Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Job Description

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

CEO Succession Opportunity

Location: Hampshire, UK
Salary: £110,000 – £130,000 + Bonus
On-Target Earnings: Circa £130,000 – £160,000
Position: Executive Leadership / Board-Level Appointment
Progression: Intended progression to Chief Executive Officer within approximately two years

The Opportunity

We are exclusively supporting an established and highly specialist UK technology business in the appointment of a Chief Operating Officer, with the clear intention that the successful individual will progress to Chief Executive Officer.

This is a rare opportunity to join an innovative, engineering-led SME operating at the forefront of marine technology, vessel control, autonomous and remotely operated systems and advanced simulation.

The company designs and develops sophisticated technology used within uncrewed surface and subsea vehicle applications, supporting customers operating across demanding international markets including marine, offshore, oceanographic, commercial and defence-related sectors.

With strong technical capability, established intellectual property and an experienced engineering team already in place, the business has reached an important stage in its development.

The next phase is about commercial growth, strategic focus and scale.

The incoming COO will work closely alongside the existing CEO, initially taking responsibility for the commercial and operational development of the organisation before progressively assuming wider executive leadership.

The intention is for the successful individual to transition into the CEO position within approximately two years. This is not intended to be an artificial timetable: an exceptional individual may be ready sooner, but the expectation is that the transition should be completed within this period.

This is therefore considerably more than an operational management position.

We are looking for someone capable of helping shape the future direction, commercial strategy and long-term success of the business.

The Role

Working directly alongside the CEO and senior technical team, the COO will have broad responsibility across the organisation.

You will provide the commercial and operational leadership required to translate outstanding engineering capability and intellectual property into sustainable, profitable growth.

The role will encompass commercial strategy, business development, financial performance, partnerships, product strategy, operational leadership and organisational development.

Importantly, you will not be expected to become the company’s principal technical authority. There is already significant engineering expertise within the organisation.

Your role will be to ensure that this technical capability is directed towards the right markets, products, customers and commercial opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial Strategy & Business Development

Take executive responsibility for developing and implementing the company’s commercial growth strategy.

Working alongside the existing marketing capability, you will strengthen the organisation’s approach to sales, strategic account development and customer relationships, identifying opportunities capable of delivering meaningful and profitable growth.

You will:

• Develop and convert relationships with customers across specialist marine, technology and associated international markets.
• Identify significant projects and commercial opportunities aligned with the company’s technical capabilities.
• Build strong relationships with senior decision-makers, customers and industry stakeholders.
• Lead major commercial negotiations from initial engagement through to contract award.
• Evaluate opportunities based not simply on revenue, but on margin, resource requirements, strategic value and potential to strengthen the company’s intellectual property and technical capability.
• Develop a stronger and more structured commercial pipeline.
• Help position the business for larger and longer-term customer relationships.

Strategic Partnerships

Identify organisations with complementary technologies, capabilities, market access or customer relationships and determine where collaboration can accelerate growth.

You will:

• Identify potential strategic and technology partners.
• Develop mutually beneficial commercial relationships.
• Negotiate partnership and collaboration agreements.
• Evaluate opportunities for technology integration and joint market development.
• Represent the company credibly with senior stakeholders, customers and partners internationally.

Commercial & Pricing Strategy

Lead the development of a sophisticated pricing and commercial model appropriate for a technology and intellectual-property-led business.

This will include considering areas such as:

• Software and technology licensing.
• Perpetual versus subscription-based models.
• Technical support and maintenance.
• Engineering and development projects.
• Product pricing.
• Academic and specialist-market pricing.
• Bespoke customer programmes.

The objective will be to ensure the business appropriately captures the value of its technology, engineering expertise and intellectual property, while remaining competitive within its chosen markets.

Financial & P&L Leadership

Take an active role in financial planning and business performance.

As a specialist SME, both engineering capability and capital must be deployed carefully.

You will work closely with the CEO to:

• Maintain and improve profitability.
• Understand and manage company P&L.
• Establish appropriate budgets, forecasts and commercial KPIs.
• Assess the financial case for new products, projects and investment.
• Improve visibility of project margins and commercial performance.
• Balance investment in R&D against short and medium-term commercial returns.
• Determine the appropriate balance between recurring product revenues, repeat projects and larger bespoke programmes.
• Ensure resources are allocated to opportunities capable of delivering the greatest strategic and financial return.

Product & R&D Strategy

Working alongside the company’s engineering leadership, provide the commercial direction behind product development.

The business has considerable technical and R&D capability. The challenge is ensuring that engineering resources remain focused on areas with genuine customer demand and commercial potential.

You will help answer fundamental strategic questions:

Which technologies and products should we invest in?

Where does the market offer the strongest opportunity?

Which projects strengthen our intellectual property and competitive position?

What should we stop doing?

How do we turn outstanding engineering into scalable commercial products?

You will create a stronger link between customer requirements, market intelligence, product development and commercial strategy.

Operational Leadership

Provide broader executive oversight across the organisation, ensuring commercial priorities translate effectively into engineering and operational delivery.

