Celmark Labs

Chief Operating Officer

Lead operational excellence for a premier personal care and nutritional manufacturing platform.

A rapidly growing, family-owned division of a leading multi-site health and wellness organization is seeking an accomplished Chief Operating Officer to lead the day-to-day operations of one of North America's most advanced manufacturers of personal care, skin care, hair care, OTC, and liquid nutritional products.

The company operates a state-of-the-art innovation, manufacturing, and packaging platform serving leading national brands, emerging direct-to-consumer companies, professional channels, specialty retailers, and mass market customers through both custom formulation and private label manufacturing.

This is an outstanding opportunity to build a best-in-class operational organization focused on safety, quality, innovation, speed, customer satisfaction, and profitable growth.

Position Summary

Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Operating Officer will have executive responsibility for all daily operations of the company with full accountability for operational performance and significant P&L responsibility.

The COO will lead manufacturing, engineering, packaging, quality, supply chain, procurement, regulatory, continuous improvement, customer service, and operational planning while establishing a culture centered on operational excellence, Lean manufacturing, and world-class customer execution.

The successful candidate will be an accomplished manufacturing executive with a proven history of building scalable organizations, improving margins, maximizing throughput, and delivering outstanding customer performance in highly regulated consumer product industries.

Key ResponsibilitiesExecutive Leadership

• Lead all day-to-day business operations across multiple manufacturing and packaging facilities.
• Partner with the CEO to execute strategic initiatives and long-term growth plans.
• Serve as a key member of the executive leadership team with responsibility for achieving revenue, EBITDA, cash flow, and operational objectives.
• Build and develop a high-performance leadership team through coaching, succession planning, and talent development.

Manufacturing Operations

• Direct all manufacturing, packaging, blending, filling, assembly, warehousing, and distribution activities.
• Drive world-class manufacturing performance through Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and Continuous Improvement methodologies.
• Optimize Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), labor productivity, line efficiencies, capacity utilization, and asset performance.
• Reduce manufacturing costs while improving service, quality, and customer satisfaction.
• Lead capital investment planning, equipment automation, facility expansion, and operational technology initiatives.
• Develop scalable manufacturing systems capable of supporting accelerated business growth.

Supply Chain & Planning

• Lead Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) processes.
• Optimize inventory management, procurement, production scheduling, logistics, and supplier performance.
• Improve inventory turns, working capital, and supply chain resilience.
• Develop strategic sourcing initiatives to improve cost competitiveness and supply continuity.

Quality & Regulatory

• Maintain best-in-class Quality Management Systems.
• Ensure compliance with FDA regulations, cGMP, OTC requirements, NSF, Organic Certification, and all applicable regulatory standards.
• Lead Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Validation, Regulatory Affairs, and Product Compliance functions.
• Establish a culture of "Right First Time" manufacturing and continuous quality improvement.

Commercial Execution

• Partner closely with Sales and Product Development to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
• Support commercialization of new products with flawless execution and rapid speed to market.
• Improve on-time, in-full (OTIF) delivery performance.
• Build operational capabilities that support both branded and private label customers.

Financial Leadership

• Assume full operational P&L accountability with responsibility for manufacturing margins and operating income.
• Develop and manage annual operating budgets and capital expenditure plans.
• Drive productivity initiatives that expand gross margins and EBITDA.
• Monitor key financial metrics including labor efficiency, conversion costs, scrap, waste, inventory, and cash flow.

Key Performance Indicators

The COO will be expected to establish and continuously improve best-in-class performance across key operational metrics, including:

• Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
• On-Time In-Full (OTIF) Delivery
• Manufacturing Yield
• First Pass Quality
• Right First Time Production
• Customer Fill Rate
• Inventory Turns
• Schedule Attainment
• Labor Productivity
• Cost Per Unit
• Scrap & Waste Reduction
• EBITDA Improvement
• Gross Margin Expansion
• Working Capital Performance
• Safety Performance (TRIR & Lost Time)
• Customer Complaint Reduction
• CAPA Effectiveness
• Regulatory Audit Readiness
• Employee Engagement & Retention
• New Product Commercialization Success
• Capacity Utilization
• Downtime Reduction
• Overall Customer Satisfaction

Company Capabilities

The organization provides comprehensive turnkey services including:

• Product Research & Development
• Custom Formulation
• Product Innovation
• Regulatory Affairs
• Clinical Support
• Liquid Manufacturing
• Personal Care Manufacturing
• Skin Care & Hair Care Production
• OTC Manufacturing
• High-Speed Filling & Packaging
• Flexible Manufacturing Solutions
• Custom Brand Development
• Private Label Manufacturing

The company maintains world-class certifications including FDA-compliant cGMP operations, certified organic manufacturing, and other leading industry quality and regulatory certifications.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations, Business, Supply Chain, or a related discipline; MBA preferred.
• 15+ years of progressive executive leadership experience within dietary supplements, OTC pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, personal care, consumer packaged goods, or contract manufacturing.
• Proven success leading complex manufacturing organizations with multiple production technologies.
• Demonstrated expertise implementing Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, TPM, and Operational Excellence programs.
• Significant experience leading quality, regulatory, engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing teams.
• Strong financial acumen with P&L management experience and a proven ability to improve EBITDA through operational excellence.
• Experience scaling manufacturing organizations while maintaining exceptional quality and customer service.
• Outstanding leadership, communication, change management, and organizational development skills.

The Opportunity

This role offers the opportunity to shape one of the industry's premier manufacturing organizations. Supported by significant investment, advanced technology, and a highly entrepreneurial ownership team, the COO will play a pivotal role in driving operational excellence, accelerating profitable growth, and establishing the company as the partner of choice for leading brands in personal care, beauty, OTC, and nutritional products.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on, data-driven operational leader who thrives in a fast-paced environment and has a relentless commitment to safety, quality, customer satisfaction, continuous improvement, and financial performance.

Benefits

• Retirement plan 401(k) - 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Vision insurance
• Paid time off