Administrative director vs operations director

The differences between administrative directors and operations directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become an administrative director, becoming an operations director takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, an operations director has an average salary of $104,050, which is higher than the $80,158 average annual salary of an administrative director.

The top three skills for an administrative director include patients, patient care and customer service. The most important skills for an operations director are customer service, continuous improvement, and oversight.

Administrative director vs operations director overview

	Administrative Director	Operations Director
Yearly salary	$80,158	$104,050
Hourly rate	$38.54	$50.02
Growth rate	7%	6%
Number of jobs	52,849	114,993
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age	50	44
Years of experience	2	6

What does an administrative director do?

An administrative director primarily functions to oversee daily operations within a company, ensuring everything is running smoothly. Among their responsibilities include monitoring the budget and audits, allocating funds to every department, coordinating with supervisors, and analyzing key data such as finances and progress reports. Additionally, they are also responsible for implementing policies and regulations, even crafting new ones when necessary. They typically report all progress and concerns to higher officials such as the president and vice president.

What does an operations director do?

Operations directors oversee all company operations. They have the power to set the direction, change the course of the organization, and reform strategies to ensure efficiency in how the company operates. Operations directors manage business operations effectively by constantly analyzing company data and by anticipating any challenge that may come their way. As such, they make sound business decisions and recommendations that will help strengthen the organization. Operations directors oversee finances, quality control, and even human resources. They ensure that all aspects of the business are considered in making business operations decisions.

Administrative director vs operations director salary

Administrative directors and operations directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Administrative Director	Operations Director
Average salary	$80,158	$104,050
Salary range	Between $53,000 And $121,000	Between $65,000 And $164,000
Highest paying City	Boston, MA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Connecticut	California
Best paying company	Mayer Brown	Airbnb
Best paying industry	Media	Finance

Differences between administrative director and operations director education

There are a few differences between an administrative director and an operations director in terms of educational background:

	Administrative Director	Operations Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Administrative director vs operations director demographics

Here are the differences between administrative directors' and operations directors' demographics:

	Administrative Director	Operations Director
Average age	50	44
Gender ratio	Male, 33.8% Female, 66.2%	Male, 70.6% Female, 29.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 13.8% Asian, 4.3% White, 67.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 6.1% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.9% Asian, 6.3% White, 67.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	5%	10%

Differences between administrative director and operations director duties and responsibilities

Administrative director example responsibilities.

Manage payroll system and provide staff and directors with essential reporting necessary for managing employee resources.
Manage A/P, A/R and general accounting.
Lead a change in system philosophy on physician equity interest in surgery centers.
Manage administrative operations for the business -purchasing, accounting, payroll, safety and environmental safety training and testing.
Receive and process incoming Medicaid, Medicare, government grants and donation checks.
Charge with improving customer service for patients and physicians as well as re-capturing lose outpatient radiology business.

Operations director example responsibilities.

Manage KPI reports from all warranty companies to ensure increasing sales and productivity.
Spearhead governance, security and compliance initiatives to achieve SOX and PCI compliance.
Manage a PMO style team to implement any changes across the global contact centers.
Develop all marketing strategies and materials as well as personally managing key OEM and national accounts.
Manage multiple vendor relationships for RFP development and review, contract negotiation, contract terms management, and accounts payable review.
Provide leadership to manufacturing organization by aligning overall KPIs to achieve near term and long term business objectives.

Administrative director vs operations director skills

Common administrative director skills

Patients, 11%
Patient Care, 9%
Customer Service, 6%
Human Resources, 5%
Financial Reports, 5%
Payroll, 5%

Common operations director skills

Customer Service, 12%
Continuous Improvement, 7%
Oversight, 7%
Patients, 6%
Project Management, 5%
Human Resources, 4%

Administrative Director vs. similar jobs

Administrative Director related careers

Administrative Director related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Executive Management Industry
Administrative Director
Administrative Director vs Operations Director

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse executive management jobs