u/Career_Advise_Toss

Firstly, thanks for taking the time to read. Secondly, this is a throwaway account because individuals in my org know my OG username.

Some background: I am a young chief operating officer (late 20s) at a regional real estate development and custom homebuilding firm (~30 employees, ~$20MM in annual revenue) in the Southeastern USA. TC for my position in the company lands right around $200,000 + variable bonus based on company performance. I've been in the position now for about 18 months.

Six months after I stepped into this position, the owner/CEO (50s, M) completely checked out from day-to-day operations due to some unfortunate personal circumstances. As a result, much of the company’s operational leadership has fallen to myself and the CFO (40s, M). We’ve had to take on responsibilities well beyond our original scope-- strategic planning, deal negotiations, operational oversight, and keeping projects moving without much executive direction.

Despite the challenges, the business has performed really well during this period. We exceeded prior-year revenue and margins this last year and just completed a major development project months ahead of schedule. Due to some surprising market demand for the kind of homes we build, we're currently on track to have one of the best years the company has ever had.

The problem is that both the CFO and I are completely burned out. I’m a young father with a two-year-old daughter and another child on the way. The job this last year has been all-consuming. What used to be 60–80 hour work weeks has ballooned into nearly 100-hour weeks on a consistent basis. It’s begun to seriously impact my family life, health, and other obligations, including ministry responsibilities through my church.

Last month, our CEO informed us that he did not intend to return to active involvement in the business. After discussing it together, the CFO and I scheduled a meeting with him to raise concerns about burnout and discuss possible long-term leadership solutions — whether through expanding the executive team or bringing in additional operational support to distribute the workload more sustainably.

The conversation went very poorly and ultimately ended with him essentially telling both of us: “This is what I pay you for. If you can’t handle it, quit.”

So I'm looking to do that, but I'm not really sure how I can move to the next step. I'm very young for my position and don't have a traditional background that would support me making a lateral move to another company. I have a BA in Political Science and Economics from a good state school and have about 6 years of working experience-- mostly in compliance and operational optimization. I've had a successful exit from a company I started in college, which led me to network into the position that I have now which is in a completely unrelated industry to the business I began. I'm not eager to start a new company and have really enjoyed the stability that comes from a W-2. I'd like to stay on the operations side of the business and would be willing to step into a Director or VP position so long as it kept me in the 180K-250K pay range. At this point, I don't know if I have the years to support a transition to another real estate/construction company and the work I did in my previous industry is largely being eaten up by AI. I am really good at running businesses and growing revenue and margins. I'm not picky about the industry. Preferrably, I'd not want to be in a start-up space but would land somewhere in a business that's more established and mid-large in size with room to grow. Where does one look for this kind of work/position? What kinds of opportunities should I be looking for? What industries would support this kind of path? I assume it's not something I'd find on the job boards (though I've started applying on them). I've been putting feelers out in my network to see if anyone knows of something, but so far haven't been getting responses back. Any suggestions you have I would be grateful to hear!

Abbreviated Resume:

Current Role – COO (2024–Present)

• Lead operations, development, and project execution for a regional real estate development and custom homebuilding firm (~$20MM annual revenue)
• Oversaw a ~$10MM development project from acquisition through construction and operational launch
• Increased topline revenue nearly 20% YoY while improving EBITDA and operational performance
• Manage budgeting, forecasting, permitting, contractor/vendor negotiations, and cross-functional execution

Previous Business – Founder/Owner (successful exit)

• Built and scaled an operational consulting business focused on compliance, systems, and organizational scaling
• Helped scale a boutique technology company to ~$2MM revenue, contributing to a successful ~$5MM exit
• Grew from a solo operation into a 10-person team supporting organizations ranging from ~$200MM–$500MM in annual revenue

Previous Experience – Compliance & Operations

• Managed operational systems and reporting for a global organization operating across 50 markets and supporting $200MM+ in annual revenue
• Led teams, KPI/reporting systems, and operational optimization initiatives across international markets
• Managed Mandarin-speaking markets directly in Mandarin

Other:

• Board member/treasurer for an international educational nonprofit
• English + professional Mandarin proficiency
• B.A. Political Science & Economics

Thanks for taking the time to read through this, I appreciate your help and feedback!