Position Overview
Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Location & Compensation
Hybrid (London Based with Regular UK Event Travel)
£65,000 – £80,000 Salary depending on experience, plus performance bonus, car allowance / travel support, potential profit share / equity opportunity & more.
Full time, permanent.
About the Company
High‑growth direct marketing and events business.
Clients: Leading consumer subscription and FMCG brands.
Culture: Entrepreneurial | Hands‑On | Fast‑Paced | Collaborative | High Accountability.
Reporting To
CEO.
Leadership Scope
Sales performance, operations, logistics, workforce planning, finance, people governance.
Background / Skills
Operational leadership, events, experiential marketing, field sales operations, workforce management, commercial operations, change management, organisational design, team leadership.
Key Responsibilities
- Co‑develop and execute the company’s strategic growth plans alongside the CEO.
- Act as a strategic advisor and operational counterpart to the CEO on major business decisions.
- Lead operational delivery across nationwide events and exhibition campaigns.
- Oversee staffing, logistics, scheduling, accommodation and equipment planning.
- Drive organisational design and operational scalability as the business grows.
- Manage operational budgets, event‑level P&L and cost‑control initiatives.
- Lead and develop operational management and performance structures.
- Oversee freelance workforce planning, recruitment, and retention strategies.
- Build leadership capability through coaching, accountability and management development.
- Manage relationships with venues, organisers, suppliers and brand stakeholders.
- Act as the senior escalation point for operational, workforce and compliance issues.
- Support governance across people operations, culture and workforce strategy.
- Drive systems, reporting, KPI and process‑improvement initiatives.
- Build scalable SOPs, workflows and operational frameworks.
- Champion operational technology, reporting dashboards and process automation.
- Support change management, restructuring and operational transformation activity.
- Support international operational expansion initiatives including the US market.
- Present operational reporting, workforce metrics and commercial insights at leadership level.
About You
- Proven operational leadership experience within field marketing, direct sales, experiential marketing or events.
- Demonstrable experience operating as a strategic partner to a CEO, founder or MD.
- Strong commercial and financial acumen with P&L management experience.
- Experience scaling teams, operational structures and organisational processes.
- Strong leadership capability with experience developing managers and building accountability.
- Experience managing distributed or freelance workforces within fast‑paced operational environments.
- Experience managing logistics across multiple concurrent events, campaigns or field operations.
- Excellent relationship management and stakeholder communication skills.
- Comfortable operating within fast‑paced, founder‑led SME environments.
- Hands‑on, adaptable and willing to roll sleeves up when needed.
- Strong change management and operational transformation capability.
- Experience driving operational structure, governance and scalable systems.
- Highly organised with excellent decision‑making and problem‑solving skills.
- Comfortable balancing strategic thinking with operational execution.
Desirable
- Knowledge of the UK exhibition and consumer events circuit including NEC, ExCeL and Olympia.
- Experience within subscription or continuity sales models.
- Familiarity with contractor or freelance workforce management.
- Exposure to US expansion or international operational growth.
- Background within entrepreneurial or scaling businesses.
Why Join Croci Collective?
- Genuine strategic seat at the leadership table.
- Direct partnership with the CEO and real influence over business direction.
- Opportunity to shape and scale the operational backbone of a growing business.
- Executive‑level ownership with highly visible impact.
- Fast‑paced, entrepreneurial and collaborative culture.
- Opportunity to help drive international expansion.
- Significant long‑term progression opportunity including potential profit share or equity discussion.
- Autonomy to build systems, structures and operational excellence your way.
About Croci Collective
We are one of the UK’s fastest‑growing direct marketing businesses specialising in subscription product sales through consumer events and exhibitions nationwide. We partner with major venues, exhibition organisers and leading consumer brands, deploying high‑performing sales teams across a packed annual calendar of live events and campaigns throughout the UK.
Our success is built on execution, energy and people. We are proud of our collaborative culture whilst being highly selective about both the clients we partner with and the people we bring into the business. We move quickly, think commercially and genuinely care about creating an ambitious environment where talented people can thrive.
The business is now entering an exciting new stage of growth, including recent US expansion activity, and we’re looking for a COO who can help build the operational infrastructure, leadership capability and strategic discipline needed to scale successfully.
Core Focus
As COO, you will operate as the CEO’s strategic counterpart, helping co‑create business direction while taking ownership of the operational engine that powers the organisation.
You will oversee event operations, workforce planning, logistics, performance management, organisational design, operational scalability and people governance while helping translate commercial ambition into operational reality.
This role combines strategic leadership, operational delivery, people leadership and commercial accountability inside a scaling SME environment where adaptability, ownership and resilience are critical.
You will play a key role shaping leadership capability, operational structure and scalable systems while helping the business prepare for continued national growth and international expansion.
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