Join the Team
Fractional COO Partner
If you're a seasoned operator who's been running your own fractional practice and you're ready to stop doing your own business development, managing your own back office, and building your methodology in isolation — read on.
We're looking for one exceptional fractional COO to grow alongside us as a delivery partner. You'll run client engagements autonomously under the Artful Concern brand, with deal flow, infrastructure, and a co-developed methodology behind you.
What Artful Concern does
We partner with ambitious, exit-curious business owners ($5M–$30M, profitable) who are serious about maximizing the value of their business. Every engagement is designed to validate three outcomes:
More owner time — reduce owner dependency so the business runs without them
More revenue — increase sales and validate new offerings
More profit — integrate technology and streamline processes to scale delivery
We do this through a structured approach: we build a financial model to quantify assumptions, map the owner's business end-to-end to identify constraints and opportunities, and then design and execute hypotheses to move the needle on the outcomes that matter most.
Our clients aren't looking for a consultant who hands them a deck. They want a hands-on partner who owns the outcome and isn't afraid to tell them when they're getting in their own way.
How you’ll partner with our founder
This is important to understand before you apply.
Alicia is not your manager. She is your thought partner. Once an engagement is yours, it's yours.
Specifically:
During business development: Alicia leads the sales process and brings you in to jointly pitch. Prospects choose you — not just the firm.
At engagement launch: Alicia is involved in onboarding to establish the relationship and set strategic direction.
During delivery: You own the engagement entirely. Alicia is available as a quarterly strategic sounding board and for escalations — but she is not in the room week to week. You may decide to leverage sub-contractors for delivery.
On methodology: This is a co-creation. Artful Concern has battle-tested frameworks and proven tools. Your job includes helping codify them into something scalable. You'll leave a mark on how this firm operates.
If you need someone checking your work or telling you what to do next, this isn't the right fit.
What we're offering you
Deal flow. You focus on delivery. We handle business development and bring you into the right opportunities.
Emerging methodology. Battle-tested frameworks that are proven in client engagements — and a partner who wants to build them out with you, not hand you a rigid playbook.
Brand and infrastructure. Back office, tools, admin support, and a brand that opens doors with the right clients.
Real economics. This is a revenue share partnership. Serious operators earn serious income. We'll share full details with shortlisted candidates.
A peer, not a boss. You'll have autonomy over your engagements and a thought partner for the hard moments.
Ideal Partner
You have:
Held an operational leadership role (COO, VP Operations, General Manager, or equivalent) inside a small or mid-size privately owned business — ideally under $50M revenue — where you were directly accountable for growing revenue, improving profitability, and reducing founder/owner/CXO dependency
Been running your own independent fractional or consulting practice for at least 2 years
Worked in zero-to-one or early-growth environments where you built systems and teams from scratch, not inherited them
Worked with business owners directly — not just corporate executives or institutional leadership teams
You are:
A grey space operator. You take a loose strategic idea and turn it into a concrete, executed plan — without hand-holding.
High-fact, high-follow-through. You are obsessive about outcomes and can prove it with metrics.
Approachable, not corporate. You don't use acronyms with people who've never worked in a big company. You make owners feel like partners, not students.
Comfortable being the bad cop. You can hold a client accountable, push back on scope creep, and have the hard conversation — diplomatically and without flinching.
A builder. You're energized by the idea of helping shape a methodology, not just executing someone else's.
This is not the right fit if
You need a fully documented playbook before you can get started
You've only worked with enterprise or corporate clients
You want a predictable salary and defined hours
You're not comfortable with revenue-based compensation
How to apply
We keep our process simple and respectful of your time. We ask for a short application — your background, three engagement examples, and one written response to a question about our business. No cover letter needed.
The candidates who make it to a conversation with Alicia will be people who had a strong, clear point of view in that written response. We're looking for someone who pushes back thoughtfully — starting with us.