Responsibilities will include:

• Supporting effective project and programme management.
• Improving commercial and operational processes where appropriate.
• Ensuring commitments made to customers can be delivered profitably.
• Developing appropriate KPIs and management information.
• Supporting resource and capacity planning.
• Ensuring communication between commercial, engineering and operational functions.
• Creating greater organisational structure without introducing unnecessary bureaucracy.

People & Organisational Development

The company employs a highly skilled and technically capable team.

The successful individual will need to earn the confidence and respect of experienced engineers and technical specialists while bringing a strong commercial perspective to the organisation.

You will:

• Lead, motivate and develop high-performing teams.
• Create clarity around priorities and accountability.
• Support recruitment and organisational development as the company grows.
• Develop management capability beneath the executive team.
• Preserve the entrepreneurial, innovative culture that has contributed to the company’s success.

As the organisation expands, you will also consider how its structure, facilities and ways of working need to evolve, allowing the business to scale without losing the collaboration and cohesion of a specialist SME.

CEO Succession

A fundamental element of this appointment is succession.

The incoming COO will work closely alongside the existing CEO, developing a detailed understanding of the organisation’s:

• Customers and markets
• Technology and intellectual property
• Products and engineering capabilities
• Commercial relationships
• People and culture
• Financial model
• Strategic opportunities

Responsibility will progressively transfer as the individual becomes established within the organisation.

The intention is that the successful candidate will assume the position of Chief Executive Officer within approximately two years, potentially sooner depending upon experience, performance and readiness.

We are therefore looking for an individual who wants not simply their next COO position, but the opportunity to ultimately lead and develop a specialist technology business.

The Person

We are interested in speaking with commercially accomplished senior leaders from technology-driven, engineering-led or technically complex B2B organisations.

Previous experience within marine technology would certainly be advantageous, but it is not essential.

More important is the ability to understand technically sophisticated products and translate engineering capability into commercial opportunity.

Relevant backgrounds could include:

• Marine technology and autonomy
• Robotics and autonomous systems
• Electronics
• Embedded systems
• Control and automation technology
• Defence technology
• Aerospace
• Subsea and offshore technology
• Instrumentation
• Industrial technology
• Specialist engineering
• Software/hardware technology businesses

You are likely to have operated as a COO, Managing Director, Commercial Director, Business Unit Director, General Manager or similar senior executive, or be an exceptional commercial leader ready to step into broader executive responsibility.

Essential Experience

We are looking for evidence of:

• Senior leadership within a technology or engineering-led B2B organisation.
• Strong commercial and business-development capability.
• A demonstrable record of delivering profitable revenue growth.
• Building senior customer relationships and developing significant B2B opportunities.
• Strong understanding of P&L, margin and financial performance.
• Commercial negotiation of complex contracts or technical projects.
• Leadership and development of professional and/or technical teams.
• Experience bridging the gap between customer requirements, commercial opportunity and product development.
• Strategic thinking combined with a willingness to remain hands-on when required.
• Experience making decisions around competing investment and resource priorities.

Highly Desirable

Experience in some combination of the following would be particularly valuable:

• Scaling an SME or specialist technology company.
• International business development.
• Strategic partnerships or technology collaborations.
• Product strategy and commercialisation.
• Intellectual-property-led businesses.
• Hardware/software integrated products.
• Recurring revenue, subscription or licensing models.
• R&D-intensive organisations.
• Marine, autonomous, robotics, defence, subsea or related technology markets.

Leadership Style

This opportunity requires a particular type of executive.

The successful candidate will need to be:

Commercially ambitious – able to identify where genuine value exists and convert opportunity into profitable business.

Technically credible – comfortable working alongside highly skilled engineers without needing to be the company’s principal engineer.

Strategic but pragmatic – capable of setting long-term direction while remaining comfortable with the realities of running an SME.

Financially disciplined – recognising that revenue alone is not success and that engineering resources must be deployed where they create the greatest return.

Entrepreneurial – able to identify opportunities and make decisions without the infrastructure of a large corporate organisation.

Collaborative – capable of working alongside an established CEO and leadership team during a carefully managed succession.

Decisive – prepared to prioritise, focus investment and, where necessary, decide what the business should not pursue.

Above all, we are seeking someone capable of combining commercial leadership with respect for engineering excellence.

Why Join?

This is an unusual opportunity to join a specialist British technology company at a pivotal point in its development.

The foundations are already established: sophisticated technology, valuable intellectual property, experienced engineers, established products and customers operating within markets experiencing significant technological change.

The opportunity for the incoming COO is to help determine what comes next.

You will have genuine influence over commercial strategy, products, partnerships, investment, organisational development and ultimately the future direction of the company.

For the right individual, this offers a clearly defined route from COO to CEO, with the opportunity to take leadership of an established technology business and guide it through its next phase of growth.

Remuneration

Base Salary: £110,000 – £130,000, dependent upon experience and track record.

Bonus & Incentives: A meaningful performance-related package will form part of the overall remuneration structure.

Expected On-Target Earnings: Approximately £130,000 – £160,000.

The final package will reflect the calibre and experience of the successful individual and the significance of the planned progression to CEO.