COO & General Manager Recruitment
The operator who runs the day-to-day so the business can grow beyond its owner
The Hire That Buys Back the Owner's Time
In most owner-managed businesses, the owner is the de facto COO. Every operational decision, every escalation, every fire eventually lands on their desk. It works until it doesn't. At some point the business gets too big for one person to run by force of will, and growth stalls not because the market ran out, but because the owner ran out of hours.
A strong COO or General Manager changes that. They take ownership of daily execution, build the systems and management layer the business has been missing, and hold the operation accountable to real numbers. Done right, this hire gives the owner back the freedom to work on the business instead of in it.
It is also one of the hardest hires to get right. The role demands someone senior enough to run the whole operation, yet hands-on enough for a company without corporate infrastructure. We have spent over 30 years finding exactly that profile for privately held Canadian companies.
What a Strong COO or GM Owns
Daily Execution
Running the operating rhythm of the business: production, service delivery, scheduling, and the hundred decisions a day that keep it moving.
The Management Layer
Building and coaching the supervisors and managers who multiply their impact, so the business stops depending on one or two heroes.
Systems & Process
Turning tribal knowledge into repeatable process, from ERP discipline to standard operating procedures that survive turnover.
Operational P&L
Owning cost, productivity, and margin performance, and knowing which levers to pull when the numbers drift.
Cross-Functional Coordination
Making sales, operations, and finance work as one business instead of three departments with competing priorities.
Execution of Strategy
Translating the owner's vision into plans, milestones, and accountability. Strategy is cheap; execution is what this role delivers.
Signs It's Time to Hire a COO or General Manager
The owner is the bottleneck: every significant decision waits for them, and the business slows down when they are away.
Growth has stalled because the operation cannot reliably deliver more volume without breaking.
Managers below the owner are loyal and hardworking but not strong enough to run the business day to day.
The owner wants to focus on customers, strategy, or an eventual exit rather than daily operations.
Quality, delivery, or cost performance is slipping and nobody clearly owns fixing it.
The company has acquired or opened new locations and needs a single leader accountable for the whole operation.
Why COO and GM Searches Are Hard
Corporate Operators Often Fail Here
Executives who ran operations with big-company infrastructure can flounder without it. This role needs builders, not administrators.
Sharing the Wheel
The owner must genuinely hand over authority, and the candidate must know how to take it without forcing a power struggle.
The Title Means Ten Things
COO, GM, VP Operations: the same title covers wildly different jobs. Defining the actual mandate is half the search.
Breadth and Depth
The role touches everything from labour relations to logistics. Few candidates are strong across the whole span; you need to know which gaps matter.
Proof of Ownership
Many candidates managed a piece of an operation someone else built. Finding people who have actually run and improved a full operation takes real digging.
Cultural Weight
This person will manage most of your workforce. If the culture fit is wrong, the damage spreads fast and quietly.
One-Year, No-Fault, Full Replacement Guarantee
We are so confident in our process that we offer a one-year, no-fault, full replacement guarantee on every executive we place. If it doesn't work out for any reason, we'll conduct a replacement search at no additional fee.
Ready to Find Your Next COO or General Manager?
If the business has outgrown what one owner can run alone, the right operator changes everything. Contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Book a Free Consultation