COO (South Africa-based)

We are a growing digital company seeking an experienced Chief Operating Officer (COO) to lead overall business operations, revenue performance, and organizational execution across client accounts and internal teams.

This role is responsible for driving operational strategy, scaling systems, improving profitability, and ensuring strong leadership across department heads. You will work closely with the CEO and leadership team to optimize performance, team structure, and operational efficiency.

Work Setup: Fully remote

Reports to: CEO

Teams Overseen: Operations, Sales, Messaging, Support, and Department Managers

Mission

Own and operate EMF’s entire operational engine. Make sure every department hits its numbers, every team member is trained and motivated, every process runs on time, and the business is actively expanding into new growth channels. Be the single point of accountability for everything operational.

Core Accountabilities

Revenue & Financial Performance: Own overall agency revenue. Work with Ed on monthly/quarterly targets by model and team. Review P&L, manage OpEx, report financial performance to leadership.

Operational Excellence: Ensure all eight departments run smoothly. Monitor high-level KPIs. Drive corrective action when metrics slip. Maintain the integrity of all SOPs and reporting systems.

People Development & Training: Build a culture of accountability, growth, and motivation. Run performance reviews, implement career progression, deliver training programmes, and ensure every team member knows their KPIs and has the support to hit them. This is the single biggest gap being filled by this hire.

Escalation & Firefighting: Be the single escalation point for all operational fires. IG suspensions, model issues, team conflicts, missed KPIs, platform changes — all route through you.

Bottleneck Identification: Work with the Founder and CEO to identify the #1 operational constraint each week. Once the Founder solves it, own the implementation and rollout to the relevant teams.

Client Acquisition Oversight: Ensure Ed’s pipeline delivers quality creators consistently. Monitor onboarding velocity, client retention, and funnel health.

Scorecard & KPI Delivery: Own the monthly scorecard cycle across all departments. Present operational performance in monthly business reviews and quarterly planning sessions.

Business Growth & Channel Expansion: Facilitate expansion into new revenue channels (TikTok, new platforms, new niches). Evaluate opportunities, build operational plans, and execute on the ones leadership approves.

Monthly Business Reviews & Quarterly Planning:

Lead structured monthly business reviews covering financial performance, department scorecards, and operational priorities.

Lead quarterly planning sessions that set 90-day strategic sprints with clear inputs and targets for each department.

AI-Powered Operations: Actively use AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, or similar) to accelerate your own workflows.

Identify opportunities to deploy AI across the team for faster reporting, content analysis, SOP creation, and decision-making.

Familiarity with developer-adjacent tools (Claude Code or similar) is a strong plus.

Standard COO Duties (Currently Unfilled)

These are standard COO responsibilities that EMF currently lacks because the Founder has been splitting time. Expected from Day 1:

Monthly departmental scorecards with written performance commentary

Structured quarterly planning sessions (90-day sprints with clear targets and inputs)

Structured 1:1 development plans for every department lead

Team motivation and engagement programmes (recognition, progression, incentives)

Cross-departmental process improvement projects (at least 1 per quarter)

Operational risk register and mitigation planning

Vendor and tool evaluation for operational efficiency

Onboarding programme ownership (new hires productive within 2 weeks)

Exit interview process and retention analysis

Company culture stewardship (values reinforcement, team-building)

Capacity planning across all departments as the business scales

Quarterly SOP audits to ensure all documentation is current

Required Experience & Skills

3+ years managing remote operations teams of 15+ people across multiple time zones

Proven P&L or revenue-accountable operations experience (agency, marketplace, or similar)

Strong proficiency in Airtable (this is our operational backbone — non-negotiable)

Working knowledge of Notion

Active AI user: must demonstrate regular use of AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, or similar) to accelerate workflows. Familiarity with agentic tools like Claude Code is a strong advantage.

Experience building and enforcing SOPs for non-native English speaking teams

Track record of developing people: promotions, training programmes, performance management

Experience running structured monthly reviews and quarterly planning cadences

Direct experience managing social media operations at scale (Instagram strongly preferred)

Preferred Experience

Familiarity with the OnlyFans ecosystem or adult content creator economy

Experience with niche adult content verticals

Experience scaling a business into new platforms or channels (e.g., TikTok)

Financial management: budgeting, OpEx tracking, margin analysis

Experience managing Filipino or Southeast Asian remote teams

Non-Negotiables

Must overlap with Philippine team (GMT+8) and UK leadership (GMT/BST)

Must be comfortable working in the adult content creator management space

Must adopt existing systems before proposing changes

Must demonstrate a people-first management style with evidence of team development

Must be an active AI user — not just “aware” of AI, but using it daily

A 2–5 minute video answering the pre-screening questions. When recording, please speak clearly and concisely, focusing on specific examples and measurable outcomes.

Pre-screening Questions:

Briefly describe your leadership experience as a COO.

What’s your leadership philosophy when guiding multiple departments with diverse functions?

How proficient are you in AI tools, Airtable, ClickUp, and Notion?

Complete all questions thoroughly. Incomplete submissions may not be reviewed.