COO/ Geschäftsführer (gn)

Our client

Our client is a leading business in the German and central European toy market and also to some extend still a hidden champion with a broad product range.

In order to find a successor for the current jobholder, we are looking for A COO with a commercial focus. Location is northern Bavaria.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial Steering, Pricing & Profitability

• Responsibility for defining and implementing pricing strategies across the entire portfolio, ensuring a strong balance between competitiveness, volume growth and profitability.
• Active management of product costing, margin structures and financial performance, including the ability to calculate business cases and assess commercial viability of initiatives.
• Close collaboration with the CFO in interpreting financial data, analysing profitability drivers and ensuring a consistently high level of financial and commercial discipline across the organisation.
• Efficiency in sales and all operational aspects

Sales and Key Account Responsibility (Strategic Customers)

• The COO is in charge of all sales related activities and management of the corresponding team.
• Direct ownership of major key accounts, including responsibility for maintaining strong relationships and ensuring long-term business development with these strategic partners.
• Active involvement in customer negotiations, assortment discussions and commercial agreements, ensuring that the company is optimally positioned with its key retail partners.
• Responsibility for ensuring flawless execution in the market, including product listings, promotions and alignment of portfolio decisions with customer needs.

Product, Portfolio & Sourcing Management

• Full ownership of a broad, multi-category product portfolio, including responsibility for its structure, profitability and continuous development across all categories.
• Ongoing optimisation of the portfolio by identifying growth opportunities, actively managing product lifecycles and addressing underperformance through clear commercial actions.
• Development of new product initiatives based on market trends, customer needs and competitive dynamics, ensuring a relevant and differentiated offering along with the whole management team and other functions.
• Responsibility for international sourcing activities, with a strong international focus, including supplier selection, relationship management and commercial negotiations.
• Alignment of sourcing decisions with portfolio and commercial objectives, particularly regarding cost, pricing, quality and availability.
• Proactive management of sourcing risks, ensuring resilience, flexibility and consistent supply performance.

Financial Understanding & Business Steering

• Strong involvement in financial steering of the business, including understanding and influencing P&L performance, contribution margins and cost structures.
• Ability to analyse financial and operational data, derive conclusions and translate insights into business decisions.
• Close cooperation with the CFO to ensure that operational actions are financially sound and aligned with overall business targets.

Interface & Commercial Execution

• Leadership, coordination and stakeholder management towards all other functions and business units (Marketing, e-Com, Finance,...).
• Responsibility for translating product and pricing strategies into effective execution at customer level, including customer-specific assortments and go-to-market initiatives.
• Continuous alignment with internal and external stakeholders to ensure that commercial opportunities are fully leveraged and operational constraints are effectively managed.

Market & Competitive Intelligence

• Continuous monitoring of market developments, competitor activities and consumer trends to ensure that the company remains competitive and forward-looking in its portfolio decisions.
• Translation of market insights into concrete actions, such as portfolio adjustments, new product initiatives or pricing adaptations.
• Strong analytical approach to identifying opportunities and risks within the competitive landscape.
• Future-oriented view on the market.

Leadership & Organisation

• Full leadership responsibility for key business functions including product and sourcing, and inside sales, ensuring a well-structured and high-performing organisation with commercial efficiency.
• Acting as a visible and hands-on leader who is closely connected to the business, supports teams in decision-making and fosters a strong sense of accountability and ownership.
• Development and coaching of employees and leadership team members, ensuring long-term capability building and a sustainable organisational structure.
• Ensuring alignment between strategic direction (CEO), financial framework (CFO) and operational execution (COO), acting as a key integrator within the leadership team.

Systems, Tools & Digitalisation

- Supporting and driving the ongoing development of ERP systems, reporting tools and digital infrastructure, ensuring that the organisation operates on a modern and data-driven basis.
- Openness to leveraging new technologies, including AI-supported tools (Claude Team), to enhance efficiency, transparency and quality of decision-making.

Person

Candidate Profile

• Extensive leadership experience in product-driven consumer goods environments, ideally within toys, juvenile products or comparable industries with similar complexity in sourcing and portfolio management.
• Proven track record of managing combined strong commercial and operational responsibility, as well as broad product portfolios in international settings.
• Experience in mid-sized, owner-led companies is highly desirable, as the role requires entrepreneurial thinking and comfort with fast decision-making processes.

Leadership & Personality

• Hands-on, pragmatic and execution-focused personality who is comfortable working close to the business and taking direct ownership of results.
• Strong commercial mindset with the ability to think in numbers, calculate scenarios, assess opportunities quickly and make sound decisions under pressure.
• High level of personal presence, credibility and natural authority, enabling effective leadership across all organisational levels and strong interaction with customers.
• Ability to work closely and constructively with the CEO and CFO in a small, highly aligned leadership team, contributing both operationally and strategically.
• Intercultural competence with the ability to operate effectively between international sourcing environments and the German mid-sized business culture.

High level of flexibility, resilience and willingness to travel, combined with a strong sense of responsibility and long-term commitment.