A senior operations manager oversees the efficient running of all business operations in a particular department or establishment. It is your duty as a senior operations manager to ensure that all standards and policies of the establishment are upheld. Some of your duties may include evaluating workers' performances, drafting budgets, generating progress reports, and setting sales targets. It is your job to set goals and motivate your team to see that the set goals are accomplished within the specified timelines. A senior operations manager is also expected to devise strategies that would improve workflow, ensure maximum productivity and boost profitability.
To become a senior operations manager, you need a minimum qualification of a bachelor's degree in business, management, finance, or other related fields. Getting to this position also requires years of work experience. An effective senior operations manager has top-notch project management skills and is respected as both a team player and team leader. A top senior operations manager can earn as high as $162,000, while the average senior operations manager earns $116,926.
Senior Operations Manager Overview
Senior Operations Manager Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior operations manager. For example, did you know that they make an average of $60.47 an hour? That's $125,782 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 150,600 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Senior Operations Manager Do
There are certain skills that many senior operations managers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, leadership skills and management skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a senior operations manager, we found that a lot of resumes listed 14.3% of senior operations managers included procedures, while 10.8% of resumes included customer service, and 6.2% of resumes included project management. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the senior operations manager job title. But what industry to start with? Most senior operations managers actually find jobs in the technology and retail industries.
How To Become a Senior Operations Manager
If you're interested in becoming a senior operations manager, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 47.8% of senior operations managers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 28.5% of senior operations managers have master's degrees. Even though most senior operations managers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a senior operations manager. When we researched the most common majors for a senior operations manager, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on senior operations manager resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a senior operations manager. In fact, many senior operations manager jobs require experience in a role such as operations manager. Meanwhile, many senior operations managers also have previous career experience in roles such as manager or project manager.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
Senior Operations Manager Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of operations director you might progress to a role such as vice president eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title vice president & general manager.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Senior Operations Manager
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Havenly SR. Manager of Ordering Operations SR. Manager of Ordering Operations | Havenly Havenly | 03/31/2021 03/31/2021 | $70,00003/31/2021 $70,000 |
Ball Corporation/Ball Aerospace Mission Assurance Operations Architect-Senior Operations Manager Mission Assurance Operations Architect-Senior Operations Manager | Ball Corporation/Ball Aerospace Ball Corporation/Ball Aerospace | 03/26/2021 03/26/2021 | $118,50003/26/2021 $118,500 |
SBM Management Senior Operations Manager-MIT Senior Operations Manager-MIT | SBM Management SBM Management | 03/26/2021 03/26/2021 | $105,00003/26/2021 $105,000 |
Johns Hopkins University SR. Operations Manager SR. Operations Manager | Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University | 03/24/2021 03/24/2021 | $82,32503/24/2021 $82,325 |
T-Mobile SR. Operations Manager, Wholesale SR. Operations Manager, Wholesale | T-Mobile T-Mobile | 03/23/2021 03/23/2021 | $50,00003/23/2021 $50,000 |
Calculate your salary
Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
Senior Operations Manager Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Senior Operations Manager. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Senior Operations Manager Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Senior Operations Manager resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Senior Operations Managers
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
4. New York University
New York, NY • Private
5. Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA • Public
6. University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX • Public
7. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Public
8. Northeastern University
Boston, MA • Private
9. Bentley University
Waltham, MA • Private
10. Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA • Private
Top Skills For a Senior Operations Manager
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 14.3% of senior operations managers listed procedures on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and leadership skills are important as well.
- Procedures, 14.3%
- Customer Service, 10.8%
- Project Management, 6.2%
- Continuous Improvement, 5.6%
- Facility, 4.7%
- Other Skills, 58.4% See All Senior Operations Manager Skills
Best States For a Senior Operations Manager
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a senior operations manager. The best states for people in this position are New Jersey, Alaska, Louisiana, and Connecticut. Senior operations managers make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $149,059. Whereas in Alaska and Louisiana, they would average $149,032 and $147,936, respectively. While senior operations managers would only make an average of $147,026 in Connecticut, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New Jersey
$149,059
Avg. Salary
2. Alaska
$149,032
Avg. Salary
3. Pennsylvania
$138,955
Avg. Salary
How Do Senior Operations Manager Rate Their Jobs?
Top Senior Operations Manager Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ senior operations managers and discovered their number of senior operations manager opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that United States Army was the best, especially with an average salary of $82,313. Amazon.com follows up with an average salary of $120,858, and then comes FedEx with an average of $80,922. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a senior operations manager. The employers include Verizon Communications, Twilio, and XPO Logistics
Senior Operations Manager Videos
