How to Build an Executive Leadership Team for a Growing Consumer Brand
Building a consumer brand is one thing. Building the leadership team capable of scaling it is another.
As a company grows, the leadership structure that worked at $5 million in revenue may not be the structure it needs at $25 million, $50 million, or beyond. Founders often reach a point where they are carrying too many responsibilities, existing leaders are stretched beyond their areas of expertise, or the business has entered a new stage that requires capabilities the current team doesn't have.
The right executive leadership team gives a growing consumer brand the expertise, accountability, and strategic perspective needed to navigate its next stage of growth.
But building that team isn't simply about filling open positions. It's about identifying the capabilities the business needs, understanding where the current team has gaps, and hiring leaders who can solve today's challenges while preparing the company for what's next.
What Is an Executive Leadership Team?
An executive leadership team is the group of senior leaders responsible for setting company strategy, making critical business decisions, and leading the organization toward its growth objectives.
Depending on the company's size, structure, and goals, an executive leadership team may include a:
CEO or President
Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
Chief Sales or Commercial Officer
E-commerce or Digital leader
Supply Chain or Operations leader
People or Human Resources leader
Not every consumer brand needs all of these roles at the same time. The right structure depends on the company's stage, business model, growth strategy, and most pressing challenges.
The goal is not to build the biggest executive team. It's to build the right leadership team for the business you're becoming.
When Should a Consumer Brand Start Building Its Leadership Team?
There is no single revenue threshold or milestone that determines when a company should start building its executive team. A more useful question is:
What has become too complex for the current leadership team to manage effectively?
A growing consumer brand may need to expand its executive team when:
The founder is managing too many functions personally.
Revenue is growing faster than the existing team can support.
The company is entering new retail, e-commerce, or distribution channels.
Operations and supply chain have become significantly more complex.
The company is preparing to raise capital or has recently raised capital.
Financial planning and reporting require more sophisticated leadership.
The business needs to build a more scalable organizational structure.
Existing leaders are being asked to operate outside their core expertise.
The company is preparing for a significant new stage of growth.
In these situations, adding an executive isn't simply about reducing the existing executive team’s workload. The right leader should add a capability, perspective, and level of experience that the business needs to move forward.
What Executive Roles Does a Growing Consumer Brand Need?
The leadership structure of a consumer company should reflect its specific growth priorities. Some brands may need stronger operational leadership, while others may need to prioritize commercial growth, finance, marketing, or e-commerce.
CEO
The CEO is responsible for setting the overall direction of the company, aligning the leadership team, and ensuring the business is positioned for long-term growth.
For founder-led brands, the CEO role may initially be held by the founder. As the company grows, founders may eventually need to determine whether they should continue operating as CEO or bring in an experienced executive to lead the business through its next stage.
Chief Operating Officer
A COO can become increasingly important as a consumer business grows more complex. The role oversees operations, supply chain, processes, organizational infrastructure, and execution across the business. An experienced COO can provide the operational leadership needed to scale.
Chief Financial Officer
A CFO becomes particularly valuable as financial complexity increases. Beyond managing financial reporting, a strong CFO can help leadership understand the economics of the business, plan for growth, manage capital, evaluate investments, and make more informed strategic decisions.
Chief Marketing Officer
For consumer brands, marketing and brand building are often central to growth. A CMO can lead brand strategy, marketing, consumer acquisition, positioning, and the broader development of the company's relationship with its customers. The right CMO should understand both the company's brand and the commercial realities of its growth strategy.
Chief Sales Officer
As a consumer brand expands distribution, retail relationships, or other revenue channels, sales leadership can become critical. A senior sales or commercial leader can help build revenue strategy, manage key accounts, expand distribution, and create the systems required to scale the company's commercial organization.
E-commerce and Digital Leadership
For brands where direct-to-consumer and digital channels are central to growth, e-commerce leadership may become a critical component of the executive team. This leader may oversee digital commerce strategy, customer acquisition, online merchandising, and the broader performance of the brand's digital business.
Supply Chain and Operations Leadership
Consumer brands face unique operational demands as they scale. Manufacturing, inventory, fulfillment, sourcing, and distribution can become increasingly complex as volume and channel mix grow. In some organizations, these responsibilities sit under a COO. In others, they may warrant dedicated senior leadership.
Which Executive Should a Founder Hire First?
There is no universal answer. The first executive hire should address the largest leadership gap standing between the company and its next stage of growth. For example:
Increasing operational complexity → COO
Financial complexity or capital planning → CFO
Brand and consumer growth → CMO
Retail or revenue expansion → Sales/commercial leader
Digital and e-commerce growth → E-commerce/digital leader
The key is to avoid hiring based solely on title or what another company has done. A CPG company doesn't necessarily need a CFO because it reached a certain revenue number. A founder doesn't necessarily need a COO because the company is growing quickly. Instead, leadership hiring should start with the question:
What does this business need to be able to do next that it cannot do effectively today?
