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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Operations Control Manager

💰 $ - $

OperationsManagementControl Center

🎯 Role Definition

The Operations Control Manager owns the day-to-day command and oversight of the control center (or equivalent operations hub) to maintain real-time situational awareness, ensure schedule and service adherence, manage incidents and events end-to-end, and continuously improve operational performance. This role is accountable for staffing and shift management, operational decision-making under pressure, stakeholder communications, regulatory and safety compliance, and delivery of measurable KPI improvements through data-driven processes and technology enablement.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Operations Supervisor / Shift Supervisor
  • Control Room Supervisor / Duty Manager
  • Incident Manager / Emergency Response Coordinator

Advancement To:

  • Head of Operations Control / Senior Control Center Manager
  • Director of Operations / Regional Operations Director
  • VP Operations / Chief Operating Officer (larger operations)

Lateral Moves:

  • Operations Excellence / Continuous Improvement Manager
  • Safety & Compliance Manager
  • Capacity Planning / Resource Planning Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead and manage the operations control center (OCC) or equivalent command function across multiple shifts, ensuring 24/7 coverage, clear handovers, documented procedures, and consistent application of operational policies and emergency protocols.
  • Own real-time incident management: detect, classify, escalate, coordinate response activities across engineering, field operations, customer service and third-party vendors, and drive restoration to normal service with timely communications.
  • Make time-critical operational decisions using standardized playbooks and judgment, balancing safety, regulatory constraints, cost, and customer impact while documenting rationale and outcomes for post-incident review.
  • Design, implement and maintain robust shift rosters and workforce management processes to optimize staffing levels, reduce overtime, minimize burnout, and meet contractual SLA requirements.
  • Establish, monitor and continually refine operational KPIs and SLAs (e.g., on-time performance, mean time to repair, incident response time), create dashboards and executive-level reports, and present performance to senior stakeholders.
  • Develop and maintain incident escalation matrices, decision support tools, and control room standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure consistent, auditable responses and regulatory compliance.
  • Lead root cause analysis and post-incident reviews (RCA), synthesize findings, recommend corrective and preventive actions, drive remediation projects, and verify closure of action items.
  • Coordinate with cross-functional partners (engineering, maintenance, safety, commercial, customer operations, IT) to prioritize work, schedule interventions, and reduce operational risk while communicating constraints and expectations.
  • Manage vendor and contractor relationships that support control center operations (telemetry providers, NOC partners, field service contractors), including performance reviews and contract adherence to SLAs.
  • Build and sustain a culture of safety and regulatory compliance in the control center, ensuring mandatory training, certifications, and audits are completed and that safety-critical communications are enforced.
  • Lead change management for control room improvements and technology rollouts (new dispatch systems, ADMS/NMS, predictive analytics), partnering with IT and program teams to pilot, train, and operationalize new tools.
  • Drive continuous improvement programs using Lean, Six Sigma or similar methodologies to reduce manual work, accelerate decision cycles, and increase first-time-fix rates and schedule reliability.
  • Oversee budget planning and cost control for the control center, including headcount forecasts, overtime monitoring, technology refreshes, and operational expenses.
  • Ensure data integrity and operational analytics readiness by defining data sources, governance controls, and performance measurement methods to support predictive operations and capacity planning.
  • Manage critical communications to internal and external stakeholders (executive briefings, media responses, regulatory notifications, customer advisories) during major incidents and planned events.
  • Implement scenario-based crisis and contingency planning (severe weather, cyber incidents, major equipment failures) and lead simulation drills and tabletop exercises to validate readiness.
  • Coach, mentor and develop control center supervisors and operators, establish clear competency frameworks, conduct performance reviews, and manage succession planning to maintain continuity of expertise.
  • Own shift-to-shift and day-to-day operational decision logs, maintain accurate incident records, and ensure legal and regulatory documentation is complete for audits and compliance reviews.
  • Partner with workforce planning and training teams to develop onboarding curricula, recurrent training plans, and certification paths specific to control room roles and technologies.
  • Lead initiatives to automate routine alerts, alarms and workflows (e.g., automated dispatch triggers, communications templates) to reduce cognitive load and decision latency for on-shift personnel.
  • Analyze capacity trends, demand forecasts and resource utilization to recommend near-term schedule changes, infrastructure investments or operational boundary adjustments to maintain target performance levels.
  • Monitor and report on service recovery and customer-impact metrics after major events, ensuring customers and regulatory bodies receive accurate and timely post-event analysis and remediation plans.
  • Ensure operational readiness for planned events (major maintenance, peak seasons) by coordinating resource mobilization, contingency staffing, and stakeholder communication plans.
  • Maintain and update continuity-of-operations plans, ensuring the control center can operate under degraded conditions (alternate sites, remote working, redundant comms).

