Head operator vs operations director

The differences between head operators 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 head operator and an operations director. Additionally, a head operator has an average salary of $138,787, which is higher than the $104,050 average annual salary of an operations director.

The top three skills for a head operator include analytics, customer service and project management. The most important skills for an operations director are customer service, continuous improvement, and oversight.

Head operator vs operations director overview

	Head Operator	Operations Director
Yearly salary	$138,787	$104,050
Hourly rate	$66.72	$50.02
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	101,974	114,993
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	6	6

What does a head operator do?

A head operator performs varied duties and responsibilities for an organization. These include striving to achieve the highest safety level with company safety policies and procedures, implementing new CRM platforms for various agents and channels, examining and monitoring the use of the new CRM, and overseeing business case analysis. As the head operator, you are responsible for restructuring the duties and responsibilities within logistics, service, and inventory control. You are also responsible for reducing business risk by developing and enforcing tighter security for network infrastructure.

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.

Head operator vs operations director salary

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

	Head Operator	Operations Director
Average salary	$138,787	$104,050
Salary range	Between $79,000 And $243,000	Between $65,000 And $164,000
Highest paying City	Providence, RI	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Rhode Island	California
Best paying company	McKinsey & Company Inc	Airbnb
Best paying industry	Finance	Finance

Differences between head operator and operations director education

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

	Head Operator	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

Head operator vs operations director demographics

Here are the differences between head operators' and operations directors' demographics:

	Head Operator	Operations Director
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 78.6% Female, 21.4%	Male, 70.6% Female, 29.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 6.3% White, 67.6% 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	10%	10%

Differences between head operator and operations director duties and responsibilities

Head operator example responsibilities.

Manage all social media outlets (Facebook.
Lead the road-map to SaaS offering and implement DevOps.
Manage technology build out of new office space and data center facilities for Americas.
Manage all purchase orders, inventory, A/P, A/R, payroll, and all credit card forms.
Manage all security and compliance relate items including SOX, HIPAA, internal controls, and FDA validation requirements.
Design and implement disaster recovery in the cloud and manage routine maintenance of the cloud environment and business relationship.

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.

Head operator vs operations director skills

Common head operator skills

Analytics, 8%
Customer Service, 7%
Project Management, 7%
Oversight, 7%
Continuous Improvement, 6%
KPIs, 6%

Common operations director skills

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

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Head Operator
Head Operator vs Operations Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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