Our client is a privately held, $100M+ industrial manufacturing company experiencing strong growth and seeking a Vice President of Operations to report directly to the CEO.
This is not a turnaround. It’s an opportunity for an experienced operations executive to build upon a successful foundation, strengthen operational discipline, and help scale the business while preserving the entrepreneurial culture and customer responsiveness that have made the company successful.
Ideal Background
Senior operations leader from a custom engineered industrial manufacturing company ($100M–$500M) who has successfully integrated manufacturing, supply chain, S&OP, production planning, and inventory management into a scalable operating model. Experience in high-mix, low-volume, make-to-order, engineer-to-order (ETO), configure-to-order (CTO), job shop, or other customer solutions manufacturing environments is strongly preferred.
What You’ll Lead
- Manufacturing Operations
- Supply Chain & Procurement
- Production Planning & Scheduling
- Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP)
- Inventory & Capacity Planning
- Manufacturing Engineering
- Quality & Continuous Improvement
- Safety & Operational Excellence
What Success Looks Like
You will develop the operational infrastructure needed to support continued growth while improving:
- S&OP and integrated business planning
- Demand forecasting and capacity planning
- Inventory optimization
- Supplier performance
- Production scheduling and on-time delivery
- ERP utilization and operational visibility
- Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement initiatives
- Cross-functional alignment across Operations, Sales, Customer Service, and Finance
This role requires someone who can balance strategic thinking with daily operational execution while developing high-performing teams and driving accountability throughout the organization.
What We’re Looking For
- 20+ years of progressive operations leadership within industrial manufacturing
- Experience leading multiple operational functions including manufacturing, supply chain, planning, engineering, and quality
- Deep expertise in S&OP, demand planning, capacity planning, production planning, and inventory management
- Proven experience driving operational transformation and building scalable processes
- Strong ERP and manufacturing systems experience
- History of developing high-performing operations teams
Preferred Experience
The ideal candidate has built their career in custom engineered, highly configurable, make-to-order, engineer-to-order, or customer solutions manufacturing environments where production planning, supply chain coordination, inventory optimization, and operational agility are critical to success.
Leaders coming from repetitive, high-volume manufacturing environments without significant operational complexity are less likely to be successful in this role.
Leadership Style
We’re looking for someone who:
- Builds trust before driving change
- Respects the knowledge of existing teams
- Brings structure without unnecessary bureaucracy
- Leads with humility, accountability, and urgency
- Uses data to drive decisions
- Has successfully scaled operations in well known/growing manufacturing businesses
If you’ve successfully led complex industrial manufacturing operations, built world-class planning and supply chain organizations, and enjoy helping entrepreneurial companies reach the next level, we’d welcome the opportunity to speak with you.
