Chief Operating Officer (COO) / Operations Director

Hawthorn Innovations — Louisville, KY (On-Site Preferred)

Hawthorn Innovations is a creative agency, production studio, custom manufacturing company, and supply chain operation all under one roof. We create premium creative campaigns, produce photo and video content, manufacture custom hospitality products at scale, build experiential environments, and ship branded products globally for some of the biggest names in food, beverage, and hospitality.

From national beverage rollouts and large-scale restaurant programs to luxury custom fabrication and experiential builds, our company moves fast and operates across multiple business verticals simultaneously.

Now we’re looking for an operational leader who can help orchestrate all of it.

This is a high-level operations leadership position focused on workflow management, organizational efficiency, accountability, communication, and scaling execution across the company.

The goal of this role is simple:

Help the company operate more efficiently day-to-day by ensuring teams are aligned, informed, accountable, and executing against priorities — allowing leadership to stay focused on growth, strategy, and major client relationships.

What You’ll Actually Do

Orchestrate Company-Wide Workflow

You’ll work directly with the owner, president, account leads, and department heads to help manage the operational flow of the business from start to finish with direct dept lead, and employee engagement.

That means translating high-level conversations, client asks, statements of work, timelines, and internal priorities into organized execution plans that teams can actually deliver against.

You’ll help ensure:

• The right people are assigned to the right projects
• Teams have the information they need
• Timelines are realistic and being followed
• Bottlenecks are identified early
• Internal communication stays clear
• Priorities stay aligned across departments
• We are utilizing human capital efficiently and responsibly

You are the connective tissue between leadership strategy and operational execution.

Manage Operational Efficiency

We operate across multiple departments simultaneously:

• Creative
• Design
• Production
• Build/Fabrication
• Supply Chain
• Warehouse & Logistics
• Accounts & Client Services

You’ll help oversee workflow across all of them.

Part of this role is understanding bandwidth, human capital, scheduling realities, and operational capacity — then helping leadership make smarter decisions around priorities, staffing, timing, and resource allocation.

Build Systems That Scale

As Hawthorn grows, we need stronger systems, clearer SOPs, better accountability structures, and improved operational visibility.

You’ll help:

• Improve workflows
• Build accountability systems
• Refine operational processes
• Improve internal communication structures
• Help optimize Airtable and project tracking systems
• Identify inefficiencies before they become problems

This role is as much about operational architecture as it is daily management.

Keep Projects Moving

You will constantly be monitoring:

• Is the information clear?
• Is the team aligned?
• Are timelines slipping?
• Does someone need support?
• Are we overloading certain departments?
• Are priorities being executed properly?
• Do team-members need assignments ?

You’ll proactively solve operational problems before leadership has to step in.

Help Leadership Stay Focused on Growth

One of the most important functions of this role is helping remove operational drag from leadership.

The owner should not be spending the day walking department-to-department checking statuses, solving small workflow issues, or tracking down missed communication. This role exists to create operational clarity, accountability, and momentum across the organization.

Who You Are

You’re highly organized, operationally minded, and extremely proactive. You naturally see inefficiencies, communication gaps, and workflow problems before others do.

You’re comfortable operating between leadership and execution teams. You can speak strategically with executives while also helping teams stay organized and accountable day-to-day.

You likely come from:

• Agency operations
• Creative operations
• Production operations
• Startup operations
• COO / Director of Operations environments
• Fast-moving entrepreneurial companies
• Hospitality, experiential, manufacturing, or logistics-heavy organizations

Most importantly, you know how to bring structure to fast-moving creative businesses without slowing them down.

The Hard Skills

• 5–10+ years in operations management, business operations, agency operations, or leadership roles
• Experience managing workflows across multiple departments simultaneously
• Strong understanding of project management systems and operational organization
• Ability to manage timelines, bandwidth, staffing priorities, and execution pipelines
• Experience building or improving SOPs and operational systems
• Strong communication and leadership skills
• Comfortable managing accountability across teams
• Experience with Airtable, Monday.com, Asana, ClickUp, or similar operational systems -

The Stuff That’ll Make You Stand Out

• Experience inside a creative agency, production company, experiential agency, hospitality group, or manufacturing organization
• You’ve helped scale a growing company before
• You understand both creative workflow and operational logistics
• You’re highly systems-oriented without becoming bureaucratic
• You already utilize AI tools in your workflow
• You’re comfortable operating in ambiguity and solving problems quickly
• You understand how to balance structure with speed

WHO YOU REALLY ARE

YOU CREATE ORDER OUT OF CHAOS

You enjoy bringing structure to fast-moving environments without killing momentum or creativity.

YOU’RE A BUILDER

You don’t just maintain systems — you improve them.

YOU’RE CALM UNDER PRESSURE

Fast timelines, shifting priorities, and operational complexity don’t overwhelm you. They energize you.

YOU HOLD PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE

Not through micromanagement — through clarity, communication, organization, and follow-through.

YOU WANT REAL OWNERSHIP

This role will have a major influence on how Hawthorn operates and scales over the next several years.

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WHAT WE OFFER

* A highly entrepreneurial environment with real autonomy

* Direct access to ownership and executive leadership

* The ability to help shape the operational future of a rapidly growing company

* A business that spans creative, production, manufacturing, logistics, and experiential

* A fast-moving culture where good ideas get implemented quickly

* Competitive compensation based on experience and capability

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HOW TO APPLY

Send your resume along with a short note about:

* Your operational background

* The types of companies or teams you’ve managed

* Systems or workflows you’ve helped improve

* Why this role interests you

Bonus points if you can tell us about a time you stepped into operational chaos and helped bring structure, clarity, and momentum to a growing organization.

Hawthorn Innovations is an equal opportunity employer.