Post job

What does a customer operations manager do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
Quoted expert
Eric Olsen

As a customer operations manager, they mainly provide support to the rest of the team, helping the customer service team improve their KPIs and their efficiency. They allocate resources to adapt and achieve set goals and targets on a daily and weekly basis. They are responsible for managing and evaluating the supervisor's performance and do coaching, if necessary, for performance improvement. Moreover, they closely monitor any reported issues and concerns to upper management, plan, and lead regular team meetings to discuss current and future issues/updates.

On this page

Customer operations manager responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real customer operations manager resumes:

  • Develop, manage, and monitor employee training in accordance with company and ISO standards.
  • Manage and direct activities with third party logistics partners, two in the U.S. and one in Europe.
  • Manage and coordinate departmental CRM software platform transition and establish best practices and SLA expectations.
  • Spearhead inaugural inbound/outbound telesales CRM initiatives to achieve greater usage of open home equity lines of credit.
  • Implement organizational infrastructure, including shift leaders, supervisors/escalation leads, a training specialist, and an employee engagement coordinator.
  • Establish a tier business model for each customer level to ensure quality and preserve appropriate ROI on customer accounts.
  • Provide site manager with analytics and trends regarding performance of KPIs.
  • Control all departments' processes and procedures to insure compliance with ISO standards.
  • Establish partner relationships to coordinate product launch, branding requirements, and SLA.
  • Sustain unique branding & sub-branding for multiple partners in product support within SLA.
  • Serve as custodian of store records including: store cash, grocery receiving, payroll and personnel.
  • Innovate and maintain operational metrics to measure, track and analyze various key performance indicators (KPIs).
  • Partner with several vendors to enhance customer experience and improve retention while providing high ROI to the organization.
  • Oversee store payroll process to ensure payroll is accurate and in compliance with company, state and federal policies/statutes.
  • Define and implement reverse logistics policies, processes and system requirements.

Customer operations manager skills and personality traits

We calculated that 9% of Customer Operations Managers are proficient in Customer Operations, Logistics, and Project Management. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Leadership skills, and Management skills.

We break down the percentage of Customer Operations Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Customer Operations, 9%

    Reviewed and monitored Customer Operations Coordinator service levels to ensure continuing customer satisfaction and oversaw the day-to-day operations of Customer Service.

  • Logistics, 8%

    Manage team of logistics associates responsible for arranging transportation of approximately 20,000 temperature controlled loads each year.

  • Project Management, 6%

    Shared project experience and best practices, knowledge of project management processes, tasks and tools with other Country Teams.

  • Process Improvement, 6%

    Utilized Business Process Improvement (BPI) methodology to develop and implement a new collaborative support for high complexity enterprise customers.

  • Customer Support, 4%

    Developed customer support strategy and technical troubleshooting processes and tools.

  • Customer Care, 4%

    Developed an internal complaint follow up group within Customer Care resulting in a decrease in logged complaints by 30%.

"customer operations," "logistics," and "project management" are among the most common skills that customer operations managers use at work. You can find even more customer operations manager responsibilities below, including:

Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a customer operations manager to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "top executives must be able to convey information clearly and persuasively." Additionally, a customer operations manager resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "managed all communication and reporting to customers, shippers, receivers, sales and business development teams regarding customer accounts. "

Leadership skills. Another essential skill to perform customer operations manager duties is leadership skills. Customer operations managers responsibilities require that "top executives must be able to shape and direct an organization by coordinating policies, people, and resources." Customer operations managers also use leadership skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "provided direction, motivation and hr leadership to ensure first class service, while creating new opportunities to save client money. "

Problem-solving skills. For certain customer operations manager responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "problem-solving skills." The day-to-day duties of a customer operations manager rely on this skill, as "top executives need to identify and resolve issues within an organization." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what customer operations managers do: "enabled new customer care channels by providing online self care and interactive solutions (egain). "

Time-management skills. Another common skill required for customer operations manager responsibilities is "time-management skills." This skill comes up in the duties of customer operations managers all the time, as "top executives do many tasks concurrently to ensure that their work gets done and that the organization meets its goals." An excerpt from a real customer operations manager resume shows how this skill is central to what a customer operations manager does: "performed as front end customer operations manager, meeting all deadlines established by corporate. "

All customer operations manager skills

Choose from 10+ customizable customer operations manager resume templates

Build a professional customer operations manager resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your customer operations manager resume.
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume
Customer Operations Manager Resume

Compare different customer operations managers

Customer operations manager vs. General manager of operations

General managers of operations are employed to oversee the overall operations of businesses. Their responsibilities include the improvement of the efficiency of the operations and overall management. They coordinate the primary performance goals for direct reporting functions and set the strategies for the organization. It is their responsibility to communicate strategy as well as results to employees. They also engage with the corporate officers in the strategic planning and development of the organization or enterprise.

