Executive Vice President of Operations

OPTIMAL BALANCE PHARMACY LLC•Houston, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Optimal Balance Pharmacy is seeking an exceptional Vice President of Operations to help lead the organization through its next stage of national growth. The company has grown from a local compounding pharmacy into one of the fastest-growing national compounding operations in the country, with approximately 150 employees, licensed in 35 states, supporting a nationwide sales organization, and offering over 250 compounds. The ambition is to build Optimal Balance into one of the largest and most recognized compounding pharmacy brands in the country, which will require a new level of operational infrastructure, leadership, technology, and discipline. This role is for a builder, operator, and strategic leader who understands pharmacy operations at scale and can help architect the organization needed to support significant volume increases. The company is investing heavily in automation, technology, facilities, leadership, quality, and infrastructure, and the Vice President of Operations will play a key role in determining how these investments translate into a scalable operating platform. This is an opportunity to look several years ahead and architect the organization for future growth, building upon the existing foundation of national footprint, growth, provider relationships, team, and demand.

Requirements

10+ years of progressive operations leadership experience, with meaningful experience at the VP, Senior Director, Director, or equivalent level, including leading large teams through multiple layers of management.
Demonstrated success scaling a high-growth organization through periods of substantial operational complexity.
Experience with high-volume pharmacy operations strongly preferred; 503A compounding, 503B outsourcing, specialty pharmacy, mail-order pharmacy, central-fill pharmacy, pharmaceutical manufacturing, or high-volume healthcare fulfillment is highly desirable.
Demonstrated experience designing and implementing operational KPIs, executive scorecards, and management dashboards.
Experience with automation, robotics, pharmacy workflow technology, or automated fulfillment systems, and a record of materially increasing production or prescription capacity.
Experience with workforce planning, capacity modeling, demand forecasting, and operational forecasting.
Experience managing departmental budgets, financial performance, and significant capital investments.
Demonstrated ability to diagnose operational problems using data, identify root causes, and redesign complex workflows.
Experience building management teams, developing leaders, and creating succession plans.
Working knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma, or comparable continuous-improvement methodologies, and strong analytical, data-driven decision-making capability.
Experience working effectively alongside independent Quality, Regulatory, and Compliance organizations; multi-state or multi-site experience is highly desirable.
A track record of building infrastructure ahead of growth rather than reacting to growth after the organization has exceeded its capacity.

Nice To Haves

A PharmD or pharmacy background is valuable but not required. We are more interested in finding an exceptional operational leader who understands scale, people, systems, technology, and execution.

Responsibilities

Lead and develop the operational leadership team across pharmacy operations, fulfillment, shipping, inventory, procurement, and related operational functions.
Build a scalable operating structure with clearly defined responsibilities, accountability, and decision-making authority throughout the organization.
Establish a comprehensive operating scorecard, KPIs, dashboards, and management systems that provide leadership with real-time visibility into operational performance.
Drive measurable improvements in prescription throughput, turnaround time, labor efficiency, productivity, capacity utilization, inventory performance, service levels, and operating cost.
Evaluate and continuously improve the entire prescription lifecycle, from prescription receipt and processing through compounding, pharmacist verification, fulfillment, and shipping.
Identify operational bottlenecks, determine root causes, and systematically eliminate constraints to growth.
Develop staffing models and workforce plans aligned with current prescription volume, production requirements, and anticipated future demand.
Build leadership bench strength by recruiting, mentoring, and developing managers and future operational leaders, and establish a culture where leaders understand their numbers, own their departments, and are accountable for results.
Lead continuous-improvement initiatives using Lean, Six Sigma, or comparable operational-excellence methodologies.
Partner with Technology and IT to automate manual processes and implement pharmacy technology, robotics, workflow automation, and systems capable of supporting significantly greater prescription volume without proportional increases in headcount.
Lead capacity planning across people, facilities, equipment, technology, and automation, and develop future-state operating plans based on projected demand rather than waiting for constraints to occur.
Support facility expansions, new production areas, equipment installations, automation deployments, and other major operational projects.
Establish disciplined inventory, purchasing, and supply-chain processes that maintain product availability while controlling working capital, waste, and operational risk.
Develop annual operating plans, departmental budgets, financial targets, and capital requirements in partnership with Finance and executive leadership.
Create an operating culture built around accountability, urgency, ownership, measurable performance, and continuous improvement, and break down silos between Operations, Pharmacy, Compounding, Quality, Regulatory, Technology, Finance, HR, Sales, and executive leadership.
Partner closely with Quality and Regulatory leadership to ensure rapid operational growth occurs within a strong culture of compliance, quality, and inspection readiness.