Operations Jobs - What Are They and How to Get One

By ZipRecruiter Marketplace Research Team

The operations department is tasked with increasing company efficiency and requires many different workers. Entry-level positions within the operations department include jobs such as clerical assistants or stores and inventory coordinators. With experience, you can take on additional responsibilities as an operations analyst. With additional training and advanced postsecondary education, such as a bachelor’s degree, you can apply to work as an operations manager. To become the director of operations, you may need a bachelor’s degree and significant work experience or an MBA.

A director of operations oversees the department, directing long-term strategies to increase efficiency at the organization. As a director of operations, your duties include managing the people in your department, initiating company-wide reviews of efficiency, soliciting recommendations for increasing it, projecting how changes in product demand may affect efficiency, and identifying company-wide efficiency goals for manufacturing, production, or development processes. In addition to education and departmental experience, you need advanced analytical skills, significant training in supply-chain logistics, and excellent leadership and long-term planning capabilities.

Operations managers oversee the implementation of new systems or methods to improve the efficiency of other organizational departments. In this career, you direct operations analysts to monitor specific areas or units of the company, assess their efficiency, and direct coordinators to implement new methods of efficiency. You also lead research on new technologies and processes to improve productivity and efficiency. You report to the director of operations, synthesizing reports from the analysts and recommending ways to improve efficiency and keep costs down. An operations manager should have a bachelor’s degree in business, logistics, or a closely related subject, as well as prior experience working in an operations department.

An operations analyst is often a step above an entry-level position in the operations department. As an analyst, your tasks include performing research and analyzing the workflows and operations of other departments. Additionally, you may be responsible for training entry-level operations assistants, coordinators, or new analysts. Qualifications for this position include a bachelor’s degree, preferably in business, finance, or logistics, and some prior experience working in an operations department. You should have strong problem-solving and analytical skills and be able to work with little to no direct supervision.