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District leader vs operations director

The differences between district leaders and operations directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a district leader and an operations director. Additionally, an operations director has an average salary of $104,050, which is higher than the $79,496 average annual salary of a district leader.

The top three skills for a district leader include customer service, sales presentations and direct reports. The most important skills for an operations director are customer service, continuous improvement, and oversight.

District leader vs operations director overview

District LeaderOperations Director
Yearly salary$79,496$104,050
Hourly rate$38.22$50.02
Growth rate6%6%
Number of jobs117,708114,993
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 61%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age4444
Years of experience66

What does a district leader do?

The duties of a district leader depend on their line of work or industry of employment. However, their responsibilities typically include setting goals and guidelines, managing different offices, reviewing regular progress reports, coordinating managers, liaising with internal and external parties, and developing strategies to optimize services and operations. They must also respond to issues and concerns, resolving them promptly and professionally. Moreover, a district leader must lead and encourage staff to reach goals, all while implementing the organization's policies and regulations.

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.

District leader vs operations director salary

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

District LeaderOperations Director
Average salary$79,496$104,050
Salary rangeBetween $44,000 And $141,000Between $65,000 And $164,000
Highest paying CityNorfolk, VASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateConnecticutCalifornia
Best paying companyVertex PharmaceuticalsAirbnb
Best paying industryHospitalityFinance

Differences between district leader and operations director education

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

District LeaderOperations Director
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 61%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

District leader vs operations director demographics

Here are the differences between district leaders' and operations directors' demographics:

District LeaderOperations Director
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 60.1% Female, 39.9%Male, 70.6% Female, 29.4%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.5% Asian, 6.4% White, 67.0% 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 Percentage10%10%

Differences between district leader and operations director duties and responsibilities

District leader example responsibilities.

  • Serve as multi-unit manager, responsible for motivating and developing coworkers to achieve results that increase overall profitability of company.
  • Train and mentore peer DM's, corporate executives and company trainers in both one on one and classroom situations.
  • Partner with POS programmers to develop and test new interface, new menu groupings and new products for next generation POS.
  • Provide leadership to commodity specialists and buyers including commodity planning and negotiations.
  • Coordinate community and youth educational events to promote leadership, environmental stewardship and economic prosperity in collaboration with regional government agencies.
  • Attain 92nd percentile in monthly operational KPI and quality measurements through relentless pursuit of productivity and process improvement.

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.
  • Show more

District leader vs operations director skills

Common district leader skills
  • Customer Service, 37%
  • Sales Presentations, 12%
  • Direct Reports, 10%
  • Develop Strong Relationships, 6%
  • Brand Development, 5%
  • Loss Prevention, 3%
Common operations director skills
  • Customer Service, 12%
  • Continuous Improvement, 7%
  • Oversight, 7%
  • Patients, 6%
  • Project Management, 5%
  • Human Resources, 4%

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