The Signs That Say It’s Time for a Chief Operating Officer
The decision to hire a Chief Operating Officer is one of the most consequential moves a growing company will make. The right COO extends the CEO’s reach, builds the operational engine that scales the business, and shapes culture across every function. The wrong timing on that hire can cost a company years.
According to research from the Society for Human Resource Management, operational leadership gaps are among the most consistent predictors of slowed growth in scaling organizations.
At Bradsby Group, our executive recruiters work with CEOs, boards, and growth-stage companies every week on exactly this question, and this guide answers the questions companies ask most when considering their first COO.
When Is It Time to Hire a COO?
It is time to hire a COO when the CEO is spending more time running the operation than growing the business.
The clearest signs include stalled growth, missed targets that trace back to execution rather than strategy, leadership team members asking for more cross-functional coordination, and a founder or CEO who no longer has bandwidth for the external work the role requires.
If any of those patterns describe your company today, the conversation is overdue.
What Does a COO Actually Do?
A COO owns the day-to-day operations of the business and translates strategy into execution. The scope varies by company stage and industry, though most COOs oversee operations, supply chain, service delivery, and some combination of sales operations, HR, and finance.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, operations roles continue to grow as companies scale, which has made the COO one of the most pivotal seats in modern leadership teams.
Why Do Companies Delay Hiring a COO?
Companies delay hiring a COO because the role is expensive, the search is hard, and many founders convince themselves they can run operations longer than they actually can.
The hidden cost of delaying is almost always higher than the cost of the hire itself. Growth plateaus. Senior leaders burn out. Great middle managers leave because they cannot get the coordination they need. By the time most companies finally start the search, they have already lost ground.
What Are the Signs You Need a COO?
Common signs include the CEO working on operational issues more than strategic ones, leadership team disputes about ownership, missed delivery targets even when demand is strong, slow decision-making across functions, and a growing gap between the company’s ambition and the operation’s ability to deliver on it.
Bradsby Group’s recruiters often help CEOs translate those signals into a scoped COO search before the gap becomes a crisis.
What Should You Look for in a Great COO?
A great COO combines operational depth, financial fluency, people leadership, and the ability to think strategically while executing. The strongest COOs can speak the CEO’s language on strategy and the plant floor’s language on execution.
They know how to build systems that scale, hire managers who stay, and translate the company’s vision into daily priorities.
Industry experience matters, though Bradsby Group’s recruiters see time and again that the best COO hires combine industry familiarity with a track record of running operations at the next stage of scale.
How Long Does It Take to Hire a COO?
A well-run COO search typically takes ten to sixteen weeks from kickoff to close. The scoping, outreach, interview, and offer phases each take meaningful time because the COO decision has significant long-term implications.
Companies that try to shortcut the process almost always end up with a mis-hire, which costs far more than running a thorough search in the first place.
What Does a COO Cost?
COO compensation varies widely by company stage, industry, and scope of the role. According to WorldatWork research on executive compensation, operational C-suite roles typically combine competitive base salary, performance-based bonus, and meaningful equity for growth-stage companies.
Bradsby Group’s recruiters help clients benchmark the right package based on current market data for their size, industry, and geography.
Should You Hire an Internal Candidate or Run an External Search?
Both paths work in the right context. An internal promotion makes sense when the company has an operational leader already carrying de facto COO responsibilities and ready to formalize the role.
An external search makes sense when the company is scaling beyond the capabilities of its current team, entering a new stage of complexity, or needs the perspective of a leader who has already run operations at the size the business is growing into. The strongest companies evaluate both paths openly before committing.
How Does Bradsby Group Help Companies Hire the Right COO?
At Bradsby Group, our executive recruiters partner with CEOs, boards, and leadership teams across energy, healthcare, construction, finance, life sciences, aerospace, supply chain, food and beverage, and technology to scope and run COO searches that produce real results.
We understand the stakes, the market, and the specific profile each company’s next stage of growth requires. If you are considering a COO hire or trying to decide whether now is the right time, reach out to Bradsby Group and let our specialized recruiters help you make the call with confidence.
