Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for B2B Operations Manager

🎯 Role Definition

The B2B Operations Manager is accountable for designing, implementing and continuously optimizing end-to-end operational processes that support B2B sales, partner programs, order-to-cash, and enterprise customer success. This role blends process ownership, cross-functional program management, data-driven decision making, and systems administration (CRM/ERP) to improve operational efficiency, increase partner & customer satisfaction, and scale revenue operations. The ideal candidate drives measurable improvements to SLAs, reduces cycle times, builds scalable SOPs, and partners with Sales, Finance, Product, and Engineering to deliver a consistent, high-quality B2B experience.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Operations Coordinator / Operations Analyst
Account Manager / Customer Success Representative (B2B)
Revenue Operations Analyst / Sales Operations Analyst

Advancement To:

Senior B2B Operations Manager
Director of Operations / Director of Revenue Operations
Head of Partner Operations / VP of Operations

Lateral Moves:

Revenue Operations Manager
Program Manager (Go-to-Market)
Supply Chain or Logistics Manager (for product-heavy businesses)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Own and optimize the B2B order-to-cash process end-to-end, including quote-to-order, billing, invoicing, collections, reconciliation, and dispute resolution, ensuring accurate and timely revenue recognition.
Develop, document and enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) and playbooks for partner onboarding, account setup, pricing approval, and contract administration to reduce time-to-live and minimize exceptions.
Serve as the primary operations point-of-contact for enterprise customers and channel partners: manage escalations, drive root-cause analysis, and coordinate remediation across Sales, Customer Success, Product, Finance and Engineering.
Manage and prioritize a portfolio of operational projects (system integrations, API onboarding, process automation) from scoping to delivery; track project timelines, risks, dependencies and benefits realization.
Maintain and administer core systems of record for B2B workflows including Salesforce (CRM), NetSuite/SAP (ERP), CPQ tools, and middleware; lead configuration, release testing and user acceptance testing for operational changes.
Design and own operational KPIs and SLAs (e.g., order cycle time, invoice accuracy, partner onboarding time, case resolution time), build dashboards and scorecards, and present monthly/quarterly performance reviews to business stakeholders.
Lead cross-functional process improvement initiatives using data-driven approaches (Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen) to reduce manual work, improve quality, and increase capacity without linear headcount growth.
Implement automation and integration solutions (workflows, RPA, API connectors) to decrease manual interventions, prevent data duplication, and accelerate order processing and revenue capture.
Oversee partner onboarding programs including documentation of requirements, system provisioning, training, transactional testing, and go-live readiness for channel and strategic partners.
Manage vendor and third-party relationships (logistics providers, billing partners, integration vendors), negotiate SLAs, monitor vendor performance, and enforce contractual obligations.
Coordinate pricing and promotions execution for enterprise deals: validate approvals, apply discounts, update pricing matrices, and ensure accurate invoicing aligned with contracts.
Support revenue forecasting and capacity planning by providing operational inputs to sales and finance forecasts, identifying trends and constraints that impact revenue attainment.
Drive compliance and risk control for B2B operations: implement approval gates, audit trails, access controls, and maintain documentation to support internal and external audits.
Lead onboarding, training, and enablement for operations teams and cross-functional partners on new processes, system features, and best practices to ensure consistent execution.
Manage complex order configurations and exceptions including custom billing terms, PO-based invoicing, multi-entity transactions, and global tax/ VAT considerations with Finance and Legal.
Analyze operational data to identify recurring issues, propose scalable fixes, and implement corrective actions; produce root-cause reports and track reduction in incident recurrence.
Act as product-owner or liaison for operational features with engineering/product teams: gather requirements, prioritize backlog items, define acceptance criteria and validate delivered functionality.
Drive continuous improvement of SLAs for partner satisfaction, aiming to measurably reduce onboarding time, decrease dispute volume, and improve net promoter scores (NPS) tied to operational touchpoints.
Develop and manage operational budgets, headcount forecasts, and resource allocation for the B2B operations function, ensuring investments align with growth plans and ROI targets.
Coordinate returns, RMA processes, and reverse logistics for B2B customers, working with operations, warehouse and finance to ensure accurate credits and inventory reconciliation.
Create and maintain a single source of truth for operational documentation (runbooks, org charts, escalation matrices) and ensure knowledge transfer across shifts and teams.
Monitor and enforce data hygiene across CRM/ERP systems: deduplication, data validation rules, mandatory fields, and scheduled audits to preserve the integrity of operational reporting.
Lead change management efforts for operational transformations, including stakeholder communications, training plans, rollout schedules and adoption metrics.
Prepare and present regular executive-level status updates, operational risk summaries, and implementation roadmaps that tie operational metrics to commercial objectives.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Assist Sales and Customer Success teams with operational analysis to identify churn signals and suggest prevention tactics.
Support operational readiness for new product launches, geographic expansions, or partner program rollouts.
Conduct periodic operational audits to validate process adherence and implement corrective training where gaps are identified.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Salesforce CRM administration and configuration (objects, workflows, process builder/flows, reporting) — hands-on experience required.
ERP experience (NetSuite, SAP, Oracle) including billing, AR and order management modules.
Advanced Excel and Google Sheets (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, macros) for ad-hoc analysis and reconciliation.
SQL for querying transactional datasets and building operational reports.
Business Intelligence / Dashboarding tools (Tableau, Power BI, Looker) to create executive and operational dashboards.
CPQ and quoting tools experience (Salesforce CPQ, Apttus or similar) and quote-to-cash workflows.
Familiarity with integrations and middleware (MuleSoft, Dell Boomi, Workato, Zapier) and basic API knowledge.
Process mapping and improvement methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen) with proven project implementation.
Order-to-cash, billing, invoicing, revenue recognition and collections domain knowledge.
Project management tools and methodologies (JIRA, Asana, Trello) and experience managing cross-functional releases.
Data hygiene and master data management best practices for CRM/ERP systems.
Financial literacy: P&L awareness, billing impacts, and ability to work with Finance on reconciliations.
Automation technologies (RPA, scripting) and experience evaluating opportunities to remove manual steps.
Basic scripting or analytics with Python/R preferred for advanced analysis (optional but advantageous).

