Job Summary
The Opportunity
Unbox the Dress is entering its next stage of growth and is looking for an experienced entrepreneurial leader to help take a well-built, differentiated business into its next chapter.
Since its founding in 2018, Unbox the Dress has created an entirely new way for families to preserve their wedding gowns — transforming them into one-of-a-kind heirloom gifts designed to be loved across generations. What began as an idea has grown into an established national brand with proven customer demand, a talented team, a dedicated 12,000-square-foot production facility, established marketing and operational systems, and thousands of customers served across the country.
The foundation has been built.
The opportunity now is to take that foundation and unlock its next level of profitable growth.
We are looking for a Fractional President who can take true ownership of company-level performance while leading through an established General Manager and functional leadership team. The company benefits from wonderful team members in place owning the sewing floor, shipping and client care.
We are looking for an experienced business leader who can step above the day-to-day, see the whole chessboard, and bring the financial discipline, commercial judgment and executive leadership necessary to turn significant existing potential into sustainable profitability and long-term enterprise value.
For the right person, we envision meaningful upside participation through profit sharing and/or equity — creating the opportunity to benefit directly from the value they help build.
Key Areas of Responsibilit
· Assume overall accountability for company performance, including revenue, profitability and cash flow.
· Own budgeting, forecasting, cash-flow management and financial decision-making in partnership with the company’s fractional CFO and accounting resources.
· Establish clear financial and operating targets and hold the organization accountable to them.
· Regularly evaluate performance against plan and lead corrective action when necessary.
· Make thoughtful capital-allocation and spending decisions designed to improve profitability and financial resilience.
· Manage relationships with lenders, investors and other financial stakeholders.
· Provide clear, concise reporting and recommendations to ownership – systems and reports already in place.
Profitable Growth
· Lead the company’s evolution from approximately breakeven to sustainable profitability.
· Own company-level revenue performance while leveraging existing internal and external resources for execution.
· Evaluate customer acquisition, conversion, pricing, product mix and other drivers of profitable growth.
· Determine where the greatest opportunities exist and focus the organization’s resources accordingly.
· Guide marketing strategy and performance without unnecessarily absorbing day-to-day marketing execution.
· Identify additional channels and opportunities that can expand the business beyond its existing direct-to-consumer engine.
Strategic Partnerships & Expansion
Unbox the Dress already has promising strategic relationships and partnership opportunities developing across the bridal ecosystem.
The next leader will take ownership of nurturing these opportunities, determining which relationships have the greatest potential, developing commercially compelling structures, and setting successful partnerships up for long-term execution.
The President will:
· Develop and deepen relationships with existing prospective strategic partners.
· Convert promising conversations into actionable commercial opportunities.
· Evaluate potential partnerships based on profitability, scalability and strategic value.
· Represent Unbox the Dress in senior-level conversations across the bridal and adjacent industries.
· Identify additional opportunities that complement the company’s existing strategic pipeline.
· Ensure partnerships are successfully integrated into the broader organization once established.
Executive Leadership
· Serve as the senior executive accountable for overall company performance.
· Directly manage and support the General Manager, establishing clear priorities, goals and accountability.
· Maintain a deliberate division of responsibility in which the General Manager owns day-to-day operations while the President owns company-level financial performance, growth and strategic direction.
· Lead through the existing management team rather than unnecessarily taking responsibilities back from them.
· Coach and develop leaders while identifying organizational gaps that could constrain future growth.
· Translate company strategy into clear priorities and measurable outcomes throughout the organization.
· Preserve and strengthen the collaborative, creative and deeply customer-centered culture that distinguishes Unbox the Dress.
This opportunity is different from joining an early-stage startup and building every system from scratch.
Unbox the Dress already has much of the foundational work behind it: a distinctive brand, proven products, national customer demand, a trained production organization, established infrastructure, an experienced General Manager, functional team leadership, existing marketing channels and a growing network of strategic relationships.
There is significant upside if the business can successfully convert its existing foundation into stronger profitability, expanded distribution and strategic growth.
We want the person leading that next chapter to participate meaningfully in the value they create!
Who We’re Looking For
The strongest candidate will likely have experience leading, growing or owning an entrepreneurial company or business unit and will be equally comfortable discussing cash flow, customer acquisition, people and strategy.
We are particularly interested in someone who brings:
· Meaningful experience leading a small or middle-market business, ideally within the approximately $1M–$10M revenue range.
· Demonstrated P&L ownership and strong financial fluency.
· Experience improving profitability and financial discipline within a growing organization.
· A track record of identifying and executing high-leverage growth opportunities.
· Experience managing and developing other managers.
· The ability to diagnose a problem, establish a plan and drive execution through others rather than becoming the execution layer themselves.
· Experience communicating with investors, lenders, boards or other ownership stakeholders.
· High emotional intelligence and a leadership style that combines accountability, trust and sound judgment.
· Genuine enthusiasm for the Unbox the Dress mission, customer and long-term potential.
Experience in bridal, apparel, consumer products, e-commerce or another emotionally driven consumer category would be valuable, but strong entrepreneurial business leadership is more important than specific industry experience.
Working Structure
This role is designed around ownership of outcomes rather than hours in the office.
The President may work primarily remotely, leading through the company’s on-site General Manager and established team. Periodic presence at the Winston-Salem studio will be important for maintaining relationships, understanding the organization firsthand and staying connected to the culture.
We are open to structuring the role on a fractional or part-time basis for an experienced executive capable of providing the appropriate level of leadership and accountability.
Compensation & Upside
We want the incentives for this role to reflect what we are asking this person to accomplish.
In addition to base compensation appropriate to the structure and level of involvement, we envision meaningful performance-based upside through profit sharing and/or equity participation.
For the right entrepreneurial leader, this creates an opportunity to step into an established company with substantial infrastructure already in place and participate directly in the value created by successfully leading its next stage of growth.
What Success Looks Like
Within the first 12 months, we would expect the President to have:
· Established strong financial and performance management across the organization.
· Created and begin executing a clear path from breakeven toward sustainable profitability.
· Strengthened the existing revenue engine and identified additional scalable growth opportunities.
· Advanced existing strategic relationships into meaningful commercial partnerships.
· Built a highly effective working relationship with the General Manager and leadership team.
· Created an organization capable of executing against its goals through its existing leaders and functional owners.
· Increased the long-term financial and strategic value of the business.
We look forward to involving the right leader ready to mentor and apply their experience to a beautiful company with a strong mission and great team!
NOTE: Provide your resume and three references who may be contacted for additional information.
Thank you
Pay: $120,000.00 - $250,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Flexible schedule
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Winston-Salem, NC 27106
