Fractional COO / Operating Partner | PE-Backed Scale-Up, Execution Discipline & Value Creation
This executive brings a strong combination of strategic operational leadership and hands-on execution experience across complex, technology-led businesses. Their career has included senior roles across product, technology, commercial, finance and operational functions, giving them a broad and practical understanding of how businesses scale. They are particularly strong in the “messy middle” of growth, where founder-led decision-making, unclear ownership or weak KPI discipline can begin to slow progress.
They have clear private equity and investor-backed experience, including supporting PE-backed businesses post-investment, preparing companies for funding, improving board reporting and working with leadership teams to translate investment plans into operational reality. Their work is highly relevant to PE portfolio companies where value creation depends less on strategy development and more on sharper prioritisation, clearer ownership and faster execution.
Well suited to fractional COO, interim COO, Operating Partner or operational value creation assignments, they bring a focused and pragmatic approach. Their ability to diagnose where value is being lost, align leadership teams and embed metrics that drive behaviour makes them particularly valuable for PE-backed and growth-stage technology businesses preparing for scale, funding or exit.
Supported a PE-backed edtech business by transforming board reporting from data-heavy updates into decision-driven insight, improving leadership alignment, investor confidence and performance visibility.
Operated at COO level within a critical national payments infrastructure business, aligning product, technology and commercial priorities during a period of strategic refocus and growth.
Refocused product strategy for a fintech business in the savings and lending market, unlocking partner-led growth opportunities without requiring major redevelopment.
Helped a software business secure investment by shaping the organisation for funding, supporting the investment process and ensuring the commercial, operational and finance functions were aligned for growth.
About the Candidate
This executive is a highly experienced fractional COO and board-level operator specialising in helping growth-stage and PE-backed businesses improve execution, alignment and performance. With a background spanning product, technology, commercial operations, payments, fintech and edtech, they are particularly effective in businesses where investment has been secured but momentum is slowing, priorities are unclear or leadership teams need greater operational discipline to deliver against the value creation plan.
They are typically engaged where strategy is broadly understood but execution is inconsistent. Their expertise includes rapid business diagnostics, operating cadence, KPI design, leadership alignment, board reporting, product and technology prioritisation, commercial execution and decision-making discipline. They bring structure without unnecessary process, helping businesses focus on the few priorities that materially affect growth, margin, investor confidence and exit readiness.