Operations manager

The Operations manager, known in French as the responsable des opérations, is the professional who organises and manages an operational activity to achieve the objectives set by management. They allocate available resources, coordinate the people involved and monitor results. Their role combines the day-to-day running of the activity with improvements to how it is organised.

Their remit may cover a department, a unit or several activities. Titles such as responsable opérationnel, manager opérationnel or ops manager therefore need to be considered alongside the responsibilities actually assigned. The title alone does not specify which teams the person manages or which decisions they can make.

The Operations manager works within an agreed budget and reports to management. They may manage staff directly or work with people for whom they have no line management responsibility. In both cases, they need explicit objectives and an understanding of each department’s responsibilities. There is no reporting line to the managing director or COO that applies to every role.

Operations manager, director of operations and Office manager: who does what?

• The Operations manager oversees the activities assigned to them, their organisation and their results, within the limits of their delegated authority.
• The COO, or director of operations, holds executive leadership responsibility. Some tasks may overlap depending on the organisation.
• The person responsible for the office, often called the Office manager, oversees its day-to-day administration. Their role may also include a budget and people management.

To define your role, start with the activities to be supervised: who organises the work, who commits expenditure and who makes the final decision when a priority affects several departments? This description makes the distinction between titles useful for recruitment.

Service quality, cost control and business continuity depend in part on how work is organised. The Operations manager must connect management’s objectives with the resources available and the constraints teams face. An expected result remains difficult to manage if no one knows who makes decisions, with what budget and on the basis of which data.

The first challenge is to make difficulties understandable. A variance in an activity report calls for analysis before reorganisation. It is necessary to distinguish between issues relating to workload, task allocation and how the process works. To define the role, specify the results to be monitored and the information the future manager will be able to access.

Another challenge is choosing improvements without undermining ongoing operations. The manager must consider costs, risks and the people involved. Adding projects without deciding their priority can scatter effort. Conversely, focusing all attention on urgent issues leaves little room to address recurring difficulties.

Hypothetical example: a team is falling increasingly behind schedule while several departments work on the same cases. Before requesting a new tool, the manager examines the workload and handovers. They then propose clearer task allocation and monitoring of turnaround times to assess the effect of the change.

The choice of candidate must match these responsibilities. Analytical experience alone is not enough to demonstrate an ability to manage a team. Similarly, having led a department does not demonstrate autonomy over all budgets. Clarify delegated decisions during recruitment to avoid making the Operations manager accountable for results when the manager cannot influence how work is organised within the limits of their delegated authority.

• Translate management’s objectives into operational plans for the activity assigned.
• Plan the workload and allocate tasks according to the resources available.
• Monitor results and budgets to identify variances that need to be addressed.
• Diagnose problems and document work processes.
• Lead improvement projects with the teams and departments concerned.
• Coordinate internal and external stakeholders around the agreed objectives.
• Define responsibilities and support staff development when the role includes people management.
• Prepare prevention and continuity measures suited to the risks of the activity.

Useful knowledge and skills combine operations management, data analysis, budget monitoring, project management and people management. The aim is to understand how this learning has been applied in concrete decisions. A candidate’s background should make it possible to connect an objective, the organisation of work and observable results.

The French responsable en gestion d’activités certification is one example of a qualification available through an apprenticeship. It is not a compulsory qualification for becoming an Operations manager. Foreign occupational frameworks also shed light on the role, without imposing their entry routes on the French market.

Practical experience deserves careful examination. Monitoring a project, organising a recurring activity and managing staff involve different responsibilities. To assess a candidate’s background, distinguish between participating in the work, coordinating people and making decisions independently. Monitoring a budget does not necessarily mean the person had authority to commit expenditure against it.

In the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics describes previous supervisory or management experience in a related field as common among external hires for general and operations manager roles. This observation does not establish a standard length of experience in France.

For your needs, prioritise the match between situations the candidate has already handled and the responsibilities you intend to assign: workload to organise, departments to coordinate, changes to lead and staff to support. Achievements they can explain, including their constraints and limitations, help you assess what they have learnt beyond the title of their qualification. Ways to examine these are set out in the assessment method.

GetPro uses an assessment framework that prioritises the criteria for the role and distinguishes those that can be checked through the candidate’s background from those that need to be explored further in interview. Each criterion is linked to an assessment method. Open questions are accompanied by requests for concrete examples. Reference checks complement interviews by exploring responsibilities held, strengths and areas requiring attention in greater depth.

To apply this framework when hiring an Operations manager, the following stages suggest criteria and questions to adapt to your company’s activities. The practical exercise is a hypothetical example proposed for this role.

1. Define the criteria for the role

Describe the activities to be supervised, the budget involved and the teams to be coordinated. Distinguish independent decisions from those requiring management approval. Specify whether the role includes line management.

Build a framework around these responsibilities: work organisation, process diagnosis, monitoring results, budget management and change management. For each criterion, define what you expect to observe and its importance in your context.

If your company lacks operational expertise, involve someone capable of assessing the activity concerned. Agree on their role in the assessment and the points management will need to decide itself.

2. Examine a past achievement

Ask the candidate to describe an activity for which they were responsible. Ask them to specify the objectives, the resources available and the difficulties encountered. Then ask which decisions they personally made.

Explore a concrete change in greater depth: what problem did they identify, what information did they use and how did they involve the people concerned? Ask them to distinguish their own actions from those of their colleagues.

A positive sign is an explanation that connects diagnosis, decision and follow-up. A warning sign is attributing all results to their own involvement without describing others’ contributions or the limitations encountered.

3. Set a case relevant to the activity

Hypothetical example: give the candidate a workload report, a budget and a description of handovers between departments. State that delays are increasing and resources are limited.

Ask what information they would seek before acting. Invite them to explain their priorities, then to propose a change and a way to monitor its effects. Ask them to specify the risks to business continuity.

Observe whether they relate their proposal to the available information and acknowledge what remains uncertain. An immediate software solution, without examining the process or responsibilities, warrants questioning.

Also assess their interpretation of the budget: what expenditure do they envisage and which spending decisions would exceed their authority? Assess whether their reasoning is consistent with the constraints of the case.

4. Explore people management and communication

Ask how the candidate has set objectives and supported a member of staff. If the role spans departments, choose a situation in which they had to secure agreement without line management authority.

Ask them to explain a disagreement, the expectations of those involved and how the decision was made. Look for an ability to clarify responsibilities and present constraints without glossing over difficulties.

Distinguish presentation skills from coordination skills. A convincing account is worth checking against the decisions described and the reactions of the people involved.

5. Cross-check responsibilities and reach a decision

With the candidate’s consent, use references to explore the responsibilities held and the situations discussed in greater depth. Ask questions about decisions made, cooperation with teams and how changes were managed.

Finally, return to your framework. Record the evidence observed, uncertainties and points to explore further. Decide on the basis of the responsibilities of the role, rather than a general impression or the previous job title alone.