Chief Operating Officer

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Location: North-East Italy | Experience: Senior / Executive, 10–15 years

About the Company

We are a confidential international business specializing in integrated LED lighting systems for furniture, retail, museums, and yachting. The group operates from its headquarters in North-East Italy and manages a global industrial footprint across domestic and international production plants. The organization serves demanding, design-led and technically complex markets where precision, reliability, and responsiveness directly shape customer trust and commercial performance. Its growth depends on operational discipline, manufacturing flexibility, and the ability to scale without compromising quality, safety, or service. The company is seeking an experienced leader who can connect strategy to execution across plants, functions, and markets. The mandate is to strengthen operational excellence, optimize end-to-end performance, and build a resilient operating model that supports long-term industrial growth.

About the Role

The Chief Operating Officer will own the leadership, coordination, and performance of all global operations and manufacturing activities, including headquarters and every production plant. This role is responsible for translating corporate strategy into an integrated operating plan that improves quality, flexibility, productivity, and customer satisfaction. As a key member of the Executive Committee, the COO will shape industrial direction, evaluate manufacturing footprint decisions, and ensure alignment between operations, budgets, and CAPEX priorities. The position requires deep operational excellence capability, strong cross-functional leadership, and the discipline to manage complex, multi-site performance through clear KPIs and structured reporting. The successful leader will combine strategic judgment with hands-on industrial oversight, driving continuous improvement while developing teams and strengthening safety, cost control, and execution consistency across the group.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the global operations agenda across headquarters and all manufacturing sites, ensuring one integrated execution model that improves service, quality, productivity, and cost performance.- Define and deliver the operational strategic plan, converting corporate goals into measurable plant-level priorities, budgets, and CAPEX decisions that support sustainable industrial growth.- Lead strategic footprint and capacity planning decisions, ensuring the manufacturing network is scaled and configured to meet demand, flexibility, and resilience requirements.- Drive operational excellence and lean transformation programs across the group, using standard methods, disciplined problem-solving, and KPI-led management to remove waste and improve flow.- Strengthen safety, quality, and compliance performance across all plants, embedding accountability and governance that protect people, products, and business continuity.- Lead and develop senior operations, supply chain, logistics, quality, and plant management teams in a matrixed, multicultural environment with clear ownership and high performance expectations.- Partner closely with the Executive Committee to translate business strategy into practical industrial decisions, balancing growth, efficiency, and customer requirements.- Establish clear reporting routines and management systems that give leadership accurate visibility on performance, risks, and corrective actions.

Essential Skills & Technologies

• Proven leadership in complex international manufacturing environments, with full accountability for operations, production, supply chain, logistics, and quality outcomes.- Deep expertise in operational excellence and Lean Manufacturing, with a track record of applying improvement systems across multiple plants and geographies.- Strong ability to manage industrial budgets, CAPEX, capacity planning, and productivity programs with measurable financial and operational impact.- Advanced people leadership skills in matrixed, multi-localized, and multicultural organizations, including succession development and performance management.- High fluency in English and Italian, with the communication strength to influence executives, plant teams, and cross-functional stakeholders clearly and decisively.- Strong command of performance management tools, KPI systems, and data-driven operational governance to identify issues early and sustain results.

Additional Plus

• Experience in integrated lighting, design-led manufacturing, or other technically demanding industrial sectors would be highly valuable.- Prior exposure to global footprint optimization, plant integration, or manufacturing network redesign would strengthen the profile.- International experience across Europe and broader global markets is a strong advantage.

What You'll Bring

• A minimum of 10 years of leadership experience in complex manufacturing and operations roles, with evidence of delivering measurable improvement at scale.- A decisive, hands-on leadership style that balances strategic thinking with strong operational follow-through and accountability.- Exceptional ability to align teams around common priorities, develop leaders, and sustain high performance across sites and functions.- A clear orientation toward operational excellence, customer satisfaction, and industrial growth through disciplined execution and continuous improvement.

Why Join Us

This is a high-impact executive opportunity to shape the operating model of a global industrial group serving premium, design-sensitive markets. The role offers direct influence on strategy, footprint decisions, and the long-term performance of a business that depends on precision, agility, and execution quality. You will work with a leadership team that values operational rigor, improvement culture, and practical leadership. The mandate is broad, visible, and consequential: to strengthen the group’s manufacturing system, build resilience across plants, and create the conditions for scalable growth. For a senior operator who wants to combine strategy, transformation, and hands-on industrial leadership, this is a rare opportunity to make a lasting impact.

What We Offer

• Executive responsibility for a global operations network with direct influence on strategy, performance, and industrial investment decisions.- A confidential, high-visibility leadership mandate with broad scope across headquarters, plants, and cross-functional executive governance.- The opportunity to lead operational excellence transformation in a business where quality, flexibility, and customer satisfaction are critical to success.