Chief Operating Officer

Loyal

13h • $315,000 - $425,000 • Remote

About The Position

Loyal is seeking a Chief Operating Officer (COO) to join their clinical-stage veterinary medicine company. This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for Finance, People, Engineering, Program Leadership, Commercial, Customer Service, and the internal operating system of the company. The COO will play a critical role in the company's growth, scaling from approximately 70 to 150 people, and preparing for the commercial launch of their first product, LOY-002, in 2027. The ideal candidate will have experience building and scaling operations in high-growth startups, possess strong technical and commercial literacy, and be a first-principles thinker with high integrity and low ego. This role is designed for someone who can proactively identify and resolve operational issues, build and scale teams, and free up the CEO to focus on external strategic initiatives.

Requirements

• 10+ years of operating experience at high-growth startups.
• Experience directly building and scaling the operations function through inflection points.
• Experience at a company in the 50–300 headcount range.
• Both startup AND scale experience (built v1 systems from scratch and iterated them to v3).
• Technical credibility: led engineering, data, or other technical disciplines without being an expert; ability to explain complex ideas simply and hold credibility in technical reviews.
• Commercially literate: ability to credibly challenge and coach commercial leadership.
• First-principles thinker.
• Low ego, high confidence, high integrity.
• AI-leveraged operator: uses AI tools in their own workflow and has a point of view on deploying them across the organization.
• Concise, high-information-density communicator: writes well and defaults to async written briefs.
• Strong manager and developer of people: sets clear expectations, holds people accountable, direct reports measurably improve.
• High agency, exceptional follow-through: tracks many disparate things at once, builds systems and processes that outlast them.
• Mission-aligned with dogs, longevity, building an aging pharma, or building a consumer pharma brand people love.
• Comfortable operating in a remote-first environment.
• Willingness to travel regularly to visit the distributed team.

Nice To Haves

• Experience supporting a first commercial launch at a VC-backed biotech, medical device, or other regulated atoms business.
• Background in or adjacent to veterinary or animal health, consumer health pharma, or a DTC business with a regulated product.
• Track record of building a function 0→1 and intentionally handing it off to a specialist leader as the org matured.
• Cat lovers accepted.

Responsibilities

• Owning the operational execution of Loyal's first commercial launch in 2027, partnering with Commercial, CMC/Supply Chain, Veterinary Medicine, and Creative teams.
• Leading Finance, People, Program Leadership, Commercial, Customer Service, and both Commercial and Internal/Platform Engineering.
• Directly managing leaders of each function and building/scaling organizations.
• Scaling the company from ~70 to ~150 people with AI-leveraged efficiency, gating headcount growth to commercial milestones.
• Deploying AI tooling across operations, finance, recruiting, and customer service.
• Iterating and owning the company's operating cadence, including goals system, business reviews, and board prep.
• Owning the seam between commercial demand and technical supply by running the S&OP cadence.
• Leading product distribution platform buildout for prescription drug distribution in collaboration with engineering and commercial leadership.
• Building a customer service organization that scales with launch and creates a beloved pharma brand.
• Acting as the company-wide problem solver, proactively identifying and resolving operational issues.
• Freeing the CEO to focus ~80% of her time on external work by the time of launch.

Benefits

• Full-coverage health insurance — medical, dental, and vision — for you and your dependents
• $1,000 home office equipment stipend
• $1,200/year learning budget for books, courses, etc.
• $250/month wellness budget for gym, cleaners, spa, food, etc.
• All 3-day weekends are turned into 4-day weekends
• Unlimited vacation and paid holidays
• Paw-ternity leave — adopt a dog and get a day off with your new family member
• Competitive salary
• Company equity options grant for new hires

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed