About the Company
Our client is a high-growth, venture-backed clean beauty brand co-founded by an A-list celebrity and an experienced entrepreneur. Their mission is to redefine beauty through premium, high-performance hair products — with a particular focus on textured hair — serving consumers, salon professionals, and major retail partners.
The business is at an exciting inflection point: scaling brand presence, deepening community engagement, and expanding across retail, salon, and international channels. They are lean, ambitious, and moving fast — and they are looking for a CEO to match that energy.
This is a rare opportunity to step into a high-visibility leadership role at the intersection of beauty, celebrity, and culture.
The Opportunity
As CEO, you will own the company's strategy end-to-end — from board-level vision to on-the-ground execution. You will work closely with the founding team to drive growth across all commercial channels: direct-to-consumer (DTC), retail, professional salon, and international distribution.
This is not a traditional CEO role. The ideal candidate is equally at home pitching investors, negotiating retail partnerships, developing launch strategies, and personally picking up the phone to place product on salon shelves. You will need to be a builder, a hustler, and a strategist — often all in the same day.
Key Responsibilities:
Strategy & Commercial Growth
- Strategic Leadership: Define and execute the company's growth strategy, balancing brand-building with operational and financial discipline.
- Go-to-Market Execution: Oversee and optimise multi-channel distribution across DTC, retail, professional salon, and international markets.
- Sales & Marketing: Drive awareness, sales, and retention through innovative marketing, storytelling, and high-impact partnership strategies.
Brand & Partnerships
- Celebrity & Talent Leverage: Collaborate directly with the celebrity co-founder to build authentic, scalable campaigns that extend reach and brand credibility.
- Retail & Ecosystem Relationships: Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with key retail partners, distributors, agencies, and salon professionals.
Finance & Operations
- Fundraising & Investor Relations: Lead capital-raising efforts and maintain transparent, data-driven communication with the board and investor community.
- Operational Oversight: Own the P&L, manage budgets, and oversee supply chain to ensure efficient and sustainable growth.
Team & Culture
- Team Building: Recruit, lead, and inspire a lean but high-performing team — setting a culture of accountability, creativity, and pace.
Ideal Candidate Profile:
Experience & Track Record
- Revenue Growth: Proven operator with a track record of scaling revenue from $5M to $20M+ in a consumer brand context.
- Industry Expertise: 10+ years of senior leadership in the beauty or personal care sector, with deep expertise in haircare — particularly for consumers of colour.
- Channel Experience: Demonstrated success across DTC, major retail accounts (Sephora, Ulta, Target), professional salon distribution, and international channels.
- Exit Experience: Has led or contributed meaningfully to a strategic exit or PE-backed growth journey.
Skills & Capabilities
- Commercial Network: A strong, active network spanning retailers, distributors, influencers, and salon professionals across the beauty ecosystem.
- Marketing Savvy: Data-driven approach to brand-building, with fluency in digital marketing, community-led growth, and modern consumer acquisition strategies.
- Celebrity & Talent Partnerships: Proven experience leveraging talent and celebrity relationships to grow brands with authenticity and commercial impact.
- Financial Acumen: Comfortable owning a P&L, building forecasts, and presenting to investors and board members.
Character & Mindset
- Entrepreneurial Drive: Thrives in fast-paced, resource-constrained environments; comfortable with ambiguity and energised by solving complex problems.
- Hands-On Execution: No task is beneath you — from refining a marketing brief to personally pitching a retail buyer or calling a salon owner.
- Leadership Presence: Ability to inspire and motivate a small team, foster accountability, and build a culture people want to be part of.
- Passion for Impact: A genuine commitment to sustainability, inclusivity, and disrupting the beauty industry for the better.
Compensation & Benefits
This is a full-time role offering a competitive base salary commensurate with experience, alongside a meaningful equity stake in a high-growth venture-backed business.
- Meaningful equity stake
- Performance-based bonus structure
- Health, wellness, and beauty product benefits
- Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
- 401(k)
Final compensation will be determined based on experience, skills, and location but will sit in a range of $150,000 - $200,000.
How to Apply
This search is being managed exclusively by Zero Hiring. To be considered for this role, please submit your CV and a brief covering note outlining your relevant experience and commercial track record.
Zero Hiring is an equal opportunity recruiter. We actively encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences.
