Chief Operating Officer (COO)

About this job

About the role We are seeking a Chief Operating Officer (COO) to take over the day-to-day leadership of Swedish Nutra. This is a pivotal role designed to free our founder-CEO to focus on growth, while you build and lead the operational engine that will scale our business. You will be the number-one on-site point of contact for the entire team, working full-time from our Malmö headquarters. What you'll own As COO, you will be responsible for the full company P&L and all approximately 30 staff, leading through the management layer. Your mandate will grow in defined phases, ultimately encompassing all day-to-day responsibilities currently held by the CEO. This includes: Day-to-day leadership of the company: Full P&L ownership and leadership of all staff through the management team. The management team: Building and leading the Production Manager, Head of Sales, and Marketing Manager (searches currently in motion), and completing the team with key-account and e-commerce hires. Final say on management-level appointments remains with the owners. Production: Setting targets and holding the Production Manager accountable for output, quality, supply, and cost. The technical spine: Ensuring quality assurance and regulatory compliance across all export markets, maintaining GMP/HACCP certification, overseeing the product development pipeline, and managing inventory and supply end-to-end through a monthly S&OP rhythm. The commercial engine: Guiding the Head of Sales and Marketing Manager to execute the retail and DTC agenda set with the CEO, including expanding from exclusive-distributor coverage to include direct retail relationships. DTC and marketplace channels: Overseeing Amazon EU/UK through an accountable Amazon specialist, and the US Amazon/Shopify/DTC business, with investment pace agreed with the CEO. Systems and process: Transforming ad-hoc, founder-held execution into documented, repeatable processes and stage-appropriate tooling, and extracting institutional knowledge into the organization through SOPs. The people function during ramp-up: Managing performance, development, and hiring below management level, with in-house recruitment support, until a dedicated HR lead is justified. The automation agenda: Supporting automation across the business, ensuring new processes across every department are designed to be automation-ready. The operating rhythm: Establishing KPIs, budgets, forecasting, cash-flow discipline, running weekly management meetings, and providing monthly reporting to the owners. What we're looking for We are seeking a proven general manager with real operational depth and a scale-up temperament. While few candidates will be equally strong across all areas, we prioritize in this order: proven general management, depth across quality, regulatory, product development, and supply, and hands-on commercial-growth experience. Running a factory is not required, as production has its own dedicated leader. Non-negotiable requirements: Experience: 10+ years of experience, with genuine general management, including owning a full P&L (company, subsidiary, or business unit) and leading a team of managers. You are a leader of leaders, not a strong functional specialist stepping up for the first time. Operational Expertise: Real operating experience in a regulated product category (GMP, HACCP, pharma, food, nutraceutical/supplement, or comparable), spanning quality and regulatory, product development, and inventory/supply. You must be able to own these functions, carry quality and regulatory risk, and act as a credible sparring partner to the Production Manager. Scale-up Temperament: Comfortable building structure from thin processes in a founder-led company with approximately 200M SEK revenue. Commercial Literacy: Understands brand, channel economics, and trade terms well enough to direct a retail expansion. Motivation: Motivated by operational ownership; you want to run the day-to-day of a profitable company end-to-end and build the machine, not occupy a caretaker or chief-of-staff seat. Location: Full-time on-site in Malmö. This is not a hybrid or remote role. Candidates must be based in the Öresund region. Language: Fluent English is a requirement for this role (our working language; the team is international). Swedish is not required. Strong preferences: FMCG background: consumer health, VMS/supplements, personal care, or functional food. Experience in liquid, food, or beverage manufacturing environments. Direct experie

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