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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Internal Operations Coordinator

💰 $45,000 - $75,000

OperationsInternal OperationsOffice Management

🎯 Role Definition

The Internal Operations Coordinator is a tactical, cross-functional role responsible for ensuring seamless office operations, vendor and facilities management, operational process improvement, and day-to-day administrative systems that enable teams to focus on core deliverables. This person manages internal service delivery (facilities, procurement, IT/desk support liaison, expense processing), maintains operational standards and SOPs, produces recurring operational reports and KPIs, coordinates cross-functional projects, and partners with HR and Finance on onboarding, compliance, and vendor contracting. Ideal candidates combine strong organizational discipline, practical data-literacy, and a bias for operational excellence.


📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Administrative Assistant or Office Administrator
  • Facilities Coordinator or Vendor Coordinator
  • Project Coordinator or Operations Assistant

Advancement To:

  • Senior Operations Coordinator / Operations Manager
  • Office Manager / Facilities Manager
  • Program Manager, Business Operations or Head of Internal Operations

Lateral Moves:

  • Procurement Specialist
  • HR Coordinator (onboarding & employee experience)
  • IT Service Coordinator / Service Delivery Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Serve as the central point of contact for day-to-day internal operations, coordinating across Facilities, IT, HR, Finance and business teams to ensure timely resolution of service requests, facilities incidents, and workspace needs.
  • Own vendor management for assigned categories (office supplies, janitorial, security, catering), including sourcing, RFP coordination, contract maintenance, SLA monitoring and quarterly performance reviews to ensure cost-effective, reliable service delivery.
  • Manage incoming operational requests through ticketing or helpdesk workflows; prioritize, triage and escalate issues, and maintain resolution SLAs while communicating status updates to stakeholders.
  • Oversee procurement and purchase order workflows for routine internal spend: prepare requisitions, obtain approvals, track deliveries, reconcile invoices with Finance, and maintain an audited record of purchases and vendor contracts.
  • Implement and maintain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and runbooks for core internal services (onboarding, offboarding, office moves, equipment provisioning), and ensure documentation is current and accessible to stakeholders.
  • Coordinate employee onboarding logistics for new hires: workspace allocation, provisioning of accounts and hardware, access badges, welcome kits and first-week operational set-up in partnership with HR and IT.
  • Plan and execute office moves, reconfigurations and seating plans end-to-end; coordinate third-party movers, facilities vendors, internal communications and post-move validation to minimize disruption.
  • Maintain inventory of core office assets (IT hardware, spare peripherals, furniture, supplies); track asset lifecycle, enforce returns on offboarding, and lead periodic audits to prevent loss and control costs.
  • Monitor and report on operational KPIs (ticket volume and SLAs, vendor spend, occupancy & desk utilization, facility incident rates) and produce weekly/monthly dashboards for leadership to identify trends and improvement opportunities.
  • Administer travel and expense processes where applicable: review, code and submit expense reports, enforce policy compliance, and reconcile company cards or petty cash reports with Finance.
  • Support workplace health & safety and building compliance activities: coordinate fire drills, ensure first-aid supplies, manage vendor health certificates and facilitate safety training logistics.
  • Lead regular vendor and facilities SLA reviews; identify performance gaps, negotiate corrective action plans and recommend contract renewals or re-sourcing based on performance and pricing benchmarks.
  • Coordinate and run recurring cross-functional meetings (operations working group, facilities planning, onboarding reviews) and maintain meeting artifacts, action logs and follow-ups to closure.
  • Serve as the operations liaison for internal events and executive visits: manage room bookings, AV, catering, travel logistics and vendor coordination to ensure professional execution under budget.
  • Drive small process improvement initiatives using data and stakeholder feedback (e.g., optimize supply ordering cadence, streamline onboarding checklist steps), document impact and scale successful pilots.
  • Handle confidential operational tasks—such as payroll paperwork coordination, background check scheduling and contract signatures—while maintaining high standards of discretion and data privacy.
  • Provide first-line support for office technology and AV equipment: troubleshoot common issues, coordinate IT escalations, maintain spare hardware stash and manage lifecycle replacement schedules.
  • Create and maintain a centralized internal operations knowledge base and resource hub to accelerate issue resolution and reduce ad-hoc information requests across teams.
  • Prepare and manage operations budgets for assigned categories: forecast recurring spend, track actuals vs. budget, flag variances and partner with Finance to implement cost controls.
  • Facilitate multidisciplinary projects that impact workspace or operational capability—coordinating timelines, resource needs, stakeholder communications and ensuring project milestones are met.
  • Conduct regular supplier market scans and price benchmarking to recommend more cost-effective solutions or value-added services while maintaining continuity of service.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc operational data requests and exploratory analysis to inform leadership decisions (desk utilization, vendor spend trends, onboarding timelines).
  • Contribute to the organization's operational strategy and roadmap by surfacing recurring pain points and identifying scalable solutions.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate operational needs into procurement specifications, workspace requirements, or vendor SLAs.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies when supporting cross-functional projects or continuous improvement initiatives.
  • Assist HR and IT in coordinating periodic audits (access rights, asset inventories, compliance checklists) and implementing remedial actions.
  • Support corporate events and employee experience programs by coordinating logistics, vendor selection and post-event reconciliations.
  • Maintain and update internal systems of record (facility management systems, asset tracking spreadsheets, helpdesk platforms) to ensure data integrity for reporting and audits.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Office operations systems: Experience with desk/room booking and facilities management tools (e.g., Envoy, Robin, FM:Systems) and maintaining operational workflows.
  • Procurement & vendor management: Contract administration, PO creation, vendor performance tracking and experience with RFP processes.
  • Finance operations: Familiarity with expense systems (Concur, Expensify), purchase-to-pay workflows and basic budget tracking / reconciliation.
  • Project & task management tools: Strong use of Asana, Trello, Jira, Monday.com or similar to manage cross-functional deliverables and action items.
  • Advanced spreadsheet skills: Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, conditional formatting) or Google Sheets for data analysis, tracker creation and KPI dashboards.
  • Reporting & dashboarding: Ability to produce recurring internal dashboards (Looker, Tableau, Data Studio or polished spreadsheet dashboards) for operational KPIs.
  • Asset & inventory management: Experience maintaining asset registers, amortization lifecycle tracking and coordinating equipment returns on offboarding.
  • Basic IT literacy: Troubleshooting common AV and endpoint issues, working with IT ticketing systems and coordinating escalations.
  • Compliance & safety coordination: Familiarity with workplace safety protocols, emergency preparedness and managing vendor certificates of insurance.
  • Documentation & SOP authoring: Ability to write clear, searchable procedures, runbooks and knowledge base articles that reduce repeat inquiries.

