Chief Operating Officer – Frozen Food Division - #518

Client Overview:

Our client is a newly established frozen-food import and distribution company operating under a diversified Indonesian business group with long-standing operations across natural resources, logistics, infrastructure, and industrial sectors. Backed by strong capital resources and established operational networks, the group is currently expanding into the frozen-food trading and cold-chain distribution industry as part of its broader diversification strategy.

The company focuses on importing raw and processed frozen food products from international suppliers to serve B2B markets across Indonesia, including HORECA, food manufacturers, distributors, modern trade, traditional trade, and other large-volume commercial buyers. As an early-stage business unit, the organization is building a scalable, compliant, and operationally efficient cold-chain ecosystem to support aggressive nationwide expansion.

Job Role:

The COO – Frozen Food Division is a strategic build-up leadership role responsible for establishing and scaling the company’s end-to-end frozen-food importation, cold-chain logistics, warehousing, and B2B distribution operations across Indonesia. Working closely with the Owner and President Director, this role will lead the operational foundation of the business from scratch, covering supply-chain design, import operations, vendor management, inventory control, food safety compliance, and nationwide distribution efficiency.

This position is ideal for a senior operations leader with strong experience in frozen-food distribution, cold-chain logistics, food importation, or FMCG supply-chain operations. The successful candidate will drive operational strategy, build organizational structures and SOPs, manage operational profitability, and ensure the company develops into a highly scalable, compliant, and commercially efficient frozen-food distribution platform.

Key Responsibilities:

• Build and manage end-to-end frozen-food importation, trading, warehousing, and distribution operations.
• Design cold-chain logistics systems including temperature-controlled storage, transportation, and inventory management processes.
• Coordinate with overseas suppliers, freight forwarders, customs brokers, cold-storage providers, and logistics partners.
• Develop operational SOPs, food handling procedures, and cold-chain quality standards.
• Ensure compliance with Indonesian food regulations, BPOM requirements, SNI standards, and import documentation processes.
• Implement QA/QC programs including product traceability, cold-chain audits, and defect monitoring.
• Monitor operational KPIs including landed cost efficiency, inventory turnover, logistics cost, waste ratio, and on-time delivery performance.
• Build and lead cross-functional operational teams covering procurement, warehouse, logistics, QA/QC, and distribution.
• Develop operational budgets, cost-control strategies, and working capital optimization initiatives.
• Establish a disciplined, scalable, and performance-driven operational culture aligned with rapid business expansion goals.

Candidate Requirements:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, Food Technology, Business, or related disciplines.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in operations, supply chain, cold-chain logistics, or frozen-food distribution industries.
• Strong hands-on experience in frozen food importation, cold-chain distribution, FMCG food supply, seafood/meat trading, or HORECA distribution.
• Proven experience building or scaling operational infrastructure for new business units, startup operations, or early-stage distribution companies.
• Strong understanding of cold-chain logistics, temperature-controlled warehousing, food safety compliance, and inventory management.
• Familiarity with BPOM regulations, HACCP, GMP, import permits, and food-related compliance standards in Indonesia.
• Strong operational finance capability including budgeting, KPI management, cost optimization, and working capital control.
• Proven leadership experience managing cross-functional operational teams and external vendor ecosystems.
• Strong problem-solving, vendor management, and project management capability.
• Hands-on, entrepreneurial, and comfortable operating in fast-moving build-up environments.
• Professional fluency in English, both spoken and written.