Fractional COO / Operating Partner — True Origins Hair
Location: Dallas–Fort Worth preferred
Job Type: Fractional / Contract / Part-time
Time Commitment: Approximately 15–25 hours per week
Compensation: $3,000–$6,000 monthly retainer plus milestone-based performance bonus
Stage: Pre-launch through proof-of-concept and scale-up
About True Origins Hair
True Origins Hair is building a premium human hair brand designed to win on trust, proof, quality, and remarkable customer care.
Our promise is simple: Real Hair. Remarkable Care.
We are preparing for proof-of-concept launch and need a senior operator to help turn the vision into a functioning, scalable business. This is not a passive advisory role. The right person will be hands-on: building systems, vetting vendors and partners, pressure-testing assumptions, managing execution, protecting the customer experience, and preparing the company to scale.
True Origins Hair is built around the operating standard of Origin — Proof — Care:
- Origin: customers deserve clarity about what they are buying and where it comes from.
- Proof: claims must be supported by vendor discipline, verification, documentation, testing, and accountability.
- Care: the customer experience must remain respectful, responsive, and supportive after purchase.
The Role
We are seeking a Fractional COO / Operating Partner to work directly with the founder through proof-of-concept and beyond.
This role is ideal for a hands-on operator with experience in consumer products, e-commerce, beauty, hair, retail, supply chain, fulfillment, vendor management, inventory planning, customer experience, or early-stage business execution.
Experience in human hair, wigs, extensions, salons, beauty supply, textured hair, multicultural beauty, or premium consumer products is highly valuable, but not required if you bring strong adjacent operating experience.
You must be comfortable in a founder-led environment where speed, judgment, accountability, and execution matter more than theory.
Operating Philosophy
True Origins Hair is being built around an inverted leadership model: customers and associates come first, and leadership exists to support them, remove friction, protect trust, and create the conditions for excellent work.
Inclusiveness at True Origins Hair is not a slogan. It means building systems, service standards, product decisions, vendor relationships, and customer experiences that treat every customer with dignity, empathy, and seriousness.
Key ResponsibilitiesLaunch & POC Execution
- Build and manage the operating roadmap through proof-of-concept launch.
- Translate strategy into weekly execution plans with owners, deadlines, and outcomes.
- Prioritize what must be built now versus what can wait.
- Keep the business focused on launch-critical work.
- Pressure-test assumptions before money, time, vendors, or people are committed.
- Create launch-readiness standards across product, vendor, fulfillment, customer care, returns, technology, and reporting.
Vendor, Product & Inventory Operations
- Lead vendor, supplier, contractor, consultant, and service-provider vetting.
- Manage sourcing, RFPs, sampling, quality checks, reference checks, cost analysis, risk assessment, and purchasing recommendations.
- Build practical vetting standards so True Origins Hair does not rely on vendor claims without proof.
- Establish clear go / no-go criteria for suppliers, contractors, consultants, agencies, and operating partners.
- Help build the initial SKU and inventory strategy.
- Set inventory rules to protect margin, drive turnover, and avoid excess stock.
- Establish supplier scorecards, purchase order discipline, receiving standards, and vendor performance tracking.
E-Commerce & Customer Experience
- Help stand up Shopify operations, fulfillment, customer service, returns, product content, and post-purchase care.
- Ensure the customer experience reflects the brand promise: Real Hair. Remarkable Care.
- Build systems to track customer issues, returns, defects, product feedback, service recovery, and recurring failure points.
- Create a premium but efficient customer care model.
- Build feedback loops between customer service, product quality, vendor performance, inventory decisions, and marketing claims.
Financial & Operating Controls
- Build dashboards for sales, margin, inventory turn, cash use, return rate, customer acquisition cost, fulfillment performance, and vendor performance.
- Protect the proof-of-concept budget and control spending.
- Set approval gates for major expenses, vendor commitments, technology tools, inventory buys, and contractor engagements.
- Translate business activity into clear, actionable metrics.
- Identify waste, drift, avoidable risk, and underperforming commitments before they become expensive problems.
Systems, AI & Process Design
- Design simple, scalable workflows using no-code, low-code, and AI-enabled tools where useful.
- Avoid unnecessary software complexity.
- Build repeatable processes before adding headcount.
- Document core systems for scale.
- Use AI responsibly to improve speed, quality, analysis, communication, and accountability without replacing human judgment.
Leadership & Accountability
- Act as a senior operating partner to the founder.
- Challenge unclear priorities, unjustified spend, weak execution, or unsupported assumptions.
- Help recruit, evaluate, and manage vendors, contractors, agencies, fractional specialists, and early team members.
- Help build an inclusive, customer-first associate culture from day one.
- Keep the customer at the center of operating decisions.
- Bring structure and discipline without slowing progress.
Ideal Background
Strong candidates may have experience in:
- COO, VP Operations, Head of Operations, GM, Chief of Staff, or Operating Partner roles.
- Beauty, hair, cosmetics, fashion, consumer products, retail, e-commerce, or direct-to-consumer businesses.
- Shopify or similar commerce platforms.
- Inventory planning, fulfillment, vendor vetting, supplier management, and vendor scorecards.
- Early-stage launches, proof-of-concept testing, startup execution, or rapid business buildouts.
- Customer service systems, returns management, quality control, and post-purchase experience.
- Financial discipline, budgeting, KPI reporting, and operating dashboards.
- Contractor, consultant, agency, vendor, and service-provider evaluation.
What We Are Not Looking For
We are not looking for a strategy-only operator, passive advisor, résumé polish without operating proof, or someone who needs fully built teams and systems to be effective.
We need someone who can operate in ambiguity, make decisions, build systems, vet people and vendors, protect the customer, and execute.
First 30–60 Days
Initial priorities include:
- Finalizing the proof-of-concept operating plan.
- Building the launch execution calendar.
- Pressure-testing the budget and inventory plan.
- Establishing vendor, contractor, and purchasing discipline.
- Building core operating dashboards.
- Defining fulfillment, customer service, returns, and quality-control workflows.
- Creating vendor vetting standards and supplier scorecards.
- Identifying key hires, vendors, tools, contractors, and operating partners.
- Establishing weekly reporting and accountability cadence.
- Translating Origin — Proof — Care into practical operating standards.
Engagement Structure
This role starts as fractional, approximately 15–25 hours per week, with potential to expand based on performance, launch progress, and business needs.
Dallas–Fort Worth candidates are preferred for in-person collaboration, vendor coordination, warehouse / fulfillment planning, and founder working sessions.
Compensation is designed to be lean on guaranteed cash and performance-driven. Expect a modest monthly retainer in the range of $3,000–$6,000, paired with milestone-based upside tied to launch execution, revenue targets, margin performance, inventory discipline, vendor readiness, customer experience, and scale readiness.
There is no equity or option component at this stage.
How to Apply
Please include:
- A brief summary of relevant operating experience.
- Examples of companies, launches, products, or systems you have helped build or scale.
- Your experience in e-commerce, consumer products, beauty, retail, supply chain, or vendor management.
- Specific examples of vendors, contractors, agencies, suppliers, or operating partners you have vetted or managed.
- Your availability and preferred fractional structure.
- Whether you are based in Dallas–Fort Worth or available for regular in-person meetings.
Please include “Fractional COO — True Origins Hair” in your message.
Pay: $3,000.00 - $106,457.23 per month
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Dallas, TX 75207
