I always thought it would be cool to have a job that would make people wonder. It also gives an indication of the types of skills that are required to carry out that particular job. As a COO, you will define and implement operational processes internally, devising ways to improve consistency, efficiency and profitability whilst also building a disciplined culture to compliment the start-up spirit. //. Then, outline your expectations. Then we map out a process. As a key member of the senior management team, the COO reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and establishes policies that promote company culture and vision through its operations. Given the exposure of uncertainty that startup has, it is good idea to keep the responsibilities defined around “what startups need”. Let’s start by looking at the first time I began managing a function that had full-time headcount. With your experience and talents, you’ll be able to lead our team of high-performing professionals to be efficient, productive, and effective. The summary is the CEO is the visionary of the business setting long term strategy and direction, and navigating competitive waters. I wish every networking event could start that way. Keep building your skills writing job descriptions. New start up coo careers are added daily on SimplyHired.com. By contrast, an innocuous sounding role like recruiting sponges up a huge amount of my calendar: I interview 100 people per year! Fig 1: Evolution of functions with headcount I lead. I … If you’re building something from nothing, there will be times when things suck. For a startup that is still iterating to get the key pieces of the company in place, there is a risk in bringing someone on too early in the COO role. We have our eye out for a COO with strong leadership skills and the ability to approach business from a creative point of view. We’re looking for a COO with staffing or HR experience who has a desire to become instrumental in the development of a fledgling firm. As COO, you will drive results by unleashing creativity and accountability in a performance oriented culture among a group of diverse and talented individuals. But taking a step back it’s easier to understand why this diversity exists: a COO is essentially managing around the skills of her boss, the CEO. And in a start-up, best things is that decisions are made by a group of complementary people, and the COO role is to also make sure things to get sidetracked by small operational details. Over the past three years, we actually tracked the individual functions a group of 30+ bay area COOs managed, and how these responsibilities changed over time. The JD outlines all the duties and responsibilities that come along with any certain job. Often the very reason we get hired is to supplement gaps on the senior team, which vary in every company. Fig 2: Orphan Functions — Evolution of functions w/o headcount I lead Bold indicates a new orphan I had to adopt. Then, outline your expectations. The job description of a COO varies by company, but in almost all cases, it doesn't include sales, marketing or external public relations duties. [CompanyX] is a growing biochemical company, and we need a chief operating officer (COO) to be the right hand of our thriving CEO. CTO (Chief Technology Officer) job description: Intro Chief Technology Officer (CTO) job description should start … Some of these items are truly episodic: after you move into an office and finish construction, being the resident “real estate person” takes all of 4 hours a year. I’ll try to clear up this mystery. While these paint a picture about how much of my time was allocated over the past four years, it’s notable to mention that none of these diagrams match up to how I would describe my own role to others! See salaries, compare reviews, easily apply, and get hired. Historically the CFO, COO, CEO, CMO, CSO or CRO all have accountability to profitability. Over the past three years we’ve assembled a group startup COOs who meet monthly to share and learn from each other. Recent Posts. Once you’ve painted a picture of the work environment, clearly spell out the qualifications, duties, and objectives. This commonality doesn’t come from our hunger to consolidate power. This implies that COOs across our startup community are effectively managing over half their respective organizations — and sometimes much more. Chief Operating Officer (COO) Seal Innovation, a fast growing, angel-backed startup is seeking an experienced leader to be a key part of a executive team that is using technology to change the safety of an industry. Chief Operating Officer Job Summary. Who knows, this data might just be the most recorded history in the world about what a startup COO actually does — and I’m happy to unearth our findings together. But it’s never about your adventures scaling headcount or driving down customer acquisition cost. The CEO is typically an outward facing role, meeting with key investors, partners and other strategic advisors. They handle the day-to-day administration and operation of a business. What you will do: We're here to help. As such, your chief operating officer job description should be brief, high-level, specific, and realistic. Self-assess to find your counterpart. Join 1000's of recruiters who already have a head start. (function(){var g=this,h=function(b,d){var a=b.split(". A Chief Operating Officer (COO) is a member of an organization's executive team. Fig 3: Evolution of functions I do not manage. 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The job of a startup CFO is very different from one at a "big" company. It’s more like: It shouldn’t be a surprise: Harvard Business Review calls the COO role the most misunderstood job in the business world. In many cases, the COO is chosen specifically to complement the strengths and weaknesses of the CEO, or to work in tandem to bring the best leadership to the forefront. We almost universally manage a significant chunk of the company, We ensure that roles and tasks without headcount don’t fall through the cracks, We keep our CEOs focused and pointed in the right direction. In our Performance COO community we have a lot of edge cases for membership where somebody introduces a new colleague and says “They don’t have a COO title — but they’re doing the same things we are!” Our next question is always the same: “How many functions do they manage?” In a very diverse world of titles and responsibilities, it’s this characteristic of being a multifunctional leader that brings us together. While a CEO is concerned with long-term business goals, the COO is tasked with implementing daily operations, aligned with that goal and the