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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Business Operations Executive

💰 $ - $

🎯 Role Definition

The Business Operations Executive is a strategic, hands-on leader responsible for designing, optimizing, and scaling business processes to deliver measurable improvements in efficiency, cost, and customer experience. This role partners with Finance, Sales, Product, Engineering, HR, and Customer Success to translate strategic objectives into operational plans; define and track KPIs; implement process automation; and manage cross-functional programs that enable growth and operational excellence.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Operations Manager
  • Program Manager / Product Operations Lead
  • Finance Operations or Business Analyst lead

Advancement To:

  • Head of Business Operations / Director of Operations
  • Chief Operating Officer (COO) / VP of Operations
  • Chief of Staff (Enterprise Operations)

Lateral Moves:

  • Product Operations Director
  • Strategy & Corporate Development Manager
  • Revenue Operations / GTM Operations Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop and execute the business operations strategy that aligns with executive priorities, scaling processes and systems to support year-over-year revenue growth, operational efficiency, and improved customer outcomes.
  • Design, implement, and continuously optimize end-to-end operational processes (sales-to-cash, order management, onboarding, billing, renewals) to reduce cycle time, minimize errors, and improve customer satisfaction metrics.
  • Own cross-functional program management for high-impact initiatives—define scope, milestones, resource plans, risk mitigation strategies, and success metrics; drive programs to completion and measure ROI.
  • Establish and track a robust set of operational KPIs and dashboards (e.g., CAC, churn, MRR/ARR velocity, cycle times, SLA adherence); provide weekly and monthly executive reporting with data-driven insights and recommendations.
  • Lead operational capacity planning, workforce forecasting, and resource allocation in partnership with Finance and People Operations to ensure the organization is right-sized for demand and growth.
  • Partner with Finance to build and maintain operational financial models, budgeting, and forecasting processes that drive accurate planning, variance analysis, and cost optimization.
  • Drive process automation and systems improvements by evaluating and implementing SaaS platforms (ERP, CRM, billing, integration tools) and workflow automation to eliminate manual work and increase throughput.
  • Serve as the primary liaison between business units and technical teams to translate business requirements into clear functional specifications, prioritize engineering backlogs, and ensure timely delivery of operational features.
  • Manage vendor selection, implementation, and performance for third-party services critical to operations (billing providers, logistics partners, managed services), negotiating SLAs and commercial terms.
  • Lead continuous improvement initiatives using Lean, Six Sigma, or equivalent methodologies to identify root causes, implement corrective actions, and institutionalize best practices across teams.
  • Oversee compliance and risk management for operational processes, ensuring appropriate controls, data privacy practices, and audit readiness across systems and vendor relationships.
  • Build and maintain clear operational playbooks, SOPs, and escalation matrices to enable consistent execution across distributed teams and to onboard new hires quickly and efficiently.
  • Conduct cross-functional stakeholder alignment sessions, steering committees, and executive briefings to secure buy-in, remove blockers, and communicate status on mission-critical operational programs.
  • Drive customer lifecycle optimization initiatives—improve onboarding completion rates, time-to-value metrics, renewal processes, and post-sale satisfaction through data-driven interventions.
  • Lead root-cause analyses for major operational incidents and coordinate post-mortems with concrete remediation plans to prevent recurrence and improve resilience.
  • Implement and oversee revenue operations and sales operations processes, including forecasting cadences, pipeline hygiene, quote-to-cash workflows, and incentive program alignment.
  • Identify and quantify operational inefficiencies and cost savings opportunities; design and lead cross-functional implementation plans to realize targeted savings within defined timelines.
  • Champion data-driven decision making by ensuring data quality, governing business rules, and partnering with Analytics to deliver actionable insights and self-service dashboards to business stakeholders.
  • Manage and mentor junior operations managers and analysts, establishing career development plans, performance goals, and a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
  • Coordinate cross-functional readiness for product launches and major GTM initiatives, ensuring operational systems, processes, and support teams can scale to meet demand.
  • Lead partnerships with Legal and Compliance to operationalize contractual terms, pricing changes, and policy updates across systems and processes.
  • Drive strategic initiatives that incorporate modern technologies, including automation tools, machine learning models, and AI-assisted processes, to accelerate productivity and improve decisioning.

