How to Hire a Operations Manager
Operations Managers keep the business running efficiently. They design and optimize processes, manage cross-functional projects, and identify bottlenecks before they become crises. Great ops managers are rigorous thinkers who make complex organizations feel simple and well-coordinated.
What to Look For
- Process orientation: ability to map, analyze, and systematically improve operational workflows
- Analytical skills: comfort with data, metrics, and KPI frameworks
- Cross-functional influence: ops touches every part of the business — they need to work effectively across teams
- Project management fundamentals: scoping, resourcing, milestones, and communication
- Systems thinking: understands second-order effects of process changes
- Bias for standardization and documentation — builds institutional knowledge, not silos
The Hiring Process
- 1
Operations case study
Give a real operational problem (e.g., customer onboarding takes too long, support tickets are backlogged). Ask for a diagnosis and improvement plan.
- 2
Metrics and data interview
What KPIs would they own in this role? How would they build a reporting framework from scratch?
- 3
Cross-functional stakeholder assessment
How do they manage competing priorities from multiple departments? Role-play a difficult stakeholder conversation.
- 4
Process design exercise
Ask them to design a simple but complete operational process for a real function (e.g., onboarding a new employee, handling a refund request).
Interview Tips
- Ask 'Tell me about a process you inherited that was broken and how you fixed it'
- Ask how they've used data to identify a non-obvious operational problem
- Probe on prioritization: 'How do you decide what to fix first when everything is a mess?'
- Ask how they document processes to ensure continuity when people leave
Red Flags
- Talks about being 'busy' rather than being 'productive' — conflates activity with outcome
- No experience with process documentation or standard operating procedures
- Can't give metrics for operational improvements they've made
- Works in silos — no evidence of cross-functional collaboration
- Reactive only: waits for problems to escalate rather than identifying them early
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