company’s strategies. COO (Chief Operating Officer) job summary. This isn’t a comprehensive list, but here are a few of these orphan functions and how they evolved over time. When do you need a COO? We are a fast-growing business with an extensive network of Fortune 500 companies as customers. And finally we act proactively to hold the company together as it scales. Not only have I held the role myself for four years at HoneyBook, but I also started Performance COO, a community for startup COOs in San Francisco. Building a sales team: mind the deadly chasm. Rather, in a great many cases (including mine) we’re the ones who create all these teams to begin with. 92 start up coo jobs available. Most people understand that COOs support and collaborate with a startup’ The low-stress way to find your next start up coo job opportunity is on SimplyHired. In most cases this meant I had transitioned a task I used to do myself into a new hire or team of people. As such, your chief operating officer job description should be brief, high-level, specific, and realistic. Browse 31,082 STARTUP COO Jobs ($69K-$216K) hiring now from companies with openings. Ultimately we hire people to scale it. ("naturalWidth"in a&&"naturalHeight"in a))return{};for(var c=0;a=d[c];++c){var e=a.getAttribute("pagespeed_url_hash");e&&(! On the surface it appears impossible to define the day job of this role when some of us are managing an engineering team while others handle analytics and HR. As of July 1, LinkedIn will no longer support the Internet Explorer 11 browser. Get the right Chief operating officer job with company ratings & salaries. If you also have excellent people skills, busines… COO Job Description COO duties and responsibilities The traditional Chief Operating Officer is the member of executive management that is responsible for maintaining and driving operational results within a company. Outline the types of activities and responsibilities required for the job so job seekers can determine if they are qualified, or if the job is a good fit. You will be the company’s second-in-command and responsible for the efficiency of business. The average salary for a Chief Operating Officer (COO) is $144,175. Visit PayScale to research chief operating officer (coo) salaries by city, experience, skill, employer and more. ), I do believe our simple tracking over the years creates a more relevant dataset than any I have seen for elucidating the roles COOs play in their respective companies. I actually have a much simpler way of explaining what I do, and I would sum it up this way: taking things off my CEO’s plate, and figuring out how to thoughtfully scale the company. Search Chief operating officer jobs. Our ideal candidate has extensive experience within the industry, perhaps having worked your way up through the ranks to your role as an executive. It prompted me to consider what an employment ad might look like for a “startup ecommerce founder.” Here is a hypothetical job description I came up with. Not … Wouldn’t it be fun to shake someone’s hand and predictably hear something like: “A wreck diver?? Coaches and develops the team to ensure they are delivering against key business metrics. As a refresher, please re-read Lesson #14 on role of the startup CEO. You’ll have to maintain control of diverse business operations, so we expect you to be an experienced and efficient leader. In fact, that’s pretty rare. But we can define ourselves broad lines: Over the past four years I have found this role to be impactful enough to do it myself every day. Think about your typical chief operating officer (COO): busy, driven to meet objectives, and practical to a tee. Luckily it’s my favorite part of the job. This sample job description is customizable for all online job boards. Your summary should provide an overview of your company and expectations for the position. Think about the significance of this finding: how many functions exist in your whole company? We are looking for an experienced Chief Operating Officer or COOto oversee our organization’s ongoing operations and procedures. I believe we’re doing something else that makes a big difference in a growing company: we’re adding leverage to the right people, and we’re looking inward at how the company is scaling — — and fixing the leaks. But here’s what actually is surprising: a large number of the people who ask me to define my role are first-time startup COOs themselves — and it’s almost always after they’ve started their new job. A great job description starts with a compelling summary of the position and its role within your company. It’s not surprising to see the typical COO managing operations and finance, but I wouldn’t have expected that more COOs manage Product than manage Sales. LinkedIn recommends the new browser from Microsoft. 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Go ahead and set the bar high, because you’re more likely to get high-quality candidates that way. As I’ve browsed the job descriptions, I’ve laughed at how unrealistic many of them are. In our data set, we’ve found that the average COO oversees over 4.4 distinct functions — and that number becomes much larger when you unpack our placeholder functions like “Operations” into its parts: HR, recruiting, administration, facilities, IT, etc. The COO role is a key member of the senior management team, reporting only to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Where to begin? His or her individual role depends largely on the company itself and the CEO’s personal style. While managing operating teams has been a large part of my role since almost the very beginning, I still have a day job of managing many roles in the company that I call “orphan functions” — roles that must get done but aren’t quite enough for a full-time hire. Chart B: % of COOs in our community who manage each function. Looks can be deceiving, though, because these roles aren’t weighted equally. Well, today I can tell you that when you’re the chief operating officer at a startup, everybody does have a question about your job. [CDATA[ You’ll notice in many cases the link between the diagram above to see how orphan functions often turn into “real” functions with headcount. Explicit responsibilities as CTO for a tech Startup has to evolve with maturity of startup. Below I’ll show how this evolution unfolded for me over the course of my four years and nearly 200 hires. While collecting data isn’t our primary objective (we’re dinner party enthusiasts with very busy day jobs! "),c=g;a[0]in c||!c.execScript||c.execScript("var "+a[0]);for(var e;a.length&&(e=a.shift());)a.length||void 0===d?c[e]?c=c[e]:c=c[e]={}:c[e]=d};var l=function(b){var d=b.length;if(0