Soft Skills

  • Strong communicator: Clear, timely written and verbal updates to stakeholders at all levels, including executives.
  • Customer-service orientation: Proactive, solution-focused approach for internal clients with high responsiveness and follow-through.
  • Cross-functional collaboration: Comfortable working across HR, IT, Legal, Finance and business teams to deliver outcomes.
  • Attention to detail: Manages contracts, invoices and asset records with precision and audit-readiness.
  • Problem solving & prioritization: Can triage competing operational demands, set priorities and escalate appropriately under time pressure.
  • Organizational agility: Manages multiple projects and recurring operational tasks with disciplined scheduling and tracking.
  • Data-driven mindset: Uses metrics and trend analysis to recommend improvements and quantify impact.
  • Confidentiality & professionalism: Handles sensitive information with discretion and integrity.
  • Negotiation & vendor influence: Able to negotiate scope, pricing and SLA terms to protect company interests.
  • Adaptability & continuous learning: Comfortable in changing environments and quickly learns new tools and processes.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • High school diploma or equivalent; demonstrated experience in office or operational roles required.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Operations Management, Supply Chain, Hospitality Management, or related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Operations Management
  • Supply Chain / Logistics
  • Human Resources
  • Finance / Accounting

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 2–5 years of progressively responsible experience in office operations, facilities, procurement, or administrative coordination.

Preferred:

  • 3–7 years experience supporting mid-sized or fast-growing companies in an operations, facilities, or vendor management capacity, with demonstrable success owning key operational programs, process improvements, and cross-functional stakeholder engagement.