Chief Operating Officer (COO)

About Swedish Nutra

Swedish Nutra is a Malmö-based family company and one of the Nordics’ leading manufacturers of premium liquid vitamins and nutritional supplements. We offer private label/white label production and are the makers of the Swedish Collagen and Swedish Nutra brands, sold in over 37 countries worldwide. We’re a fast-growing business with global distribution, a warm and international team, and an enterprising environment where people get real room to develop and grow.

About the role

We are seeking a Chief Operating Officer (COO) to take over the day-to-day leadership of Swedish Nutra. This is a pivotal role designed to free our founder-CEO to focus on growth, while you build and lead the operational engine that will scale our business. You will be the number-one on-site point of contact for the entire team, working full-time from our Malmö headquarters.

What you'll own

As COO, you will be responsible for the full company P&L and all approximately 30 staff, leading through the management layer. Your mandate will grow in defined phases, ultimately encompassing all day-to-day responsibilities currently held by the CEO. This includes:

Day-to-day leadership of the company: Full P&L ownership and leadership of all staff through the management team.

The management team: Building and leading the Production Manager, Head of Sales, and Marketing Manager (searches currently in motion), and completing the team with key-account and e-commerce hires. Final say on management-level appointments remains with the owners.

Production: Setting targets and holding the Production Manager accountable for output, quality, supply, and cost.

The technical spine: Ensuring quality assurance and regulatory compliance across all export markets, maintaining GMP/HACCP certification, overseeing the product development pipeline, and managing inventory and supply end-to-end through a monthly S&OP rhythm.

The commercial engine: Guiding the Head of Sales and Marketing Manager to execute the retail and DTC agenda set with the CEO, including expanding from exclusive-distributor coverage to include direct retail relationships.

DTC and marketplace channels: Overseeing Amazon EU/UK through an accountable Amazon specialist, and the US Amazon/Shopify/DTC business, with investment pace agreed with the CEO.

Systems and process: Transforming ad-hoc, founder-held execution into documented, repeatable processes and stage-appropriate tooling, and extracting institutional knowledge into the organization through SOPs.

The people function during ramp-up: Managing performance, development, and hiring below management level, with in-house recruitment support, until a dedicated HR lead is justified.

The automation agenda: Supporting automation across the business, ensuring new processes across every department are designed to be automation-ready.

The operating rhythm: Establishing KPIs, budgets, forecasting, cash-flow discipline, running weekly management meetings, and providing monthly reporting to the owners.

What we're looking for

We are seeking a proven general manager with real operational depth and a scale-up temperament. While few candidates will be equally strong across all areas, we prioritize in this order: proven general management, depth across quality, regulatory, product development, and supply, and hands-on commercial-growth experience. Running a factory is not required, as production has its own dedicated leader.

Non-negotiable requirements

Experience: 10+ years of experience, with genuine general management, including owning a full P&L (company, subsidiary, or business unit) and leading a team of managers. You are a leader of leaders, not a strong functional specialist stepping up for the first time.

Operational Expertise: Real operating experience in a regulated product category (GMP, HACCP, pharma, food, nutraceutical/supplement, or comparable), spanning quality and regulatory, product development, and inventory/supply. You must be able to own these functions, carry quality and regulatory risk, and act as a credible sparring partner to the Production Manager.

Scale-up Temperament: Comfortable building structure from thin processes in a founder-led company with approximately 200M SEK revenue.

Commercial Literacy: Understands brand, channel economics, and trade terms well enough to direct a retail expansion.

Motivation: Motivated by operational ownership; you want to run the day-to-day of a profitable company end-to-end and build the machine, not occupy a caretaker or chief-of-staff seat.

Location: Full-time on-site in Malmö. This is not a hybrid or remote role. Candidates must be based in the Öresund region.

Language: Fluent English is a requirement for this role (our working language; the team is international). Swedish is not required.

Strong preferences

• FMCG background: consumer health, VMS/supplements, personal care, or functional food.
• Experience in liquid, food, or beverage manufacturing environments.
• Direct experience with European drug and health retail (dm, Rossmann, Holland & Barrett, Boots) and their buying processes.
• Existing relationships with target retail banners.
• AI-forward: has used AI and automation to build a leaner operation, or is visibly motivated to, and able to bring a team along with it.
• Practical details
• Apply by clicking the link and submitting your resume, including your cover letter in the same document (one file for CV and cover letter).
• Start date: as soon as possible.
• Workplace: Swedish Nutra AB, Lodgatan 19, 211 24 Malmö.