8 COO and Operations Recruiters to Consider

When you hire a COO, you’re choosing someone to take responsibility for how your business runs. You need a leader who can manage people, solve operational problems and turn plans into results. A search firm can help you find experienced candidates and assess whether they are right for the role.

This guide compares eight firms that recruit COOs and senior operations leaders. It explains who they work with, what they offer and what to ask before choosing a search partner.

Compare the firms

Firm profiles

Industry specialists

4 of 8 firms

Glocap Search

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Glocap Search website, captured October 2026.View source (opens in a new tab)

Potential fit

Investment firms hiring an operations leader

Scope

Adjacent coverage: Accounting & Operations within staff-to-C-suite recruiting; COO is not named on the pages read.

Glocap's business professional practice lists accounting and operations among its functions and recruits from individual contributors through the C-suite. The search business works primarily in investment management; it was founded in 1997 by people from finance.

That combination makes it relevant to a fund hiring someone to lead its business operations. Establish who would handle your search and what comparable operations leadership appointments that person has made.

Ask first

How would you distinguish a fund COO candidate from someone whose experience is mainly in fund accounting?

Sources

Business professional recruiting (opens in a new tab)About Glocap (opens in a new tab)

Kaplan Partners

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Kaplan Partners website, captured October 2026.View source (opens in a new tab)

Potential fit

Banks and financial institutions considering an external hire or internal promotion

Scope

COO appears in a combined CEO/President/COO specialty; services include internal candidate assessment.

Kaplan Partners reported 77 successful bank president/CEO/COO succession assignments in founder Alan Kaplan's September 18, 2021 convention presentation. That historical count combines all three roles.

The firm recruits for financial institutions and assesses prospective internal C-suite candidates. It says its senior leaders do “100% of the work” on searches; its methodology names Predictive Index and Hogan assessments.

Ask first

How would you assess our internal candidate against the external market, and who would lead that work?

Sources

Services (opens in a new tab)Industries and roles (opens in a new tab)Assessment methodology (opens in a new tab)Alan Kaplan's 2021 presentation (opens in a new tab)

Martin Alexander Executive Search

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Martin Alexander Executive Search website, captured October 2026.View source (opens in a new tab)

Potential fit

Security, fire and building automation companies

Scope

Adjacent C-suite, officer and operations leadership recruiting; COO is not named on the pages read.

Martin Alexander lists C-suite and officer roles alongside operations directors and managers in electronic security, fire protection and building automation. Its site describes a focus on these industries since 1997 and recruiting across all 50 states from a Denver headquarters.

The team includes former industry sales and operations managers. For an integrator hiring a senior operations leader, that background is a reason to explore the fit and request comparable COO assignments. Recruiting technicians or project managers is a different task from appointing the executive who leads them.

Ask first

Can you walk us through a COO or equivalent operations leadership search for a business like ours?

Sources

Recruiting coverage (opens in a new tab)Team and background (opens in a new tab)

Micann Services

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Micann Services website, captured October 2026.View source (opens in a new tab)

Potential fit

Community hospitals and healthcare facilities, including rural employers

Scope

COO among permanent healthcare recruitment roles; relocation support.

Micann lists COOs among its executive roles. Anne Rell founded the firm in 1999 to serve community and critical access hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Its relocation support covers housing, schools and spouse employment.

Micann says it combines “the focus and attention of a retained recruiting firm” with “the results of contingency search.” The services page does not say when Micann's fee would be due for your assignment. Most of its assignments are exclusive, and it offers discounted fees for exclusive searches; ask for the terms in writing.

Ask first

How do you assess a COO candidate's willingness to relocate and stay in a community like ours?

Sources

About Micann (opens in a new tab)Recruiting services (opens in a new tab)

Firms recruiting across industries

4 of 8 firms

Alpha Apex Group

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Co-founded by Jake Jorgovan, the author

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Alpha Apex Group website, captured October 2026.View source (opens in a new tab)

Potential fit

A permanent COO search, with interim cover to discuss if needed

Scope

Named COO search service across industries; separate interim and fractional executive recruitment.

Alpha Apex Group's COO page, read in September 2026, reports more than 2,000 candidate placements worldwide and a 43-day average time-to-fill for full-time hires. Neither figure is specific to COO searches, and the page does not say what point ends the 43 days. Its COO service names process improvement, change management and technology integration among the experience it seeks in operational leaders.

The firm also places interim and fractional executives, although that service page does not name the COO role. If you need cover during a permanent search, confirm the remit and agree how the interim leader would hand over.

Ask first

If we need interim cover, how would you manage the handover to the permanent COO?

Sources

COO executive search (opens in a new tab)Interim and fractional executives (opens in a new tab)

JM Search

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JM Search website, captured October 2026.View source (opens in a new tab)

Potential fit

Private equity-backed and other growth-oriented companies

Scope

Retained search; its operations, supply chain and procurement practice lists COO first among the roles it assesses.

ACI Learning CEO Brett Shively credits JM Search with filling several key positions in a testimonial on its operations page. The testimonial does not identify the roles.

