What are the responsibilities and job description for the Chief Operating Officer position at Thomas Brooke International?
The Opportunity
· Groundbreaking proprietary coatings and metal component coating services for new electrochemical systems – energy generation & storage devices
· Emerging company with new manufacturing plant in place, transitioning from technology development to a commercial manufacturing focus
· Exceptional opportunity to join original founders with equity stake and guide the company through critical scale up phase (identifying/implementing systems and structure) towards optimal valuation for eventual sale
· Customer facing role
· Opportunity to become CEO as founder approaches retirement
What You’ll Do
· This is an execution-focused leadership role; as a member of the company’s leadership team you will both establish the company’s strategy and provide the leadership to execute it
· Provide effective leadership of manufacturing scale up: bring vision and strategic perspective as well as overall accountability
· Build out the operations teams in alignment with company growth requirements
· Lead the design and implementation of effective operational structures and processes to ensure successful operations and support continued growth of the Company. This includes manufacturing, supply chain, quality, HR, and EHS. As the role develops, opportunity to take over sales, finance and accounting functions.
· Develop and maintain close relationships with key commercial customers in high priority market segments. Understand their plans, analyze and validate the reliability of their forecasting, and create reliable internal financial projections to inform and drive manufacturing planning, as well as effective strategic decision-making.
· Support and facilitate R and D and new product development
· Lead execution of the company’s operational plans to meet/exceed target KPIs for revenue, margin, retention, growth, safety, etc.
· Uncover obstacles and create executable plans to win larger commercial contracts; provide leadership to win the contracts
The Profile
· Bachelor’s degree in ME, ChE or related technical discipline is required. Advanced degree helpful but not essential – real world experience is key
· A core requirement is the experience and ambition to guide an emerging, entrepreneurial company through multiple growth stages realizing a scale up to full operational/manufacturing commercial success and sale of the company
· Experience with customer facing sales is helpful
· Experience in innovative materials processing or manufacturing is required. Experience in the coatings or energy storage industry is preferred
· Hands-on manufacturing leadership experience in identifying and implementing the right KPI’s, including full P&L experience to most effectively guide production and new revenue generation
· Direct experience leading implementation of quality programs/QMS is very helpful
· High EQ, ability to relate effectively with a wide variety of strong personalities in an entrepreneurial setting with grace, patience and a good sense of humor
· Willing to live/relocate to the Princeton NJ area and travel as needed to customers, government entities, research partners, industry events, etc.