Chief Operating Officer

Avatar Natural Foods · São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

**Avatar Natural Foods \| Full\-time \| Remote — São Paulo, Brazil** **Reports to: Founder \& CEO, Diego Silva** **Operational scope: U.S. manufacturing facilities and Brazil\-based support teams** About Avatar Natural Foods Avatar Natural Foods is a growing U.S. food manufacturing company producing chef\-crafted frozen meals, cookies, and bakery products for retail and food\-service customers. Our business includes brands such as **Bettr Bowls, YaYa’s Kitchens, Cali Crumble, and Tuscany Cookies** , alongside private\-label and co\-manufacturing programs. We own and operate two manufacturing facilities: an approximately **70,000\-square\-foot frozen\-meal facility in Henderson, Nevada** , and an approximately **100,000\-square\-foot cookie and bakery facility in Gridley, California** . Our teams manage product development, manufacturing, quality, packaging, and fulfillment, supported by a corporate and administrative team in Brazil. As we expand our brands, customer relationships, and production capabilities, we are looking for an experienced COO to strengthen our operating structure and lead the next stage of growth. The Opportunity The COO will serve as the CEO’s operating partner and second\-in\-command, with responsibility for the company’s day\-to\-day execution and operating performance. This is a hands\-on executive role—not an advisory position. You will translate strategy into clear priorities, accountable leadership, reliable processes, and measurable results. You must be equally comfortable discussing production capacity with a plant manager, reviewing margins with finance, resolving a fulfillment issue, and developing the people responsible for execution. Working through plant managers and functional leaders, you will oversee manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, customer service, and sales operations, while providing executive oversight and coordination across finance, administration, and human resources. Although based remotely in Brazil, this position is closely connected to our U.S. operations and requires strong English communication, regular collaboration during U.S. Pacific Time business hours, and the ability to lead teams across locations. Key Responsibilities * **Lead company\-wide execution.** Turn business objectives into operating plans, budgets, priorities, and clear ownership. Establish a consistent management rhythm across facilities and departments, resolve cross\-functional obstacles, and ensure commitments are completed—not simply discussed. * **Strengthen manufacturing performance.** Lead plant managers in improving production planning, capacity utilization, labor productivity, yields, waste, equipment reliability, and cost per unit. Align staffing, materials, maintenance, and production schedules with customer demand. * **Own supply chain and customer fulfillment.** Oversee purchasing, inventory, warehouse operations, transportation, and order fulfillment. Improve coordination from order receipt through shipment and invoicing, working with finance to resolve discrepancies, deductions, and collection issues. * **Drive financial discipline.** Partner with the CEO and finance leadership on budgets, forecasts, operating profitability, working capital, and capital investments. Understand the financial impact of operational decisions and hold leaders accountable for performance against plan. * **Protect food safety, quality, and customer trust.** Lead through plant and quality teams to maintain food\-safety programs, audit readiness, product consistency, and effective corrective actions. Ensure customer complaints and recurring quality issues receive timely investigation, clear ownership, and lasting resolution. * **Build the organization for growth.** Develop leaders, clarify responsibilities, strengthen hiring and performance management, and improve coordination between U.S. operations and Brazil\-based support teams. Standardize processes, strengthen ERP adoption, and ensure launches and new customer programs are supported by realistic capacity and execution plans. What We Are Looking For We are looking for an executive who has successfully managed a complex operating business—not only an individual department—and can demonstrate measurable improvements in performance. **Core qualifications:** * Proven senior leadership experience in food manufacturing or a closely related consumer\-products manufacturing business, with responsibility for multiple functions and preferably multiple facilities. * Strong command of production operations, supply chain, inventory, logistics, and retail customer requirements, supported by meaningful P\&L, budgeting, and cost\-management experience. * A demonstrated ability to build accountable teams, develop managers, and lead organizational change in a growing, founder\-led company. * Experience using ERP systems, operating dashboards, and reliable data to improve decisions and execution. Experience with **Odoo** is a plus. * Working knowledge of