Operations Manager

What the role involves

• Own service levels, throughput and cost for an operational area
• Design and improve processes, removing duplication and waiting time
• Plan capacity against forecast demand and budget
• Lead and develop the operational team, including shift scheduling
• Report on performance and lead continuous improvement in the area

Core skills

• Process Design & Improvement (level 4/5)
• Capacity & Workforce Planning (level 4/5)
• Budget & Cost Control (level 4/5)
• Service Level & KPI Management (level 4/5)
• Team Leadership & Scheduling (level 4/5)
• Vendor & Supplier Management (level 3/5)

Preferred skills

• Lean / Six Sigma
• ERP Systems (SAP, NetSuite)
• Spreadsheet & Modelling

Tools

Experience expected

3-6 years in operations, service delivery or production management

Projects that prove the role

• Process redesign that cut order-to-dispatch time by a third
• Capacity model that removed a recurring overtime cost
• Vendor consolidation that improved service levels while reducing spend

Evidence to collect

• A before/after on the metric you were accountable for
• A process map and the improvement cycle you ran
• A team you built, developed and handed over

What the interview covers

• A service failure you had to manage and communicate
• How you balanced cost against service quality
• Leading a team through a difficult change
• Using data to find the real bottleneck in a process

How the role progresses

• Operations Coordinator
• Operations Manager
• Senior Operations Manager
• Head of Operations
• Operations Director

Certifications that carry weight

• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
• APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP)
• Six Sigma Black Belt

Related roles

• supply-chain-manager
• project-manager
• business-analyst

Turn this into a plan

Inside CareerDev4AI, choosing this role generates a roadmap of the skills, projects and milestones that move you towards it.