The practice explicitly includes COOs, and its team includes former C-level executives. JM Search serves private equity-backed, private and public companies. Give the proposed partner your growth or ownership plan and ask for searches with comparable demands.

Ask first

How would you assess whether a candidate can deliver our acquisition integration or growth plan?

Sources

Operations and COO search (opens in a new tab)JM Search (opens in a new tab)

Odgers

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Odgers website, captured October 2026.View source (opens in a new tab)

Potential fit

International executive search; confirm which team would run a COO search in your market

Scope

Named COO page on its Denmark manufacturing site; a 2024 COO search for an international nonprofit.

Odgers reports 4,900 searches completed globally over a three-year period, across all roles, drawing on partners and teams in 33 countries. Its published COO evidence is narrower. In 2024 it ran the COO search for the Forest Stewardship Council, an international nonprofit, with two partners from its Not-for-Profit practice as the contacts. Its Denmark site also has a COO page covering manufacturing recruitment for multinational groups, mid-sized industrials and private equity-backed companies.

For a search in another market, confirm which team would lead it, what COO searches that team has run and which markets it can cover.

Ask first

How would you widen our candidate pool internationally, and which markets would you prioritize?

Sources

Executive search (opens in a new tab)COO recruitment (Denmark site) (opens in a new tab)2024 Forest Stewardship Council COO brief (opens in a new tab)

Russell Reynolds Associates

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Russell Reynolds Associates website, captured October 2026.View source (opens in a new tab)

Potential fit

Companies planning COO succession

Scope

Named COO succession service alongside operations and supply chain executive search.

Russell Reynolds Associates reports 550+ C-level operations and supply chain leadership engagements over a five-year period.

Its COO succession service assesses internal and external candidates and supports leadership transitions. The firm recommends beginning succession planning three to five years before an anticipated COO transition. That is a development horizon, not the time needed to fill a vacancy.

Ask first

How would you compare the readiness of our internal successors with candidates from outside the company?

Sources

Operations and supply chain search (opens in a new tab)COO succession (opens in a new tab)

How to choose a COO search firm

Start with the work the new COO needs to do, then look for a search team that understands it. Industry knowledge matters, but so does experience with your company's size, ownership and immediate operating challenges.

1. 1

   Define the job before judging the candidates

   I learned this through my own operations hires, as I described in a May 2025 interview (opens in a new tab). I had a project manager trying to act as the COO and had not developed a clear enough understanding of the systems the business needed. My next operations hire worked well because I had built some basic systems and knew what I was looking for.

   For your search, describe where work is breaking down, what the COO will own and which decisions the CEO will hand over. The search firm can help refine that brief, but it needs something more specific than “make operations run better.” If the responsibilities are still unclear, start with what a COO should own.

2. 2

   Test the proposed team's experience

   Ask the consultants who would do the work to describe comparable assignments. Listen for the operating problem, the kind of candidate they found and the way they assessed that person. A hospital search and a fund operations search require different knowledge, even when both hires carry the COO title.

   Request client references where confidentiality permits, and ask what the search team did when an assignment became difficult.

3. 3

   Consider internal candidates and interim cover

   In the first half of 2026, 60 of 73 incoming COOs (82%) at listed companies across 10 stock indices were internal appointments, according to the Global COO Turnover Index (opens in a new tab) published by Russell Reynolds, one of the firms in this guide. The data covers listed companies only, so it is not a benchmark for private or PE-backed businesses.

   If someone inside the company could step into the role, make that part of the assignment. Ask how the firm would assess internal and external candidates against the same requirements, and who will make the final decision.

   If the role is vacant and cannot wait for a permanent hire, consider interim and fractional COO options. Clarify whether you need temporary full-time leadership or ongoing part-time support before approaching providers.

Prepare a brief the firms can work from

A short written brief helps you compare the firms' responses and see which team understands the assignment. Define success in the first 90 days: for a COO, that might include taking ownership of specified functions and agreeing measures of progress.

Use the first calls to test how well each firm understands this brief. The strongest conversation should leave you clearer about the role, the candidate market and the search you would be paying for.

Agree the fees, timetable and support

Ask each firm for a written proposal based on the same brief. None of these firms publishes a COO fee, guarantee or replacement term on the pages read. Compare the total fee, the work included and the payment schedule for your assignment.

The Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC), the trade body for executive search and leadership consulting firms, describes a retainer and further payments at agreed times or milestones (opens in a new tab). Its guide advocates that model. Establish what you would owe even if no one is hired.

Exclusivity means one firm handles the assignment. Agree its duration and the conditions for ending it, alongside the payment terms. For a fuller explanation of the options, see how executive search fees work.

Before signing, get clear answers to these questions:

AESC says executive searches can take a few weeks to several months, depending on the role and availability of talent. AESC does not say whether that range ends at a shortlist, an accepted offer or a start date, and it is not specific to COOs. Ask each firm to estimate each stage separately, including notice periods and relocation.