Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Stockholm | Full-time | Executive leadership team

Build the company behind the brand

Sweed is a Swedish beauty brand creating vegan and clean products with professional performance. Founded by makeup artist Gabriella Elio, Sweed combines a distinctive creative point of view with skincare-infused makeup, science-backed ingredients, and products designed to become lasting beauty staples.

As Sweed expands across categories, channels, and international markets, we are looking for a Chief Operating Officer to scale the operations of the company behind the brand. This is a rare opportunity to become the senior operating leader of a founder-led beauty business with meaningful global ambition.

The opportunity

Reporting to the Founder & CEO, you will run Sweed day to day, translate strategy into an executable operating plan, lead the leadership team, and create the structure that allows the company to scale without losing speed, quality, or creative edge.

All business functions except Finance will report to you. Your remit spans commercial, e-commerce, marketing, brand execution, operations, supply chain, customer experience, product-delivery management, regulatory and quality, people, and administration. Finance remains an independent function reporting to the CEO and Board; you will partner closely with Finance on planning, performance, cash, and controls. We are looking for someone to embody our culture of excellence and to lead the team to deliver above and beyond in every aspect of the operations. You will be the “to go to person” for the team on a day-to-day basis.

A central part of the role is enabling our Founder & CEO to focus more of her time on product innovation, brand vision, and creative direction. You will turn that vision into coordinated priorities, strong teams, disciplined launches, and measurable results. Our ambition is to position Sweed as a premium, science back beauty brand and we want that positioning to be felt in all aspects of the customer experience.

What you will own

1. Company performance. Own delivery of the operating plan across growth, gross margin, contribution margin, operating costs, inventory, customer experience, and organizational capability.

2. Leadership and accountability. Lead all non-finance function heads, set clear goals and decision rights, build a high-performing leadership team, and create a culture where commitments are visible and followed through.

3. Operating rhythm. Establish annual planning, quarterly priorities, weekly performance reviews, KPI dashboards, and rapid escalation of risks and trade-offs.

4. Commercial growth. Integrate B2B, key accounts, distributors, DTC, e-commerce, and international expansion around clear channel strategies, economics, and customer priorities.

5. Brand and growth execution. Ensure marketing, PR, influencer, social, content, and digital growth teams translate creative direction into coherent, high-performing plans across markets and channels.

6. Product launch engine. Build a stage-gated process from approved forecast, regulatory readiness, pre-launch, production, marketing plan and strategy, go-to-market, and post-launch review.

7. Supply chain and service. Strengthen demand planning, procurement, production, 3PL and logistics performance, inventory health, availability, and customer experience.

8. Scalable organization. Upgrade capabilities, roles, systems, data, and processes; use automation and AI where they genuinely improve speed, insight, and quality.

Who you are

• A senior operator with broad P&L leadership experience in beauty, premium consumer goods, fashion, or another brand-led category.

• Experienced in scaling an omnichannel business across DTC/e-commerce and retail, wholesale, or distributor channels, ideally across multiple markets.

• Commercial enough to drive growth and channel choices; operational enough to improve forecasting, margin, inventory, delivery, and execution quality.

• A strong people leader who has built teams, clarified accountability, raised performance, and made difficult decisions when needed.

• Comfortable in a founder-led company: able to protect the founder's creative advantage while creating focus, boundaries, and organizational independence.

• Highly analytical and financially literate, with the judgment to move between strategic decisions and hands-on problem solving.

• Low ego, high standards, direct communication, and genuine energy for building - not simply administering - a company.

• Fluent in English. Swedish is an advantage but not a requirement.

Experience we expect

• Typically 10+ years of relevant experience, including at least 5 years leading multiple functions or a business unit.

• Demonstrable P&L responsibility and a track record of scaling a consumer company through a meaningful growth inflection.

• Evidence of building systems, processes, and teams while preserving entrepreneurial pace.

• International operating experience and exposure to product launches, retail partnerships, and direct-to-consumer economics.

Why Sweed

• A genuine second-in-command mandate with direct access to the Founder & CEO and meaningful influence on the company's next chapter.

• A strong brand, distinctive products, international momentum, and a clear mandate to build for scale.

• A role that combines growth, brand, product, people, and operations - with visible impact from day one.

• An ambitious, entrepreneurial team based in Stockholm and working across global markets.

How to apply

Please send your CV or LinkedIn profile together with a short note addressing the three questions below. We value specific examples and measurable outcomes more than a conventional cover letter.

1. Which company or brand have you helped scale, and what changed under your leadership?

2. What operating system, process, or organizational change did you build, and what measurable result did it produce?

3. Describe a time you worked successfully with a strong founder, creative leader, or brand visionary.

Sweed is committed to an inclusive recruitment process and welcomes applicants with different backgrounds and perspectives.