Interim COO / Operations Turnaround Leader | Manufacturing, ERP Stabilisation & PE Value Creation
This executive brings deep operational leadership experience across complex manufacturing and engineering environments, with a strong track record of delivering turnaround and transformation programmes. Their career spans COO and senior operational leadership roles across aerospace, advanced manufacturing and clean energy sectors, where they have consistently improved performance, strengthened governance and delivered measurable financial and operational outcomes.
They have strong exposure to private equity environments, having worked within investor-backed organisations and demonstrating a clear understanding of the pace, discipline and performance expectations required. Their experience includes operating through ownership cycles, supporting integration and driving operational improvement aligned to value creation objectives.
Well suited to interim COO, operations turnaround or manufacturing transformation roles, they bring a structured and pragmatic approach focused on rapid stabilisation and sustainable improvement. Their ability to quickly diagnose operational issues, implement disciplined execution and build resilient operating models makes them particularly valuable in organisations facing delivery challenges, scale-up complexity or performance pressure.
Built and scaled the operational infrastructure of a clean energy technology business, creating structure, systems and governance to support product delivery and commercial growth.
Delivered significant working capital improvement by reducing inventory from c.£1m to ~£150k through flow optimisation and improved planning discipline.
Achieved over 10% margin improvement and reduced lead times by more than two weeks across major product lines in a multi-site aerospace manufacturing environment.
Improved operational performance through TPM, reliability and governance initiatives, increasing asset availability and stabilising production output in complex manufacturing settings.
About the Candidate
This interim executive is a highly experienced COO and operational turnaround leader with over 20 years of experience across manufacturing, engineering and industrial environments. They specialise in taking control of underperforming or disrupted operations, stabilising delivery and embedding governance structures that improve service, lead time, cash and profitability. With deep expertise across production, procurement, supply chain, quality and EHS, they bring a hands-on leadership style that operates effectively from shop floor through to board level.
They are particularly effective in situations where organisations are struggling with delivery performance, ERP instability or lack of operational discipline. Their expertise includes ERP/MRP stabilisation, S&OP implementation, working capital improvement, backlog reduction and operational cadence design. Known for rapid diagnostics and practical execution, they quickly establish control, align commercial and operational plans, and implement repeatable systems that sustain performance beyond the interim period.