Temporary COO and Interim Operations Director
A temporary COO or interim operations director to bring operating discipline, cadence, and execution to a company under pressure or in fast growth.
When a temporary COO is the right call
A temporary COO or interim operations director takes ownership of execution when a company is growing faster than its systems, recovering from a shock, or missing the operating discipline that turns strategy into results. The mandate is to make the organisation execute: clear ownership, a real operating cadence, and the systems that hold under load.
What gets fixed first
- A weekly operating cadence that produces decisions, not status updates
- Single ownership and clear decision rights across the leadership team
- The handful of metrics that actually run the business
- Cost and margin discipline without cutting the parts that produce revenue
Where this works best
- Scale-ups whose growth has outrun their operating systems
- Companies integrating an acquisition
- Businesses in turnaround that need execution, not only strategy
- Founder-led companies professionalising operations
Engagement model
- Defined scope, typically six to eighteen months
- Fractional cadence available for ongoing operational leadership
- Outcome-linked compensation
- Clean handover to a permanent COO agreed upfront
How to start
Share where execution is breaking down and what the next year requires. The first step is a short diagnostic of the operating system before any longer commitment.
https://niklaslindahl.com/services/temporary-coo