Chief Operating Officer (COO) - Laundry Services

Reports to: CEO

Location: Saudi Arabia

Function: Executive Management

Role Purpose:

Lead the end-to-end operations of the company's laundry business, translating the company's commercial strategy into a scalable, profitable, reliable, and customer-focused operating model. The COO is accountable for operational performance across the central laundry facility, branches/outlets, logistics and fleet, engineering and maintenance, procurement and supply chain, quality, HSE, workforce productivity, and operational budgets.

The COO will have particular responsibility for balancing premium service quality with disciplined cost management, ensuring that growth in sales and branch footprint is supported by adequate production capacity, equipment reliability, efficient logistics, appropriate staffing, and controlled operating expenditure.

1. Overall Operations & Execution

Own the company's entire operating cycle—from customer order collection through sorting, washing, finishing, quality inspection, packing, distribution and final delivery. Establish operating standards across the central facility and branches, monitor capacity and bottlenecks, and ensure consistent service levels as the business grows.

2. Central Laundry & Production

Provide executive oversight of the Central Laundry Operations Manager and production organization. Establish targets for capacity utilization, kg processed, turnaround time, rewash, textile damage, productivity and cost per kg. Ensure the facility has sufficient capacity, manpower, equipment and utilities to support current demand and future expansion.

3. Engineering, Maintenance & Asset Reliability

Own the overall asset-reliability strategy covering washers, tunnel systems, dryers, finishing lines, boilers, compressors, water-treatment systems, chemical-dosing equipment, conveyors and supporting infrastructure. Ensure robust preventive and predictive maintenance programs, spare-parts availability, vendor support and appropriate equipment lifecycle/replacement planning.

The COO should challenge recurring failures, excessive downtime and inefficient assets and approve major maintenance, refurbishment and CAPEX recommendations based on operational and financial justification.

4. Procurement, Chemicals & Cost Management

Establish procurement and supplier strategies for chemicals, consumables, packaging, spare parts and other operational materials. Ensure purchasing decisions consider quality, consumption rate and total cost of operation, rather than simply selecting the cheapest product.

Drive continuous reduction of chemical, water, electricity, gas/steam, packaging and maintenance costs without compromising cleaning quality, hygiene, equipment condition or textile life.

5. Branch & Retail Operations

Ensure consistent operating standards across customer-facing laundry branches, including service quality, productivity, order accuracy, customer experience, cash/control procedures, staffing and coordination with the central laundry.

Develop operating models and readiness plans for new branches and geographical expansion.

6. Logistics & Fleet

Own pickup and delivery performance, fleet utilization, routing, delivery accuracy and transportation cost. Optimize routes between branches, customers and the central facility and ensure logistics capacity supports business growth.

7. Quality & Customer Experience

Establish company-wide quality standards and operational controls covering washing, finishing, packaging and delivery. Track complaints, lost/damaged items, rewash and service failures and ensure root causes are addressed rather than repeatedly compensated for.

8. Financial & Budget Responsibility

Own the operations budget and participate actively in annual business planning.

Monitor and improve major cost drivers including:

• Cost per kg processed
• Labor cost and productivity
• Chemicals and consumables
• Water, electricity, steam and gas
• Maintenance and spare parts
• Fleet and logistics
• Branch operating costs
• Waste and rework

Work closely with the CEO/CFO to establish budgets, forecasts, CAPEX plans and measurable cost-reduction targets.

9. People & Organization

Lead the senior operational management team, including Central Laundry Operations, Maintenance/Engineering, Quality, Logistics, Branch Operations, Procurement/Supply Chain and other relevant functions.

Build an accountable management structure with clear KPIs and responsibilities. Ensure workforce planning, recruitment, training, succession planning and performance management are aligned with operational requirements.

The COO should be capable of developing managers rather than personally becoming the operational manager for every department.

10. Growth & Scalability

Assess operational requirements for new branches, cities, major B2B contracts and increased production volumes. Determine required capacity, equipment, manpower, logistics and investment before expansion.

Support commercial management in evaluating major contracts to ensure proposed pricing and SLAs are operationally achievable and commercially sustainable.

11. Technology, Automation & Data

Drive adoption of ERP, POS, production tracking, preventive-maintenance systems, inventory management, route optimization and operational dashboards.

Establish reliable operational data and management reporting so decisions are based on measurable performance rather than assumptions.

12. HSE, Compliance & Risk

Ensure operations comply with applicable Saudi regulatory, environmental, occupational safety and other requirements. Establish controls for chemicals, machinery, boilers, fire safety, employee safety, waste disposal and emergency response.

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations Management, Industrial Engineering, Business Administration, Supply Chain, Manufacturing or a related discipline.
• Minimum 12–15 years of overall professional experience, with significant experience in operations-intensive businesses.
• At least 5 years in a senior operational leadership position, such as COO, Operations Director, General Manager – Operations, Head of Operations or equivalent.
• Demonstrated responsibility for large teams, multiple operational functions and significant operating budgets.
• Strong experience in P&L/cost management, procurement, maintenance/asset management, workforce productivity and operational KPIs.
• Experience in commercial/industrial laundry is highly preferred, but candidates from closely related high-volume service/processing industries could also be considered.
• Saudi/GCC operational experience would be a strong advantage.
• Arabic and English capability would be preferred.