What is a Senior Operations Manager?

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.

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.

Learn more about what a Senior Operations Manager does

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 67.3% of senior operations managers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 14.8% 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.

Learn More About How To Become a Senior Operations Manager

Senior Operations Manager Job Description

Senior Operations Managers are primarily responsible for overseeing the operations of the department they are handling, aligning department goals and strategies to the company's targets, and ensuring that everyone in the department is aware of these goals. They provide general guidance to the team members of the department and consultations on specific projects.

Learn more about Senior Operations Manager Job Description
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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.

Senior Operations Manager

Average Salary for a Senior Operations Manager

Senior Operations Managers in America make an average salary of $126,839 per year or $61 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $175,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $91,000 per year.
Average Senior Operations Manager Salary
$126,839 Yearly
$60.98 hourly
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Roles and Types of Senior Operations Manager

The role of a senior operations manager includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general senior operations manager responsibilities:

  • Account management to include serving as the primary liaison between company
  • Chalk out or improve operational systems, processes
  • Maintains preparation and develops action plans on fda,

There are several types of senior operations manager, including:

Operations Manager

Role:

As an operations manager, you have a lot of responsibilities. You may need to oversee several departments, coordinate operations in public or private organizations, but the big takeaway here is that you're in charge.

The job entails so much more than just being in charge, you'll be formulating policies, staying on top of daily operations, and figuring out how to use certain materials and resources. Before you stress out, you will probably have supervisors who will help oversee each section. Deep breaths.

Since you're essentially making sure everything consistently runs smoothly, you'll probably grow accustomed to working overtime hours. Then again, once you're running a well-oiled machine (or team), you can kiss that stress goodbye.

  • Average Salary: $76,894
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Area Manager

Role:

Area managers have their own territory to take care of within a business. Usually, area managers are in charge of a defined region. That means so much more than just being a boss over team members.

Area managers spend a lot of their time setting sales goals for the team to meet (or even exceed) and defining certain financial goals. They work alongside other area managers to ensure the company is headed in the right direction together.

As an area manager, it's no secret that you have a lot of responsibilities on your shoulders. This is why this is definitely not a job for a newbie. You'll want a bit of experience before breaking into this career.

  • Average Salary: $73,472
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Operations Officer

Role:

Also known as operations managers, operations officers prioritize and manage company resources in order to meet the organization's goals and objectives.

They provide support to all business departments, including administration, finance, and human resources, by ensuring operational activities are executed within budget and timelines, performing budget allocation and expense management for all business operational activities, and conducting regular operational reviews and audits for preventive maintenance.

Operations officers also set operational goals, guide staff in resolving issues, and ensure resource assignment, work allocation, training development, and performance assessments are completed in a timely manner.

In addition, they conduct regular meetings with staff to discuss operational updates, ideas, and issues, ensure customer complaints are handled accurately, develop and implement plans to improve operational effectiveness and efficiency, and provide excellent customer service in order to build and maintain strong relationships with customers.

Operations officers need customer service, interpersonal, leadership, organizational, time management, and communication skills. They also need bachelor's degrees in business administration, finance, or accounting.

People in this role typically earn roughly $23.98 an hour, which translates to $49,800 a year.

  • Average Salary: $46,813
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
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States With The Most Senior Operations Manager Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active senior operations manager jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where senior operations managers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Senior Operations Manager Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California6,499$140,273
2Texas4,897$116,854
3Florida3,803$89,757
4Pennsylvania2,530$123,513
5Georgia2,415$116,009
6New York2,276$136,412
7Illinois2,221$120,342
8North Carolina2,041$125,470
9New Jersey2,010$149,005
10Ohio1,957$122,840
11Washington1,905$141,502
12Massachusetts1,653$140,214
13Virginia1,635$125,321
14Indiana1,370$108,392
15Michigan1,368$116,794
16Minnesota1,328$118,275
17Maryland1,201$121,230
18Arizona1,035$118,698
19Wisconsin1,027$134,318
20Tennessee1,016$119,218
21Missouri1,001$103,840
22Oregon978$114,201
23Colorado923$125,978
24Utah812$97,664
25South Carolina738$108,065
26Alabama715$119,085
27Kentucky695$90,367
28Iowa656$99,259
29Connecticut645$145,885
30Kansas566$102,947
31Arkansas557$88,419
32Louisiana511$122,954
33Oklahoma452$109,297
34Nevada435$124,383
35Nebraska370$94,647
36Idaho307$95,822
37Rhode Island289$124,354
38New Mexico273$100,954
39Delaware244$124,843
40Mississippi244$79,709
41Maine243$109,823
42Hawaii230$95,710
43New Hampshire226$104,048
44West Virginia216$99,737
45North Dakota211$112,218
46Montana210$94,690
47Vermont170$100,087
48South Dakota167$130,863
49Alaska167$113,701
50Wyoming126$88,763

