How to Build a Leadership Team for a Scaling CPG Brand
Building a leadership team is one of the biggest organizational challenges facing a growing CPG brand. The team that works at $5 million in revenue may look very different at $25 million, and the structure needed to scale to $100 million requires another evolution.
The right CPG leadership team doesn't simply add more executives as the company grows. It evolves alongside the business, moving from a founder-led organization to functional leadership, then to a more sophisticated executive team with clear ownership across the organization. So, how should a CPG leadership team evolve as a company scales?
How a CPG Leadership Team Should Evolve
Most scaling consumer brands move through four broad stages:
Founder-led → Functional leaders → Executive team → Scaled organization
The exact revenue thresholds will vary, but the organizational challenges tend to follow a similar pattern.
Stage 1: Founder-Led Organization
In the early stages, founders typically own multiple functions. They may oversee sales, marketing, product, operations, finance, hiring, and fundraising themselves.
At this stage, the priority is usually not building a large executive team. It's finding strong functional talent who can take ownership of specific areas of the business. The leadership structure may look something like:
CEO / Founder
Sales
Marketing
Operations
Finance
Product
People
Some of these functions may be handled by individual employees, agencies, consultants, or fractional executives. The biggest organizational risk at this stage is not having too few executives. It's having too much founder dependency. As the business grows, founders need to transition from doing the work to building a team that can own the work.
Stage 2: Add Functional Leaders
As a CPG company develops meaningful revenue and begins scaling its channels, founders can no longer effectively manage every function. This is when functional leadership becomes increasingly important. Instead of the founder directly managing every department, the company may begin hiring leaders for areas such as:
Sales
Marketing
Operations or Supply Chain
Finance
Product
People
These don't all need to be C-suite executives immediately. For example, a growing brand may hire a VP of Sales before it needs a Chief Revenue Officer, or a Controller before it needs a CFO. The goal is to match the seniority of the hire to the complexity of the business
Stage 3: Build the Executive Leadership Team
As the organization becomes more complex, functional leaders increasingly need to operate as an executive leadership team, rather than as independent department heads.
At this stage, the CEO should be spending less time managing individual functions and more time setting company strategy, developing the leadership team, managing key relationships, and allocating resources. A typical scaling CPG executive team might include:
CEO
CFO / Finance
COO / Operations
CMO / Marketing
Chief Sales Officer or VP of Sales
Product / Innovation
People / HR
Not every brand needs all of these roles. The appropriate structure depends on the company's business model, channels, growth rate, and strategic priorities.
Stage 4: Build a Scaled Organization
At larger CPG companies, executives can no longer directly manage every team or decision. The organization begins developing layers of leadership underneath the executive team, such as:
CEO
→ Executive Leadership Team
→ VPs / Functional Leaders
→ Directors
→ Managers & Individual Contributors
At this point, the question changes from "Who should we hire next?" to "What organizational structure will allow the company to scale effectively?" This is where clear reporting lines, decision-making authority, KPIs, and leadership accountability become especially important.
What Should a CPG Org Chart Look Like?
There is no single ideal CPG organizational structure. A digitally native brand with a primarily DTC business will have different needs than a brand rapidly expanding into grocery, mass retail, and club. However, a common structure for a scaling consumer brand looks like:
CEO
→ Sales / Revenue — retail, wholesale, distributors, key accounts
→ Marketing — brand, growth, digital, communications
→ Operations — supply chain, manufacturing, logistics
→ Finance — accounting, FP&A, cash management
→ Product / Innovation — R&D, new product development
→ People — talent, culture, organizational development
The CEO should not necessarily have all of these functions reporting directly to them forever. As the organization grows, it may make sense to create a second layer of leadership. For example, a COO may oversee operations, supply chain, and potentially other execution-heavy functions, while the CFO owns finance and the CMO owns marketing.
The right org chart should reflect how the company actually operates — not simply replicate the structure of a much larger CPG company.
When Should a CPG Brand Hire a COO?
A COO for a CPG company can become valuable when operational complexity begins to compete with the CEO's ability to lead the business strategically.
Signs that a brand may need a COO include:
Operations span multiple manufacturers, warehouses, or distribution partners
Inventory and supply chain management have become increasingly complex
The company is expanding rapidly into retail
Cross-functional execution is becoming difficult
The CEO is spending too much time managing day-to-day operations
Multiple departments need stronger coordination
The company needs an executive focused on translating strategy into execution
A COO isn't simply a more senior operations manager. The right COO should be able to connect different parts of the organization and build the systems required to execute the company's growth strategy. For some brands, that means overseeing supply chain and operations. For others, the COO may own a much broader portion of the organization.
When Should a CPG Brand Hire a CFO?
A growing brand typically needs CFO-level leadership when financial complexity starts requiring strategic expertise rather than simply stronger accounting.
