Chief Operating Officer
Job Title: Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Location: Livermore, CA
Reports to: President, CEO
Direct Reports: Art Dept, Digital Printing, Flexo Printing, Warehouse, Purchasing, Shipping
Salary: $200k - $250k + Executive Bonus
About Us: With nearly 50 years in the business, Custom Label is a trusted leader in pressure-sensitive labels and custom printed packaging serving the food & beverage, wine & spirits, and consumer goods industries. Known for fast turnaround, technical precision, and high-touch customer service, we operate in a demanding B2B environment where quality and brand standards are non-negotiable.
Headquartered in Livermore, California, we recently expanded our manufacturing footprint with the opening of a second production facility in La Vergne, Tennessee, positioning us to better serve customers nationwide and support our continued growth. As we enter this next chapter, we are investing in the operational leadership, systems, and processes needed to seamlessly integrate our two manufacturing locations, scale efficiently, and continue delivering the exceptional quality and responsiveness our customers have come to expect.
About the Role: This is not a “sit behind a desk” operational leadership role. This is a highly visible, hands-on position at the center of our operation. We are looking for a calm-in-the-chaos leader, someone who thrives in fast-paced environments, brings structure where there is ambiguity, and builds systems, processes, and leadership capabilities that make our custom manufacturing operations consistent, scalable, and highly efficient.
As Chief Operating Officer, you will be responsible for ensuring our Livermore, California, and La Vergne, Tennessee manufacturing facilities operate as one integrated business. You will align people, processes, systems, and performance across both locations, creating standardized operating practices, shared accountability, and a culture of operational excellence while balancing production capacity, maintaining consistent quality, and delivering an exceptional customer experience regardless of where a product is manufactured.
This role requires an executive who is equally comfortable walking the production floor to solve today’s challenges and partnering with the Executive Leadership Team to shape tomorrow’s growth through strategic planning, operational excellence, technology investments, and continuous improvement.
What You’ll Do:
50% Manufacturing & Team Leadership: Leading, coaching, and developing our plant floor and department teams while staying deeply connected to daily prepress, scheduling, printing, warehousing, and shipping activity
- Be a visible, hands-on leader within production, actively partnering with and directing our key departments: Art Department, Digital Printing, Flexo Printing, Warehouse, Purchasing, and Shipping
- Provide operational leadership across two manufacturing facilities, ensuring standardized processes, consistent quality, shared best practices, and balanced production capacity.
- Partner closely with the Director of Quality to drive continuous improvement of our systems and processes, to exceed our customers’ expectations
- Directly manage, develop, and mentor our department heads and supervisors, establishing clear performance expectations and performance metrics across the entire workflow
- Drive daily manufacturing efficiency, labor optimization, and scheduling alignment to ensure on-time delivery and short lead times across all shifts
- Build organizational capability by developing future leaders, succession planning, and creating a culture of accountability and continuous learning.
- Identify production bottlenecks in our high-mix workflows and implement practical, scalable solutions
25% Margin Improvement and Supply Chain: Owning the continuous improvement of purchasing, vendor relations, materials management, inventory controls, and margin-preservation strategies
- Direct end-to-end supply chain strategies with our Purchasing and Warehouse teams to secure raw materials (substrates, inks, tooling) and optimize inventory levels to mitigate supply chain risks
- Implement robust cost-reduction strategies across materials procurement, labor scheduling, and waste/scrap reduction
- Partner cross-functionally with Quality, Sales, and Customer Service to resolve production bottlenecks while safeguarding brand and technical standards
- Track, analyze, and report on key financial operating metrics to drive continuous margin improvement
25% Strategic Leadership & Growth Planning: Serving on the Executive Leadership Team to drive company-wide strategy, organizational growth, capital equipment investment (CapEx), and footprint expansion
- Serve as a key member of the Executive Leadership Team, aligning operations and plant capacity with incoming customer demand pipelines
- Evaluate and justify investments in new manufacturing technologies, printing presses (flexographic and digital), and production automation (CapEx)
- Champion a safety-first culture, ensuring absolute compliance with Cal/OSHA, local environmental regulations, and internal audit readiness
- Bring structure, standardization, and discipline to our custom manufacturing ERP/MIS systems to maximize scheduling accuracy and inventory control
- Use operational data and business intelligence to identify trends, improve decision-making, and drive proactive operational improvements.
What We’re Looking For:
- 10+ years of manufacturing operations management experience
- Qualified candidates will have a thorough knowledge of operations management in a “made-to-order” or “job-shop” custom multi-site manufacturing organization.
- Experience in B2B packaging, labels, or print manufacturing is strongly preferred (experience with flexographic and/or digital printing processes, converting, and substrates is highly valued)
- Proven leadership experience directly managing multi-disciplinary teams (including Art, Printing, Purchasing, and Logistics) in a fast-paced, high-mix production environment
- Experience leading Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or similar continuous improvement frameworks designed to eliminate waste and optimize throughput
- Experience leading 3rd party auditing and certification processes such as ISO 9001-2015, SQF, cGMP, etc.
- Budget ownership of an $20M operation, experience managing P&L or operational financial performance
- Deep knowledge of manufacturing ERP/MIS systems to track scheduling, labor hours, inventory, and actual job costs
- Equally comfortable walking the manufacturing floor, troubleshooting a bottleneck, and participating in executive board discussions driving strategy
- Strong executive communication and Board presentation skills
- Skill level in Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel) must be Intermediate to Advanced. The ability to quickly learn and master business software is critical.
- Team player with a positive attitude, comfortable working across organizational boundaries
- Ability to pass a pre-employment drug screening and criminal background check
Why This Role:
This is an opportunity to own, modernize, and scale operations in a highly specialized, customer-driven manufacturing environment. You’ll shape how we manufacture premium products—from initial prepress setup to final client delivery—while building the scalable physical systems that support rapid expansion in wine & spirits, food & beverage, and consumer packaging.
If you understand the difference between “good enough” and “press perfect”, and you take pride in building teams and manufacturing lines that deliver it every time, this role is for you.
Why Join?
- Competitive compensation
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- Employer-matched 401(k)
- A collaborative culture that values excellence and fun
Pay: $200,000.00 - $250,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Vision insurance
Application Question(s):
- Please list your education or certifications relevant to this position.
- Please insert your cover letter here. (Applications without will not be considered.)
Experience:
- manufacturing operations management: 10 years (Required)
- B2B packaging, labels, or print manufacturing: 5 years (Required)
- direct report and team leadership: 5 years (Required)
- leading 3rd party certification processes like ISO 9001-2015: 5 years (Required)
Work Location: In person
