Fractional COOs in Sydney Making Things Happen

Sydney Part-Time Chief Operating Officers to Know

Fractional leadership is reshaping how companies scale—and Sydney is no exception. With its vibrant startup scene, growing base of purpose-led enterprises, and increasing demand for agile executive leadership, Sydney has become a hotbed for operational talent that doesn’t require a full-time seat.

At Digital Reference, we’re dedicated to showcasing the people who are quietly powering meaningful growth behind the scenes. 

This list features some of the most compelling fractional COOs and operations consultants working in and around Sydney—leaders who embed with teams, fix what’s broken, and build systems that scale.

Our Methodology for Identifying Fractional COO Service Providers in Sydney, Australia

We use a research-based editorial approach focused on identifying the professionals’ Experience and Expertise. 

To create this Sydney-specific list, we:

• Verified that each executive is based in or actively serving the Sydney ecosystem
• Evaluated public presence, industry reputation, and depth of services
• Considered client testimonials, thought leadership, and specialty areas
• Prioritized those with clear offerings, mission alignment, and proven impact

The individuals on this list aren’t just interim operators—they’re trusted thought partners, business builders, and systems thinkers.

Joel Alderden

Fractional COO & Commercial Strategist

Bio: Joel is a seasoned operations and commercial leader who partners with supply chain and logistics firms, startups, and entrepreneurs. He helps companies refine supply chain, go-to-market, org design, and delivery systems.

Here's what Joel brings to the table:

- Over 20 years in senior finance, operations & supply chain roles, and broad commercial understanding

- Exposure to multiple markets,  geographies including Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania

Why Digital Reference featured Joel: Joel bridges strategy and operations like few others. He’s as comfortable mapping client journeys as he is redesigning internal workflows to support scale.

Brooke Sullivan

Founder, Sullivan Collective

Bio: Brooke runs Sullivan Collective, a strategic advisory firm focused on conscious leadership and operational clarity. Her practice blends business coaching with C-suite execution support.

Why she’s featured: Brooke is the operator for impact-focused founders. She brings empathy, accountability, and structure to leadership teams that want to do well and do good.

Steffi Rose

Founder, Clarity & Compass

Bio: Steffi excels in navigating the messy middle of business growth, especially in fast-moving startups and scale-ups. With a track record of supporting leadership across various industries, she brings structure to ambiguity and momentum to vision, helping teams move forward with purpose and precision.

Why she’s featured: Steffi shines in environments where people and process must move together. Steffi he is known for:

- Converting complex and overwhelming business operations into transparent, actionable processes

- Bringing calm, structure, and strategic direction to high-growth environments

- Blending systems-thinking with a values-led mindset

- Delivering operational leadership that is grounded in clarity and execution

Jarka Kunova

Founder, Designed by Life

Bio: Jarka is an award-winning leadership coach and operations advisor. Through her firm, Designed by Life, she offers services ranging from organizational alignment to executive team performance and scaling systems.

Why she’s featured: Jarka has a deep grasp of the human side of operations. She excels in founder-led companies that are feeling the friction between values and velocity. Her approach is equal parts structure and soul.

Aly Nicolau

Co-Founder, Spekd

Bio: Aly Nicolau brings over 15 years of leadership experience to the table, co-founding Spekd, a fractional operations and marketing firm. With a strong background in systems, people ops, and creative operations, Aly helps scaling businesses implement internal infrastructure without losing momentum.

Why she’s featured: Aly is a standout for her ability to translate operational chaos into scalable clarity. She’s especially effective in creative and mission-driven organizations, and her work at Spekd has helped shape a new blueprint for collaborative fractional work.

Jeff McLean

Managing Partner, Upscaled

Bio: Jeff McLean leads Upscaled, a fractional executive firm supporting Australian businesses in their growth phase. With a background in digital product, finance, and leadership, Jeff provides hands-on operational leadership to technology-forward and service-based companies.

Why he’s featured: Jeff offers a rare combination of financial acumen and startup grit. He’s frequently called into high-growth environments where speed and structure need to coexist.

Dylan Rowland

Partner, Independent Execs

Bio: With over two decades of experience in strategy and operations, Dylan is a fractional COO and strategic advisor at Independent Execs. He works across industries, including professional services, retail, and fintech.

Why he’s featured: Dylan’s superpower is embedding fast and getting results. He’s especially adept at leading cross-functional change efforts, with a track record of improving both margin and morale.

Sarah Clayton

Co-Founder, Spekd

Bio: As the other half of Spekd’s founding duo, Sarah brings expertise in creative operations, comms strategy, and process transformation. She’s worked across agency, corporate, and nonprofit settings.

Why she’s featured: Sarah is a clarity-first operator who’s brilliant at cutting through complexity and aligning people around what matters. Her approach is tactical, empathetic, and uniquely suited to fast-growing creative teams.

Michael Watkins

Fractional COO & Venture Builder

Bio: Michael works with startups and scale-ups on operations, strategy, and GTM readiness. He’s a serial founder and startup operator with a clear focus on early-stage execution.

Why he’s featured: Michael has a hands-on, founder-first mindset. He’s perfect for startups still figuring out their first hires, first systems, and first real path to scale.

Craig Harris

Fractional COO & Transformation Consultant

Bio: Craig is a systems transformation expert with deep roots in enterprise and mid-market operations. He often partners with boards and executive teams navigating process complexity or business model evolution.

Why he’s featured: Craig thrives in structured environments needing to modernize. He brings operational rigor to change management, with a proven ability to build consensus and drive execution.

Linda Fernandez

Strategic Ops Consultant

Bio: Linda has worked in both the public and private sector, bringing a compliance and stakeholder-savvy lens to her operations advisory work. She focuses on nonprofits, education, and impact-focused businesses.

Why she’s featured: Linda’s greatest strength is in aligning mission with measurement. She’s a pro at helping values-led orgs get more organized—without losing their why.

Jade Bell

Startup Operations Partner

Bio: Jade is a startup operator and fractional COO with experience in tech, SaaS, and product marketing. She’s led ops for several early-stage companies and excels at helping founders move from reactive to proactive.

Why she’s featured: Jade is the go-to when everything feels like too much. She brings calm, process, and a get-it-done attitude to otherwise chaotic growth environments.

Cortney Thomson

COO & Organizational Designer

Bio: Cortney is an experienced COO, leadership coach, and team strategist who supports organizations through scale and cultural transitions. Her work focuses on aligning people, process, and purpose.

Why she’s featured: Cortney has a big-picture view with a builder's mindset. She’s ideal for organizations making a major pivot—or just trying to bring their leadership team into lockstep.

Final Thoughts 💡

Sydney’s fractional COO community is growing—and evolving. The leaders we’ve featured here bring unique skills, perspectives, and experiences to the companies they support. Some specialize in early-stage scale, others in systems transformation or human-centered design. All of them have one thing in common: they make things happen.

At Digital Reference, we’re committed to making the world of work more transparent. These operators aren’t just names on a list—they’re the talent behind some of Australia’s most exciting businesses.

For more insights on fractional leadership, check out:

• Outsourced COO Services in Australia
• Outsourced CFO Services in Australia
• What to Look for in a Fractional COO

Know someone we should consider for a future feature? Drop us a note. We’re always looking for the next great operator to watch.

Curated by the editorial team at Digital Reference. No paid placements. All individuals independently selected based on merit.

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