founder still approves every supplier order. The quality manager finds out about new processes after they have started. Deliveries slip.
An interim COO takes the operational lead, clarifies responsibilities, reorganises the flow from order to delivery and puts in place a routine the team can keep running. When the structure holds, the interim leaves.
How it works
We listen. A confidential conversation about your situation.
We propose. A short list of profiles chosen for your situation, not a stack of CVs.
You decide. You meet the executives you are interested in and choose.
Frequently asked questions
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A consultant analyses and recommends, then leaves the execution to you. An interim COO takes operational responsibility, makes decisions and delivers the result, then hands over.
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Yes, and it is the most common set-up. The founder or CEO keeps the direction. The interim COO takes operations off their desk and rebuilds the structure around them.
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It depends on the mission. We agree the scope and an end date at the start, so that the handover is planned from day one. Many executives in the network can work full-time, part-time or on a fractional basis.
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Often, yes. The network includes COOs from manufacturing, logistics, retail, technology, financial services, energy and healthcare, among others. For regulated industries, we look specifically for executives who know the rules. Elsewhere, we give priority to experience of your type of situation, which matters more than the sector.
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Many members of the network are available at short notice. The timing depends on the profile, the notice period and the mission, and we give you a realistic indication in our first conversation.
Further reading
Is operations holding your company back?
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