We are seeking a highly driven, hands-on Chief Operating Officer to take command of daily operations, build a high-performance organization, and aggressively drive the company’s next stage of growth.
We are not looking for someone to maintain the current operation. We need a proven trucking executive who will challenge under-performance, create urgency, develop leaders, strengthen every department, and turn company goals into measurable results.
The right candidate will be a builder and executor—someone who sees growth opportunities, develops a clear operating plan, assigns ownership, establishes deadlines, and pushes the organization forward until results are achieved.
The COO will report directly to the CEO and oversee all departments including dispatch, recruiting, safety, compliance, fleet operations, maintenance coordination, accounting support, driver relations, and office personnel.
Location Requirement
This position requires the COO to be based in Florida, preferably within reasonable driving distance of the Tampa Bay area.
Although some employees and departments operate remotely, the COO must be available for regular in-person meetings for:
- Strategic planning
- Growth initiatives
- Operational reviews
- Leadership meetings
- Department evaluations
- Problem-solving and decision-making
- Brainstorming and implementation sessions
- Financial and performance reviews
This is not a fully remote position. Candidates outside Florida must be willing to relocate.
Primary Responsibilities
- Take ownership of the company’s daily operational performance and execution.
- Develop and execute aggressive but financially disciplined company growth strategies.
- Drive fleet expansion, recruiting production, and driver retention while improving profitability through tighter maintenance controls, lower repair costs, reduced downtime, disciplined preventive maintenance, and safer, more reliable equipment on the road.
- Develop, implement, and enforce a company-wide preventive maintenance and roadside inspection compliance program designed to reduce recurring maintenance-related DOT violations, out-of-service events, breakdowns, and repair costs. Track all reported defects through documented repair completion, analyze inspection trends, strengthen pre-trip and post-trip accountability, and hold drivers, owner-operators, staff, and maintenance vendors responsible for timely corrective action.
- Turn company objectives into specific action plans, deadlines, assigned responsibilities, and measurable outcomes.
- Create urgency throughout the organization and ensure projects move from discussion to completion.
- Manage department leaders and office personnel across all operational functions.
- Establish clear KPIs, performance expectations, and accountability standards for every department and employee.
- Consistently challenge under-performance and require department leaders to produce measurable results.
- Build, document, implement, and enforce scalable company SOPs.
- Develop the management structure, staffing plan, and operating systems required for significant company expansion.
- Improve recruiting production, onboarding speed, driver engagement, and owner-operator retention.
- Strengthen coordination between dispatch, recruiting, safety, fleet management, maintenance, accounting, and compliance.
- Monitor fleet utilization, revenue performance, operating margins, driver retention, downtime, claims, service failures, and operating costs.
- Identify operational bottlenecks and eliminate problems that restrict company growth.
- Recruit, train, develop, evaluate, and hold office personnel accountable.
- Make strong personnel and operational decisions when performance standards are not being met.
- Reduce preventable mistakes, unnecessary expenses, equipment downtime, compliance exposure, and unresolved operational issues.
- Lead weekly performance meetings focused on results, accountability, corrective actions, and upcoming priorities.
- Provide the CEO with clear weekly reporting on company performance, growth initiatives, departmental results, risks, and required decisions.
- Build an organization that can expand rapidly without losing financial control, service quality, safety, or compliance.
- Take command of routine operating decisions so the CEO can focus on capital, equipment, financing, strategic partnerships, and long-term company direction.
Required Experience
- Significant executive or senior operational leadership experience with an asset-based trucking company.
- Proven record of driving measurable company or fleet growth.
- Proven experience managing multiple trucking departments and office personnel.
- Direct motor-carrier experience—not solely freight brokerage, 3PL, consulting, warehousing, or logistics sales.
- Demonstrated success improving profitability, fleet utilization, driver retention, recruiting production, accountability, or operational efficiency.
- Strong understanding of dispatch, recruiting, safety, DOT compliance, maintenance, claims, settlements, driver relations, and trucking economics.
- Experience managing owner-operators, lease-purchase operators, company drivers, or a combination of these.
- Experience creating and enforcing SOPs, KPIs, reporting systems, and performance standards.
- Strong financial understanding of revenue, margins, operating expenses, budgets, cash flow, and return on company investments.
- Proven ability to recruit, develop, manage, evaluate, and terminate personnel when necessary.
- Strong leadership presence with the ability to create urgency and move teams toward demanding goals.
- Verifiable professional references from previous trucking-company owners, executives, or senior leadership.
Proven Results Required
Applicants must be prepared during the interview process to provide specific and verifiable examples of:
- Asset-based trucking fleets previously managed, including fleet size and operating model.
- Departments and number of employees directly supervised.
- Measurable growth, recruiting, retention, utilization, margin, safety, or profitability improvements personally led.
- SOPs, KPIs, reporting systems, and accountability structures personally implemented.
- Operational, maintenance, compliance, or staffing problems identified and successfully corrected.
- Professional references who can verify the candidate’s responsibilities, leadership, and results.
Candidates who provide general leadership statements without measurable examples will not be considered.
Brokerage, 3PL, consulting, warehouse, or logistics experience without direct asset-based motor-carrier leadership does not meet the qualifications for this position.
What Success Looks Like
The successful COO will:
- Build the leadership structure, staffing, and operating systems required to manage a larger organization.
- Increase recruiting production, driver retention, fleet utilization, and departmental performance.
- Strengthen operating margins while reducing preventable costs, downtime, mistakes, and unresolved issues.
- Implement enforceable SOPs, KPIs, reporting systems, and clear departmental accountability.
- Eliminate operational bottlenecks and ensure growth initiatives move from planning to measurable execution.
- Measurably improve company safety performance, including roadside inspection results, maintenance-related violations, out-of-service events, and relevant CSA/SMS BASIC performance.
- Reduce the CEO’s involvement in routine operations by taking ownership of decisions, personnel performance, and execution.
- Expand the company without sacrificing safety, compliance, service quality, financial control, or profitability.
Compensation and Growth Opportunity
This position offers a competitive base salary with significant opportunity for performance-based compensation growth.
The COO will have the opportunity to increase compensation by producing sustained and measurable company results, including:
- Profitable company and fleet growth.
- Increased active-truck utilization and driver retention.
- Improved recruiting production and departmental performance.
- Stronger operating margins and reduced preventable costs.
- Successful implementation of scalable SOPs, KPIs, and accountability systems.
- Improved safety and compliance performance, including fewer roadside violations, maintenance violations, and out-of-service events.
- Consistent execution of company growth and operational initiatives.
- Development of an effective leadership structure that reduces the CEO’s involvement in routine operations.
Compensation increases are not guaranteed and will be based on sustained verified results—not title, tenure, promises, or truck count alone.
Pay: $102,000.00 - $110,000.00 per year
Application Question(s):
- Describe your direct leadership experience with an asset-based motor carrier. Include the company’s fleet size, operating model, number of employees and departments you supervised, your title, and the decisions you personally controlled.
- Describe one company or fleet-growth initiative you personally led. State the starting point, ending result, timeframe, actions you took, and the measurable impact on profitability, utilization, recruiting, or retention.
- Provide a specific example of a maintenance or safety program you implemented to reduce roadside violations, out-of-service events, breakdowns, or repair costs. What problem existed, what system did you implement, and what measurable results followed?
- Describe a department or employee group that was underperforming under your leadership. How did you identify the problem, what KPIs or corrective actions did you implement, and what measurable result did you achieve?
- Are you currently located in Tampa Bay, or are you willing to relocate and regularly attend in-person meetings in the Tampa Bay area?
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Odessa, FL 33556