We looked at the average customer operations manager salary and compared it with the wages of a general manager of operations. Generally speaking, general managers of operations are paid $22,392 lower than customer operations managers per year.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between customer operations managers and general managers of operations are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like logistics, process improvement, and performance reviews.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a customer operations manager are more likely to require skills like "customer operations," "project management," "customer support," and "customer care." On the other hand, a job as a general manager of operations requires skills like "customer service," "develop team," "financial statements," and "oversight." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

General managers of operations tend to reach similar levels of education than customer operations managers. In fact, general managers of operations are 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Customer operations manager vs. Performance manager

As the name entails, performance managers are responsible for maintaining and improving employee performance based on organizational objectives. Their job may vary depending on the industry they work in, but common duties include collecting and analyzing performance data, developing effective systems for information collection, and performing statistical performance analysis. Additional duties of a performance manager may include organizing and conducting training and development on best practices and resolving workplace barriers to performance.

Performance manager positions earn lower pay than customer operations manager roles. They earn a $8,393 lower salary than customer operations managers per year.Only some things about these jobs are the same. Take their skills, for example. Customer operations managers and performance managers both require similar skills like "project management," "process improvement," and "performance reviews" to carry out their responsibilities.

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that customer operations manager responsibilities requires skills like "customer operations," "logistics," "customer support," and "customer care." But a performance manager might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "performance management," "customer service," "performance improvement," and "visualization."

Performance managers may earn a lower salary than customer operations managers, but performance managers earn the most pay in the professional industry with an average salary of $110,053. On the other hand, customer operations managers receive higher pay in the professional industry, where they earn an average salary of $115,137.performance managers earn higher levels of education than customer operations managers in general. They're 6.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for customer operations managers in the next 3-5 years?

Eric OlsenEric Olsen LinkedIn profile

Professor, Industrial Technology and Packaging, Orfalea College of Business

We are doubling down on what we call "digital fabrication." Most manufacturing technologies we deal with now have a growing digital component that our students need to understand and be competent in. Of course, that means current hot exotics like additive manufacturing, but our students need to look at any process and realize there is probably a digitally enhanced path forward.

Customer operations manager vs. Manager, center operations

The duties of a manager of center operations depend on one's industry of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around overseeing business operations, setting targets, assessing the workforce's performance, and performing corrective measures on any issues or concerns. Moreover, there are also instances where they have to produce progress reports, devise strategies for optimal business performance, delegate tasks, and even manage the budget. As a manager, it is crucial to lead and encourage the team to reach goals and sales targets while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

An average manager, center operations eans a lower salary compared to the average salary of customer operations managers. The difference in salaries amounts to managers, center operations earning a $50,855 lower average salary than customer operations managers.Using the responsibilities included on customer operations managers and managers, center operations resumes, we found that both professions have similar skill requirements, such as "project management," "process improvement," and "customer care.rdquo;

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from customer operations manager resumes include skills like "customer operations," "logistics," "customer support," and "erp," whereas a manager, center operations is more likely to list skills in "infrastructure," "osha," "standard operating procedure," and "quality standards. "

Managers, center operations make a very good living in the manufacturing industry with an average annual salary of $68,400. On the other hand, customer operations managers are paid the highest salary in the professional industry, with average annual pay of $115,137.managers, center operations typically earn similar educational levels compared to customer operations managers. Specifically, they're 1.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Customer operations manager vs. Operations manager, district

A district operations manager is a managerial professional who manages the daily operations of stores within the assigned district as well as provides support to managers in ensuring quality and budget performance. The district operations manager must work with the store management to create and implement action plans to address deficiencies discovered during a store audit. They are required to evaluate areas of operational concern and provide support during the implementation of solutions. District operations managers must also create a cooperative environment between operations and sales departments to motivate all employees to enhance customer service.

Operations managers, district typically earn lower pay than customer operations managers. On average, operations managers, district earn a $30,340 lower salary per year.According to resumes from customer operations managers and operations managers, district, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "logistics," "process improvement," and "performance reviews. "While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "customer operations," "project management," "customer support," and "customer care" are skills that commonly show up on customer operations manager resumes. On the other hand, operations managers, district use skills like oversight, performance management, succession planning, and store management on their resumes.In general, operations managers, district earn the most working in the retail industry, with an average salary of $87,812. The highest-paying industry for a customer operations manager is the professional industry.operations managers, district reach similar levels of education compared to customer operations managers, in general. The difference is that they're 3.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of customer operations manager

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Browse executive management jobs