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.
  • Provide operational support for monthly and quarterly business reviews, preparing executive-ready materials that summarize performance, risks, and recommended actions.
  • Facilitate cross-team knowledge transfer sessions and workshops to socialize process changes, new tools, and operational standards.
  • Maintain and evolve business continuity and incident response plans to minimize downtime and preserve customer trust during disruptions.
  • Coordinate training and enablement programs for sales, customer success, and operations teams on systems, workflows, and best practices.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Operational Strategy & Execution: proven experience designing and executing operations strategy that scales with business growth.
  • Process Improvement & Automation: familiarity with Lean/Six Sigma methods, process mapping, and workflow automation platforms (e.g., Zapier, Workato, UiPath).
  • Data Analysis & BI: strong SQL proficiency, advanced Excel, and experience with BI tools (Tableau, Power BI, Looker) to build dashboards and perform deep-dive analyses.
  • Financial Acumen & Modeling: budgeting, forecasting, unit economics, and P&L analysis to support financial planning and cost optimization decisions.
  • Project & Program Management: experience managing complex, cross-functional programs using Agile, Scrum, or traditional PM methodologies; PMP/Agile certifications are a plus.
  • CRM & ERP Systems: hands-on experience with Salesforce, HubSpot, NetSuite, SAP, or comparable systems; understanding of integrations and data flows.
  • Revenue Operations & Quote-to-Cash: knowledge of quote-to-cash lifecycle, CPQ tools, billing systems, and revenue recognition impacts.
  • Vendor & Contract Management: vendor selection, SLA negotiation, performance management, and contract lifecycle oversight.
  • Reporting & KPI Design: ability to define metrics, maintain dashboard health, and provide actionable insights to executive stakeholders.
  • Change Management & Documentation: experience creating SOPs, playbooks, and training materials; ability to lead organizational change with minimal disruption.
  • Cloud & SaaS Ecosystem Familiarity: comfortable evaluating and implementing SaaS tools to streamline operations and enable scale.
  • Familiarity with Data Governance: data quality controls, master data management, and basic understanding of privacy/regulatory requirements.

Soft Skills

  • Strategic thinker with strong business acumen and the ability to connect operational changes to measurable business outcomes.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to create executive-level presentations and influence senior stakeholders.
  • Strong stakeholder management and consensus-building skills across diverse functional groups.
  • Problem-solver with a bias for action, comfortable working with ambiguity and driving decisions with imperfect data.
  • Leadership and people management: ability to coach, mentor, and develop high-performing operations teams.
  • Prioritization and time management: skilled at balancing short-term operational needs with long-term strategic initiatives.
  • Attention to detail and high standards for process quality and documentation.
  • Adaptability and resilience in fast-paced, high-growth environments.
  • Collaborative mindset and customer-oriented focus to improve internal and external user experiences.
  • Ethical judgment and integrity when handling sensitive financial and customer data.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Operations Management, Finance, Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

  • MBA or advanced degree in Business, Operations, Analytics, or equivalent professional certification (PMP, Lean/Six Sigma Black/Green Belt).

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration / Operations Management
  • Finance / Accounting
  • Industrial Engineering / Systems Engineering
  • Data Analytics / Information Systems

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 5–12 years of progressive experience in operations, program management, revenue operations, or business analytics roles.

Preferred:

  • 7+ years leading cross-functional operational programs in SaaS, technology, finance, retail, or professional services environments.
  • Demonstrated track record managing P&L impacts, driving process automation, and delivering measurable operational improvements across teams.
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