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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Operation Associate

💰 $35,000 - $65,000

OperationsBusiness OperationsLogisticsCustomer Support

🎯 Role Definition

The Operation Associate is an early- to mid-level business operations professional responsible for ensuring smooth day-to-day operational workflows across order management, customer support, vendor coordination, inventory control, invoicing, and cross-functional process improvements. This role executes standard operating procedures (SOPs), monitors key performance indicators (KPIs), troubleshoots exceptions, and partners with finance, supply chain, sales, and product teams to remove friction and increase throughput. An effective Operation Associate balances tactical execution with continuous improvement mindset and reliable, data-driven communication.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Customer Service Representative transitioning to operations-focused work
  • Administrative Assistant or Office Coordinator moving into business operations
  • Junior Analyst or Operations Intern with 6–12 months of domain exposure

Advancement To:

  • Operations Specialist / Senior Operations Associate
  • Operations Analyst / Process Improvement Analyst
  • Operations Manager / Logistics Coordinator

Lateral Moves:

  • Customer Success or Account Management
  • Supply Chain / Inventory Planner

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Manage end-to-end order processing and fulfillment workflows: validate orders, confirm inventory availability, coordinate with warehouse or 3PL partners, update order status, and ensure on-time delivery while reducing order fallout.
  • Reconcile daily transactional data across order management, billing, and shipping systems to ensure financial accuracy and to prepare exception reports for finance and accounting.
  • Monitor and report on operational KPIs (on-time delivery, order accuracy, cycle time, ticket backlog) on a daily and weekly cadence; present trends and actionable recommendations to stakeholders.
  • Serve as the primary point of contact for escalations related to order delays, damaged goods, refunds, and returns; own end-to-end resolution and root-cause documentation.
  • Maintain and continuously improve standard operating procedures (SOPs) and knowledge base articles for operational tasks to reduce onboarding time and execution variability.
  • Coordinate vendor and carrier relationships: schedule pickups, confirm SLAs, manage claims for missing or damaged shipments, and track vendor performance against KPIs.
  • Execute invoice matching and transaction reconciliation: review supplier invoices, resolve discrepancies with procurement, and prepare documentation for accounts payable.
  • Conduct inventory cycle counts and investigations into inventory variances; partner with warehouse leads to implement corrective actions and track shrinkage.
  • Run and analyze operational reports using Excel, Google Sheets, or BI tools; automate repetitive reports with scripts or macros where feasible.
  • Process refunds, credits, and chargebacks in accordance with policy; ensure timely communication to customers and internal teams.
  • Maintain CRM and ERP data hygiene: update customer records, order notes, shipping information, and ensure data accuracy for reporting and audits.
  • Facilitate cross-functional post-mortems for incidents and continuous improvement initiatives; document corrective and preventive actions (CAPA).
  • Support month-end close tasks related to operations (accruals, deferred revenue adjustments, operational KPIs) and provide required backup to finance.
  • Coordinate schedules and logistics for field teams, installation crews, or vendor technicians to optimize resource utilization and reduce travel costs.
  • Execute compliance and regulatory checks relevant to shipments or services (e.g., customs documentation, hazardous materials classification) and escalate non-compliance.
  • Lead small process-improvement pilots (Lean/Six Sigma-inspired) to eliminate waste in workflows, reduce touchpoints, or improve throughput.
  • Assist in pricing, discount, and promotional processing in the order system; validate promotional eligibility and reconcile promotional performance.
  • Support customer onboarding tasks that require operational setup (account provisioning, provisioning escalations, data migrations).
  • Track refunds/returns/chargebacks aging and drive closure; provide monthly aging reports and recovery action plans.
  • Maintain inventory replenishment triggers and alerts; partner with procurement to restart stock and prevent stockouts for critical SKUs.
  • Prepare operational playbooks and contribute to new hire training sessions to accelerate ramp time for operations hires.
  • Build and maintain dashboards that surface SLA compliance, fulfillment health, and exception rates for executive and team-level consumption.

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 product and sales teams by validating operational feasibility for proposed feature rollouts and pricing changes.
  • Provide input to forecasting models by sharing operational lead-times, capacity constraints, and historical fulfillment performance.
  • Participate in cross-functional audits and readiness checks for internal or external reviews.
  • Proactively identify and document recurring customer or partner issues and propose operational safeguards.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets: pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, conditional formatting, and macros to automate reporting.
  • Familiarity with SQL for querying operational datasets; ability to run basic joins and aggregations to support investigations.
  • Experience with ERP and order management systems (e.g., NetSuite, SAP Business One, Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics).
  • CRM experience (e.g., Salesforce, Zendesk) for case management, customer communication, and order tracking.
  • Proficiency with reporting and dashboarding tools (Tableau, Power BI, Looker) to create operational KPIs and executive summaries.
  • Practical knowledge of inventory management systems and 3PL integrations (warehouse management basics, barcode scanning workflows).
  • Basic accounting fluency for invoice reconciliation, accruals, and month-end support.
  • Exposure to ticketing and workflow tools (Jira Service Management, Zendesk, Freshdesk) to manage operational queues and SLAs.
  • Understanding of shipping/carrier systems and common APIs (UPS, FedEx, DHL) and customs documentation.
  • Familiarity with process improvement frameworks and tools (Lean, Kaizen, Six Sigma fundamentals).
  • Comfortable with documenting SOPs and knowledge base articles using Confluence, Notion, or Google Docs.
  • Basic scripting or automation experience (e.g., Google Apps Script, Python snippets) is a plus.

Soft Skills

  • Clear, customer-centric communication style for both internal stakeholders and external partners.
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving mindset with ability to triangulate data and make recommendations.
  • High attention to detail and commitment to data integrity.
  • Prioritization and time-management skills to handle a mix of recurring tasks and urgent escalations.
  • Collaborative approach and ability to work cross-functionally across product, finance, sales, and logistics teams.
  • Resilience and composure under pressure when resolving escalations or managing supply disruptions.
  • Proactive ownership: follows through on issues and drives them to closure without constant direction.
  • Adaptability to changing processes and systems in a scaling organization.
  • Customer empathy and service orientation when coordinating refunds, returns, or corrective actions.
  • Influence and stakeholder management skills to negotiate trade-offs and align on operational priorities.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Associate degree or equivalent work experience in operations, logistics, business administration, or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Finance, Economics, or related discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Supply Chain / Logistics
  • Finance / Accounting
  • Economics
  • Information Systems

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 1–4 years in operations, order management, supply chain, or a customer-facing operational role.

Preferred:

  • 2–5 years of hands-on experience in operations or logistics within e-commerce, SaaS, retail, or manufacturing environments; demonstrated ownership of order-to-cash or procure-to-pay processes and experience improving workflows using data and automation.
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