Soft Skills

Exceptional stakeholder management and cross-functional influencing across Sales, Finance, Product and Engineering.
Strong written and verbal communication: ability to prepare executive summaries and detailed runbooks.
Analytical mindset with a bias for data-driven decision making and the ability to translate data into action.
Problem-solving orientation and resilience: manage ambiguity and drive solutions under tight timelines.
Leadership and team enablement: coach junior operations staff and foster continuous learning.
Customer-centric approach focused on improving partner and enterprise customer experience.
Attention to detail and quality-first mindset to minimize financial and operational risk.
Prioritization and time management skills: balance between project delivery and BAU operational commitments.
Negotiation skills for vendor SLAs, contract terms and cross-functional trade-offs.
Change management and facilitation skills for operational rollouts and process adoption.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Operations Management, Supply Chain, Finance, Information Systems, or related field.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s degree plus relevant certification (Lean Six Sigma, PMP, Salesforce Admin) or
MBA or Master’s degree in Operations, Supply Chain, or Business Analytics (preferred for senior roles).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration
Operations Management / Supply Chain
Finance / Accounting
Information Systems / Computer Science
Industrial Engineering
Data Analytics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3–8 years of progressive B2B operations, sales/revenue operations, or order-to-cash experience; 5+ years preferred for fully independent managers.

Preferred:

5+ years in B2B or enterprise operations for SaaS, technology, manufacturing, or wholesale companies.
Proven track record administering Salesforce and an ERP (NetSuite/SAP/Oracle).
Demonstrable experience leading cross-functional projects, reducing cycle times, driving automation and improving SLA performance.
Experience managing vendor relationships and participating in contract negotiations.
Prior people management or functional leadership experience preferred for managerial roles.