Secondary Functions

  • Support cross-functional projects by providing operational subject-matter expertise during requirements, testing and deployment phases for new systems and processes.
  • Contribute to the vendor selection process for control center technologies by providing operational use-cases, acceptance criteria, and pilot oversight.
  • Maintain and refine control center knowledge base, runbooks and quick-reference guides for frontline operators.
  • Support periodic internal and external audits related to operational controls, incident management, and regulatory compliance; coordinate remediation where needed.
  • Facilitate data-sharing and integration discussions with analytics teams to improve forecasting models and anomaly detection capabilities.
  • Participate in executive incident debriefs and prepare succinct after-action reports with actionable recommendations.
  • Provide on-call leadership escalation during high-impact events and serve as a point of contact for leadership during crisis periods.
  • Monitor industry best practices and benchmark control center performance against peers to identify opportunities for modernization and efficiency.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Proven experience managing an operations control center, network operations center (NOC) or control room for 24/7 operational services.
  • Incident management and emergency response proficiency, including use of incident tracking systems (e.g., ServiceNow, JIRA, PagerDuty) and formal escalation frameworks.
  • Metrics, KPI and SLA management: design, analyze and action against performance indicators using dashboards and reporting tools.
  • Advanced data analysis skills — strong Excel, Power Query, SQL for ad-hoc queries, and experience with BI platforms such as Tableau, Power BI, or Looker.
  • Familiarity with workforce management and shift scheduling systems (e.g., Kronos, Nice, Infor) and resource optimization tools.
  • Experience with control center technologies and telemetry platforms (SCADA, ADMS, NMS, EMS, CAFM, or industry-specific systems).
  • Root cause analysis and corrective action planning using RCA, 5 Whys, or fishbone methodologies; driving closure through project and stakeholders.
  • Change & release management skills for introducing new tools and operational procedures without degrading live service delivery.
  • Knowledge of regulatory and safety requirements relevant to the industry (e.g., FAA/EASA for aviation, NERC for utilities, DOT for transport, OSHA).
  • Budgeting and financial acumen applied to headcount, overtime control, vendor spend and technology investments.
  • Familiarity with IT/OT integration, cyber resilience considerations in a control environment, and downtime mitigation strategies.
  • Basic scripting or automation experience (Python, PowerShell, RPA) to automate repetitive workflows and improve operator efficiency.

Soft Skills

  • Decisive, calm leadership with proven ability to make high-stakes operational decisions under pressure.
  • Exceptional verbal and written communication skills for clear, concise incident briefings and stakeholder updates.
  • Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration to align priorities and resolve conflicts.
  • Coaching and people management: develop front-line talent, deliver feedback, and address performance issues constructively.
  • Analytical mindset with attention to detail and continuous improvement orientation.
  • Ability to prioritize competing demands, manage trade-offs and escalate appropriately.
  • Resilience and stress tolerance to lead in prolonged or high-impact incidents.
  • Customer-focused orientation and ability to translate operational performance into customer impact narratives.
  • Clear documentation discipline and governance mindset for auditability and traceability.
  • Change leadership and influence to drive process adoption across operations, engineering and support functions.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Operations Management, Industrial Engineering, Transportation, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field (or equivalent experience).

Preferred Education:

  • Master's degree (MS/MBA) in Operations Management, Engineering, Business Administration, or related field.
  • Certifications such as ITIL Foundation, Lean/Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt), PMP or industry-specific safety/operations certifications.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Industrial Engineering
  • Operations Research / Management Science
  • Transportation or Aviation Management
  • Supply Chain / Logistics
  • Electrical / Mechanical Engineering
  • Information Systems / IT Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 5–10 years of progressive operations experience, including 3+ years in a control center, NOC, or shift leadership role.

Preferred:

  • 7–10+ years of operational leadership in relevant industries (utilities, aviation, rail, logistics, telecommunications, emergency services).
  • Demonstrated experience leading 24/7/365 teams, managing large-scale incidents, and driving measurable improvements in KPI/SLA performance.
  • Prior experience with control center technologies, incident management platforms and workforce scheduling systems.
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