A Controller may be the right hire when the priority is financial reporting, accounting processes, compliance, and financial controls.
A CFO for a CPG brand becomes increasingly valuable when the company is dealing with:
Rapid revenue growth
Increasing working capital requirements
Retail expansion and longer payment cycles
Complex forecasting and financial modeling
Institutional investors or a formal board
Fundraising
M&A or exit preparation
Increasingly complex channel and margin analysis
The timing varies by company. A $20 million CPG brand with significant retail complexity may need a CFO sooner than a $30 million brand with a simpler business model.
For a deeper look at the decision, see When Should a CPG Brand Hire a CFO?
When Should a CPG Brand Hire a CMO?
Marketing is often one of the first functions founders build, but the need for a CMO in a CPG company changes significantly as the brand grows. Early-stage founders may work directly with a small marketing team or outside agency. As the company expands, marketing can become increasingly fragmented across brand, performance, ecommerce, social, creative, communications, and innovation.
A CMO may become necessary when:
Marketing has multiple specialized teams
The brand is expanding across channels
The company needs a cohesive brand and growth strategy
Marketing investment has become significant
The CEO is acting as the primary marketing decision-maker
The company needs an executive to connect brand strategy with commercial growth
The right CMO should be able to operate beyond individual marketing channels. For a scaling CPG company, that often means understanding the relationship between brand, consumer demand, retail growth, innovation, and revenue.
When Should a CPG Brand Hire a VP of Sales?
For many CPG brands, sales leadership becomes critical before the company needs a full executive team. A VP of Sales can make sense when the founder is no longer able to personally manage retail relationships, distributors, brokers, and the broader sales strategy.
This can happen when a brand is:
Expanding into new retail accounts
Managing a growing wholesale business
Working with multiple brokers or distributors
Building a national retail strategy
Negotiating increasingly significant retailer relationships
Establishing a formal sales organization
The right sales leader should have experience with the specific channels and retailers that matter to the company's next stage of growth. Dive deeper into this question by reading When Should a Growing CPG Brand Hire a VP of Sales?
Which Functions Should Report to the CEO?
There is no universal answer, but the CEO's direct reports should generally be the leaders responsible for the company's most critical strategic functions.
For a scaling CPG brand, that might include:
CFO
COO
CMO
VP of Sales / Chief Sales Officer
Chief Product or Innovation Officer
As the company grows, some of these functions may sit under other executives. For example, a COO might oversee supply chain, operations, and customer service. A Chief Commercial Officer might oversee both sales and marketing. A CFO might oversee finance, accounting, and FP&A. The goal is not to minimize or maximize the CEO's number of direct reports. It's to create a structure where accountability is clear and the CEO can focus on the highest-value decisions.
How Do You Avoid Hiring Executives Too Early?
One of the most common mistakes scaling brands make is hiring an executive because the company feels like it "should" have one. Executive hiring should be driven by business complexity, not titles.
Before hiring a C-level executive, ask:
Is the function complex enough to require executive-level leadership?
If not, a director, VP, or fractional leader may be a better fit.
Will this person own a meaningful business function?
An executive should have real decision-making authority, not simply a senior title.
Can the business support the role?
Executive compensation is a significant investment. The company should have a clear reason for making that investment now.
Does the company need this expertise internally?
Some capabilities can be effectively outsourced or supported by agencies and fractional executives. Others become core enough to require an internal leader.
What will this person need to build?
The best executive hires aren't just managing what already exists. They are building the systems, teams, and capabilities the company will need next.
The Best Leadership Team Is Built for the Next Stage
Building a leadership team for a scaling CPG brand isn't about checking boxes on an organizational chart. The strongest teams are built around the company's next stage of growth. A founder may need a VP of Sales today, a CFO as the business becomes more financially complex, and eventually a COO as the organization expands. Another brand may need an operations leader first because supply chain is its biggest constraint.
There is no universal CPG executive hiring sequence. The right leadership structure depends on the company's revenue, growth rate, channels, operational complexity, capital structure, and long-term goals. That's why executive hiring should be treated as a strategic decision, not simply a recruiting exercise.
Building Your CPG Leadership Team
At Fairfield Partners, we specialize in executive search for high-growth consumer brands. Since 2005, we've helped companies build leadership teams across food, beverage, supplements, personal care, pet care, and other consumer categories.
Our work focuses on identifying executives who can do more than fill a role. We look for leaders with the functional expertise, industry experience, and growth-stage perspective needed to help a company move into its next phase.
Whether you're hiring your first senior functional leader or building out an established executive leadership team, Fairfield Partners can help you identify the right leaders for where your business is going next.
Looking to build your CPG leadership team? Talk to Fairfield Partners about your executive search.
