Chief Operating Officer

Aardvark Studios•Conshohocken, PA

3d•$245,000 - $285,000•Onsite

About The Position

Aardvark Studios is an independent experiential marketing company located just outside Philadelphia. Since 2007, we’ve helped agencies and brands bring ambitious ideas to life through live experiences, mobile tours and custom-built environments. Our capabilities include creative design, design engineering, custom fabrication, technology integration, program management, nationwide tour operations, field execution, maintenance, warehousing and fleet operations. Aardvark has a talented team, an incredible facility, great clients, serious capabilities and more momentum than at any point in our history. We are expanding our shop, our tour operations and our fleet. We are doing bigger jobs, more jobs and some of the best work we have ever produced. We are now looking for an exceptional Chief Operating Officer to help lead the next stage of our growth. The COO will lead everything that happens after the sale. This includes: program management, production and fabrication, tour operations, field execution, manage our facilities, information technology, and operational systems, processes and accountability. The COO will work directly with the founder and leadership team, stay close to the work and have meaningful authority to make decisions, develop people, improve systems, restructure departments and drive results. The opportunity is to help scale a serious independent company without stripping away the creativity, speed, energy and customer focus that made it successful.

Requirements

Significant senior operating leadership experience as a COO, division president, general manager or comparable operating executive.
Experience leading approximately 25 to 50 or more employees across multiple departments or operating functions.
Experience managing a business unit with approximately $20 million to $50 million or more in revenue.
A demonstrated history of building teams, developing leaders, and implementing operating systems.
Strong knowledge of job costing, labor management, and project profitability.
Experience overseeing complex, deadline-driven, project-based work.
A record of measurable operational and financial improvement.
Experience partnering directly with a founder, entrepreneur, or highly visionary leader.
The ability to explain clearly what you inherited, what you changed, and what results you produced.
The willingness and ability to roll up your sleeves and get into the work; a hands-on leader.
Proven leadership: already produced results in an operation with real complexity, pressure, and accountability.
Decisive: gather the right information, make decisions, and accept responsibility for the outcome.
People focused: develop strong leaders, address underperformance, and build teams that become more capable over time.
Systems minded: create repeatability and accountability without burying people in bureaucracy.
Financially literate: understand job costing, margins, labor, capacity, budgets, and the operational decisions that drive financial performance.
Detail oriented: understand that quality is often determined by the small things that others overlook.
Direct and respectful: communicate clearly, tell the truth, and handle difficult conversations without creating unnecessary drama.
Resourceful: solve problems, work through ambiguity, and make progress without waiting for perfect conditions.
Ambitious: want to build something meaningful and leave a lasting mark; capability and ambition to believe you could run the company one day.

Nice To Haves

Experience directly from the experiential marketing world.
Understanding of complex, project-based work involving job costing, labor planning and productivity, production schedules, quality and attention to detail, capacity and resource planning, demanding clients, multiple projects moving simultaneously, deadlines that do not move, and execution in both controlled and unpredictable environments.
Understanding that good operations are created through clear expectations, strong people, useful information, disciplined follow-through, and consistent accountability.
Experience in experiential marketing, live events, touring, theme parks, commercial or specialty construction, custom manufacturing, fabrication, or other complex project-based industries.

Responsibilities

Lead program management, production and fabrication, tour operations, field execution, facilities management, information technology, and operational systems, processes and accountability.
Work directly with the founder and leadership team.
Make decisions, develop people, improve systems, restructure departments and drive results.
Scale the company without stripping away creativity, speed, energy and customer focus.
Build a stronger team by developing existing leaders, recruiting talent, and establishing clear ownership.
Create a team that solves problems, makes decisions, and delivers results without unnecessary dependence on the founder or COO.
Put the right people in the right seats by evaluating the organization, clarifying roles, responsibilities, authority, and expectations.
Unify production and tour operations to create one coordinated operating organization.
Improve communication, handoffs, resource planning, and accountability from project kickoff through completion.
Install a practical operating system (e.g., EOS, Lean) with clear priorities, useful meetings, visible commitments, fast issue resolution, and consistent follow-through.
Build useful scoreboards and dashboards for timely information on labor performance, job profitability, project status, capacity, quality, deadlines, and operational risks.
Improve project execution and profitability by strengthening estimating, planning, labor management, purchasing, scheduling, job costing, change management, and project closeout.
Ensure teams understand both the creative objective and the financial expectations of every project.
Raise the standard of quality in finished experiences, fabrication, vehicle condition, facility cleanliness, and team professionalism.
Create systems, leaders, and habits that remain strong without depending on one person.
Understand the team, develop leaders, identify gaps, and ensure the right people are in the right roles.
Clarify the organizational structure and decision rights.
Understand the economics and operational drivers of the business.
Identify the most important systems and processes that need improvement.
Establish useful operating rhythms, dashboards, and accountability.
Build a practical roadmap for scalable growth.
Listen, learn, evaluate, and then act decisively.