Business Operations Manager

Career Overview

General and operations managers plan and direct the operations of companies, company departments or public agencies. There is some policy management in this role, but managing daily operations and allocating materials and human resources are the principal responsibilities.

A good operations manager communicates with executive management on goals and priorities and then implements those goals and priorities through daily management of personnel and resources. At the office level, office managers serve as operations managers for a small group of employees.

Required Education

Degrees in business administration are standard among operations managers in a corporate environment. For plant management and agencies such as public works, the operations manager has often broken into management from a worker's position by showing good judgment and by obtaining a degree in management to move into an eligible position.

Employment

Operations managers in large firms numbered about 1.2 million in 2007. The real figure for operations managers of all types is much larger. An operations manager is often the executive who came up through the ranks; for this type of position the employment possibilities are always going to depend on retirements and the economic health of the company.

Job Outlook

The job outlook for operations managers is keyed to the health of the industry in particular and the economy in general. In any case, it is a position that is often filled by ambitious workers moving up from entry level positions.

Salary Range

Operations managers are paid according to the size of the company and complexity of the job. It is impossible to provide an average figure; however the Department of Labor puts the mean annual salary for an executive operations manager at $123,200.