Operations Manager Job Description

An operations manager is usually the second highest position in an organization reporting only to the CEO or Executive Director, and is often someone with an extensive and diverse amount of experience and an appropriate education. The operations manager job description touches on all facets of the organization. Often everyone in the organization reports to the operations manager. The heads of all departments directly report while all employees are his responsibility.

Key Responsibilities of an Operations Manager

Following are some of the key areas or responsibility:

• Financial management: The operations manager supervises all accounting and financial management staff and is responsible for the budget planning and execution. While not an accountant he needs to be able to analyze financial reports and make all budget decisions.
• Human resources management: The operations manager oversees all staff hiring and firing. He signs all staff contracts and develops employee handbooks and regulations. The operations manager sets the salary and benefits packages for the organization.
• Annual plans: The operations manager ensures all departments develop annual plans and budgets that meet the organizational goals for the coming year. He ensures proper reporting and evaluation procedures are in place. He manages this process during the year.
• Partnerships and contracts: the operations manager often negotiates all partnerships with outside organizations as well as with vendors. He oversees and signs the contracts and ensures their proper execution.
• Organizational structure: The operations manager develops the employee organogram that sets the optimal use of staff and managers to achieve organizational goals. This includes change management when any restructuring is needed due to new directions or budgetary constraints.
• Facilities and property management: The operations manager is responsible for all company facilities and locations of operation. This includes supplies and furniture as well as responsibility for property leases. He ensures facilities are well maintained and adequate for optimal success in the organization.
• Communications and IT: The operations manager is responsible for the IT infrastructure including equipment and systems. He ensures that employees have the means to communicate as needed in the most efficient way. He is also responsible for external communications where the organization is communicating its messages to others or in terms of advertisements.

Education Requirements for Operations Managers

The list above is not conclusive but does illustrate the need for the operations manager to have a diverse set of skills and knowledge. In terms of education this often starts with a good MBA program with at least the five following elements:

1. The program should teach a variety of organizational structures and types that provide the ability to be flexible and original when looking at the overall picture of an organization.
2. Human resources management knowledge is a key element of training that is essential. All success depends on the employees and the operations manager decides how to hire and manage them.
3. Financial management skills are equally critical. How to analyze all types of accounting and financial documents is essential. Knowing how to design a budget and how to set budget priorities is another key skill to learn.
4. Contracts and legal issues also are under the operations manager. Learning the variety of legal issues that face a company and being able to talk knowledgeably with lawyers about it is very important.
5. Integration of all organizational elements is a skill that entails understanding everything going on at all levels of an operation. This includes how making any decision affects all departments and all activities in the company.

The operations manager is truly a man for all seasons in the sense of being able to understand everything that is going on within an organization. He is also the key advisor for the CEO and for the board of directors. Operations managers need to be able to speak with any employee or manager and understand their issues and advise them. This is a very detail-oriented job with multiple diverse issues coming up every day. This job takes someone with the requisite education and experience as mentioned above, but more critically with the ability to apply that knowledge practically in daily operational activities. This operations manager job description shows that this position is not a specialist, but more of a management expert with wide ranging understanding of all areas of an organization.