Chief Operating Officer

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is responsible for translating Phoenix Water Solutions' strategy into disciplined, measurable, and scalable execution.The COO leads the company's operating organization and works closely with the CEO to align construction, operations, service, sales, finance, HR, and support functions around shared business outcomes. This role establishes the operating cadence, accountability systems, leadership structure, and performance standards required to support continued growth.The ideal candidate is an experienced operating leader who combines strong financial judgment, systems thinking, people leadership, customer awareness, and the ability to turn strategy into consistent execution.Role MissionTranslate PWS strategy into a disciplined operating system that aligns people, data, process, customer delivery, financial performance, risk, and scalable growth while giving the CEO clear decisions and dependable execution.Key ResponsibilitiesEnterprise Operations & StrategyTranslate the CEO's strategy into a clear operating plan with measurable priorities, accountable leaders, and defined decision cadences.Lead the company's operating functions and ensure departments are aligned around enterprise priorities rather than optimizing independently.Establish clear operating rhythms for planning, execution, performance reviews, issue resolution, and leadership accountability.Monitor progress against company priorities and ensure commitments are completed, formally reset, or escalated when necessary.Identify operational bottlenecks and implement practical solutions that improve execution and scalability.Ensure the organization has the structure, processes, and leadership capacity required to support continued growth.Leadership & Organizational ManagementLead the Director of Construction, Operations Manager, and other leaders assigned by the CEO.Establish clear expectations, responsibilities, scorecards, and decision rights for direct reports.Conduct regular leadership and performance reviews.Coach leaders and develop the management capabilities required for a growing organization.Address performance, accountability, capacity, and organizational issues promptly.Develop succession plans and strengthen leadership depth to reduce unnecessary founder dependency.Build a culture of accountability, ownership, communication, and continuous improvement.Financial & Business PerformanceReview revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, cash, backlog, capacity, forecasts, and other key business indicators.Use Finance-approved financial reporting together with operational source data when evaluating company performance.Identify material financial or operational variances and establish corrective actions with clear owners and deadlines.Ensure operating decisions appropriately consider margin, cash flow, customer commitments, capacity, and long-term business impact.Partner with Finance and functional leaders to improve forecasting reliability and financial discipline.Maintain visibility into the financial implications of major operational decisions.Construction & Field OperationsProvide executive oversight of construction and field operations through the Director of Construction and other operating leaders.Ensure construction and service organizations have the capacity, leadership, processes, and resources required to meet customer commitments.Monitor project delivery, schedule reliability, margin performance, safety, quality, and operational risk.Ensure construction and field operations are supported by reliable systems, reporting, and accountability.Resolve significant cross-functional issues that cannot be effectively addressed at the department level.Customer & Revenue CoordinationEnsure customer commitments, project delivery, service execution, sales priorities, and operational capacity remain aligned.Maintain visibility into major customer escalations and ensure clear ownership and resolution.Ensure sales and operations have effective handoffs and shared expectations.Balance growth opportunities with the company's ability to deliver safely, profitably, and reliably.Identify operational constraints that could limit revenue growth and develop plans to address them.Systems, Processes & ScalabilityBuild and maintain scalable operating systems across people, processes, data, and technology.Standardize priority workflows while allowing appropriate flexibility for department-specific technical requirements.Establish clear process ownership and performance measures.Lead the development of a systems roadmap that supports organizational growth.Ensure new processes are properly communicated, trained, adopted, and monitored.Identify opportunities to reduce manual work, eliminate process gaps, and improve data reliability.Build an operating infrastructure capable of supporting a 200-person organization.Risk, Safety & ComplianceMaintain executive oversight of material safety, legal, compliance, financial, customer, and people risks.Ensure significant risks are identified, documented, assigned, and escalated appropriately.Maintain appropriate approval gates with HR, Legal, Finance, and other responsible functions.Ensure operating leaders understand their responsibility for risk identification and escalation.Support a culture where material issues are surfaced early rather than hidden or delayed.Executive Reporting & Decision SupportProvide the CEO with concise, decision-ready reporting.Clearly distinguish confirmed facts, assumptions, risks, forecasts, and requested decisions.Present recommendations with relevant tradeoffs, owners, deadlines, and expected outcomes.Maintain a consistent executive reporting cadence.Ensure leadership decisions are documented and translated into accountable action.Reduce unnecessary operational noise while ensuring the CEO has visibility into material business issues.Reporting & Decision RightsThe COO reports directly to the CEO.The COO owns the performance, workload, development, and prioritization of assigned operating leaders and is responsible for coordinating execution across operating functions.The CEO establishes overall company strategy and retains final authority over matters reserved for executive or ownership approval.Cross-functional leaders provide requirements, expertise, and feedback through established operating cadences. The COO is responsible for resolving cross-functional conflicts, establishing priorities, and escalating matters that require CEO-level decisions.The COO must retain appropriate HR, Legal, Finance, and other approval gates for matters requiring specialized or formal authorization.Required Qualifications10+ years of senior operations leadership experience with significant financial and people accountability.Demonstrated success scaling an operating organization.Experience managing multiple departments or business functions through subordinate leaders.Strong financial, operational, customer, systems, risk, and talent judgment.Demonstrated experience building and managing leadership scorecards and operating cadences.Ability to translate company strategy into measurable priorities and execution plans.Strong executive communication and decision-making skills.Demonstrated experience identifying operational problems, establishing accountability, and delivering measurable improvements.Ability to operate effectively in a growing, fast-paced organization with evolving systems and processes.Preferred QualificationsBackground in field service, construction, utilities, water, plumbing, metering, or infrastructure.Experience scaling an organization to 100+ employees.Experience operating in a founder-led or entrepreneurial environment.Experience building systems for a rapidly growing company.Familiarity with equity plans, stock-option administration, and board-level governance.Experience managing geographically distributed teams and field operations.Experience with ServiceTitan or comparable field-service and job-management platforms.