Senior Operations Manager Education

Senior Operations Manager Majors

Business
39.4 %
Management
7.1 %
Finance
5.6 %

Senior Operations Manager Degrees

Bachelors

67.3 %

Masters

14.8 %

Associate

12.1 %

Top Colleges for Senior Operations Managers

1. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

2. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

3. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

4. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

5. Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$18,454

Enrollment

40,108

6. University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX • Private

In-State Tuition

$10,610

Enrollment

40,329

7. SUNY at Binghamton

Vestal, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$9,808

Enrollment

13,990

8. Northeastern University

Boston, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,522

Enrollment

13,760

9. Bentley University

Waltham, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$49,880

Enrollment

4,177

10. Lehigh University

Bethlehem, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$52,930

Enrollment

5,030

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, 10.1% of senior operations managers listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and leadership skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Senior Operations Manager Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Senior Operations Manager templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Senior Operations Manager resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Senior Operations Manager diversity

Senior Operations Manager Gender Distribution

Male
Male
74%
Female
Female
26%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among senior operations managers, 25.8% of them are women, while 74.2% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among senior operations managers is White, which makes up 67.7% of all senior operations managers.

  • The most common foreign language among senior operations managers is Spanish at 47.5%.

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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, Connecticut, Washington, and California. Senior operations managers make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $149,005. Whereas in Connecticut and Washington, they would average $145,885 and $141,502, respectively. While senior operations managers would only make an average of $140,273 in California, 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

Total Senior Operations Manager Jobs: 2,010
Highest 10% Earn:
$205,000
Location Quotient:
1.25

$149,005

Avg. Salary

View 2,010 Senior Operations Manager Jobs In NJ

2. Washington

Total Senior Operations Manager Jobs: 1,905
Highest 10% Earn:
$196,000
Location Quotient:
1.28

$141,502

Avg. Salary

View 1,905 Senior Operations Manager Jobs In WA

3. Connecticut

Total Senior Operations Manager Jobs: 645
Highest 10% Earn:
$201,000
Location Quotient:
0.96

$145,885

Avg. Salary

View 645 Senior Operations Manager Jobs In CT
Full List Of Best States For Senior Operations Managers

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Top Senior Operations Manager Employers

Most Common Employers For Senior Operations Manager

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Accenture$159,834$76.8494
2DoorDash$145,617$70.0160
3Walmart$134,361$64.6061
4US Air Conditioning Distributors$133,230$64.0566
5Amazon$130,257$62.62332
6General Electric$129,638$62.3368
7Citi$128,124$61.6033
8Salesforce$128,115$61.5942
9Cisco$125,419$60.3038
10Dell$124,623$59.9143
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Becoming a Senior Operations Manager FAQs

How Do I Start A Career In Operations Management?

To start a career in operations management, a person should pursue a bachelor's degree in business administration or a related field. While a student in college, a person should pursue an internship and experience in business and office environments.

How Much Should An Operations Manager Be Paid?

An operations manager should be paid $85,660 or higher. However, differences in pay rates can range from as high as $180,000 to as low as $50,000. The big discrepancy in salaries results from the differences in the operations manager's type of role from one industry to another.

What Is A Senior Operations Manager?

A senior operations manager is the position that manages the establishment and administration of operational services, programs, and initiatives. They differ from operations managers in that they have more responsibility and oversight.

What Is The Career Path For An Operations Manager?

The career path for an operations manager typically starts with gaining direct experience in both business and operations areas. Generally, a person will start by gaining a bachelor's degree in business or another relevant degree.

What Level Is An Operations Manager?

Operations manager is typically a mid-level management role. While this depends on the size and structure of the company, these roles are typically for people who already have some experience leading a team.

Have more questions? See all answers to common executive management questions.

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Updated April 6, 2023