That answer should inform the role.
How Should a Leadership Team Evolve as a Consumer Brand Scales?
Leadership teams should evolve alongside the business. Early-stage companies often rely on a small group of versatile leaders who wear multiple hats. As the organization grows, those responsibilities become more specialized and the business requires greater depth of expertise. A useful way to think about this progression is:
Stage 1: Founder-led
The founder and a small leadership group manage multiple functions and make most strategic decisions.
Stage 2: Functional leadership
The company begins adding experienced leaders in areas such as marketing, operations, finance, and sales.
Stage 3: Executive leadership
As the business becomes more complex, functional leaders take greater ownership and the executive team becomes responsible for coordinating the organization's broader strategy.
Stage 4: Scaled leadership
The leadership team operates with clear accountability, complementary expertise, and the ability to lead the organization without the founder being the decision-maker for every major function.
The transition between these stages is rarely perfectly linear. Different businesses will need different leadership capabilities at different times.
How Do You Identify Leadership Gaps?
Before hiring an executive, companies should evaluate the leadership capabilities they already have.
Start by asking:
What are our biggest growth objectives?
What capabilities will we need to achieve them?
Who currently owns those capabilities?
Where are we relying too heavily on the founder?
Where is the existing team stretched beyond its expertise?
What capabilities will become more important over the next 12–24 months?
This helps separate a true leadership gap from a simple workload problem. For example, if a founder is spending too much time on operations, the answer isn't automatically a COO. The business may need a different executive depending on why the founder is spending that time there and what the company needs next.
Define the business challenge first. Define the executive role second.
What Makes an Effective Executive Leadership Team?
A strong executive team is more than a collection of impressive resumes. The most effective leadership teams bring together complementary expertise, shared strategic priorities, and clear accountability.
The most effective teams consist of leaders who:
Have relevant functional expertise.
Understand the consumer industry and its dynamics.
Have successfully operated at a similar stage of growth.
Can demonstrate measurable business impact.
Know how to build and lead high-performing teams.
Can operate effectively in a changing environment.
Complement the strengths and weaknesses of the existing leadership team.
Align with the company's culture and long-term objectives.
The best candidate on paper isn't always the best executive for the business. A leader who succeeded at a large, highly structured company may not be the right fit for a rapidly growing founder-led brand. Likewise, someone with deep startup experience may not have the operational experience required for a more mature organization. Context matters.
When Should You Bring in an Executive Search Firm?
Executive search can be particularly valuable when a company is hiring for a business-critical leadership position where the quality of the hire can significantly influence growth.
A specialized executive search partner can help a company:
Define the leadership profile.
Identify the capabilities the business actually needs.
Map the relevant talent market.
Access passive executive candidates.
Evaluate candidates against the company's specific needs.
Provide an objective perspective on leadership talent.
Manage a confidential or highly targeted search.
Unlike traditional recruiting, executive search is proactive and highly targeted, including outreach to qualified executives who may not be actively looking for a new position. For consumer companies, industry expertise is particularly important. Leaders need to understand the dynamics of consumer behavior, retail, e-commerce, distribution, brand building, and the pace of the industry.
The Fairfield Partners Perspective
At Fairfield Partners, we look at a company's growth objectives, organizational structure, business model, culture, and the capabilities required to reach its next stage. The goal isn't simply to fill an executive position. It's to identify the leadership gap that matters most and find an executive who can make a meaningful impact.
With 20+ years of specialized executive search experience, Fairfield Partners takes a targeted approach to leadership hiring, with two partners managing every step of your search.
For growing consumer brands, that means looking beyond the job description to understand the business behind the search, and the leader the company will need next.
Key Takeaways
Building an executive leadership team is an evolution, not a one-time hiring exercise.
The right approach is to:
Identify the company's next stage of growth.
Determine which capabilities are required to get there.
Assess the strengths and gaps within the existing leadership team.
Prioritize the leadership gap with the greatest business impact.
Define the role around business needs rather than a predetermined title.
Look for executives with relevant functional, industry, and growth-stage experience.
Build a complementary leadership team rather than a collection of individual executives.
Reassess the leadership structure as the company continues to scale.
The strongest consumer brands don't just build great products. They build the leadership teams capable of turning growth opportunities into sustainable businesses.
Looking to build your next leadership team?
Fairfield Partners helps consumer brands identify and recruit the executives they need to reach their next stage of growth, from C-suite leaders to critical functional executives.
