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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Operations Project Manager

💰 $ - $

🎯 Role Definition

The Operations Project Manager is responsible for planning, executing, and closing cross-functional operations initiatives that improve efficiency, reduce cost, and scale business processes. This role combines program management discipline with operational domain knowledge to define project scope, manage stakeholders, mitigate risk, and deliver measurable improvements against KPIs and SLAs. Ideal candidates have a strong background in process improvement (Lean/Six Sigma), project delivery methodologies (Waterfall/Agile), and proven experience coordinating technical, operations, and vendor teams to drive predictable, high-quality outcomes.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Operations Coordinator / Operations Analyst
  • Project Coordinator / Junior Project Manager
  • Business Analyst / Process Analyst

Advancement To:

  • Senior Operations Project Manager
  • Program Manager / Portfolio Manager
  • Director of Operations / Head of Program Management

Lateral Moves:

  • Product Operations Manager
  • Supply Chain or Logistics Manager
  • Customer Operations Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead end-to-end planning and delivery of complex operations projects, including scope definition, timeline development, resource allocation, budget tracking, risk mitigation, and post-implementation reviews to ensure projects deliver expected business value and ROI.
  • Serve as the single point of accountability for cross-functional project execution, coordinating stakeholders across operations, engineering, product, finance, legal, and external vendors to align priorities and resolve conflicts.
  • Develop and maintain detailed project plans (Gantt charts, RAID logs, resource plans) and drive adherence to milestones using PM tools such as MS Project, Jira, or Smartsheet while reporting status to senior leadership and steering committees.
  • Create and manage project budgets, forecast spend, track change orders, and optimize costs by negotiating vendor contracts, managing procurement processes, and implementing cost control measures.
  • Identify, quantify, and mitigate project risks and dependencies through proactive risk registers, contingency planning, and escalation to senior stakeholders when necessary to minimize impact to timelines and quality.
  • Define and monitor operational KPIs and SLAs tied to project outcomes, use data to measure effect of changes, and produce executive-level dashboards and trend analyses using Power BI, Tableau, or advanced Excel.
  • Drive process improvement initiatives (Lean, Six Sigma) to eliminate waste, standardize operations, and increase throughput by documenting current-state processes, designing future-state workflows, and delivering sustainable handoffs to operations teams.
  • Coordinate multi-site and international rollouts, including go-live readiness checklists, cutover planning, rollback strategies, and local compliance and localization requirements to ensure consistent delivery across regions.
  • Manage third-party vendors and integrators end-to-end — RFP development, vendor selection, contract negotiation, SLA definition, performance monitoring, and remediation — ensuring contracted deliverables meet quality and timeline expectations.
  • Lead change management activities for operations transformations, including stakeholder analysis, communication plans, training programs, and adoption metrics to ensure smooth transitions and minimize operational disruption.
  • Facilitate cross-functional governance forums (steering committee, working groups) to drive decision-making, prioritize backlog items, and maintain alignment between business objectives and project execution.
  • Oversee technical integration and deployment activities with engineering teams, coordinating testing (UAT), data migrations, API integrations, and release schedules to ensure operational readiness and data integrity.
  • Implement capacity planning, workforce scheduling, and resource optimization strategies that align project deliveries with operations staffing, seasonal demand, and business continuity plans.
  • Develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), runbooks, and knowledge transfer documentation to institutionalize changes and enable scalable, repeatable operations after project close.
  • Run performance analysis and post-implementation reviews (lessons learned) to capture process gaps, identify continuous improvement opportunities, and update governance and playbooks for future projects.
  • Prioritize and manage concurrent project portfolios, balancing short-term operational fixes with longer-term strategic initiatives while maintaining visibility into inter-project dependencies and resource constraints.
  • Partner with finance and central PMO to ensure project accounting, capitalization, and financial close processes are followed and that performance is measured against agreed-upon business cases.
  • Lead initiatives to implement automation and tooling (RPA, workflow engines, task orchestration) to reduce manual touchpoints and improve transaction accuracy and throughput.
  • Ensure compliance with internal controls, regulatory requirements, data privacy policies, and audit requests related to operations projects, coordinating with legal and compliance teams as needed.
  • Serve as a mentor and coach to more junior project managers and operations staff, establishing best practices for project scoping, estimation, stakeholder communication, and risk management.
  • Proactively identify operational bottlenecks and recommend prioritized roadmaps combining tactical fixes and strategic platform changes to improve customer experience and reduce operating expense.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis to inform project decisions and prioritize improvements.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap by identifying operational data quality gaps and instrumentation needs.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements and acceptance criteria.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering and product teams to ensure operational requirements are included in delivery cycles.
  • Assist with vendor onboarding documentation, security questionnaires, and compliance checklists.
  • Coordinate internal and external audit responses related to project implementations and operational controls.
  • Support operational readiness assessments, including staffing, tool access, and training plans prior to major deployments.
  • Help maintain a centralized project repository and knowledge base to improve transparency and program continuity.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Project management methodologies: PMP, PRINCE2, Agile/Scrum — proven experience applying hybrid methodologies to deliver operations projects.
  • Advanced Microsoft Excel, including pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, and financial modeling for budget tracking and reporting.
  • Experience with project and work management tools: Jira, Confluence, MS Project, Smartsheet, Asana, or Wrike.
  • Data analysis and visualization: SQL for querying operational datasets and Power BI / Tableau for dashboarding and KPI tracking.
  • Process improvement frameworks: Lean, Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt experience preferred) and value stream mapping to optimize operations.
  • Budgeting and financial acumen: cost forecasting, variance analysis, and business case creation with measurable ROI.
  • Vendor and contract management: RFP development, SLA definition, vendor performance metrics, and negotiations.
  • Change management and training delivery: ADKAR or equivalent approaches to drive user adoption and behavior change.
  • Technical integration knowledge: APIs, data migration best practices, UAT execution, and release coordination with engineering teams.
  • Risk and compliance management: risk registers, escalation processes, internal controls, and regulatory awareness relevant to operations.

Soft Skills

  • Strong stakeholder management with the ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional teams without direct authority.
  • Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level presentation and reporting.
  • Strategic and analytical thinker who uses data to prioritize work and measure impact.
  • Problem-solving mindset with attention to detail and ability to distill complex problems into actionable plans.
  • High level of organization and time management to juggle multiple initiatives and competing priorities.
  • Leadership and people management skills to mentor teams, facilitate workshops, and resolve interpersonal conflicts.
  • Adaptability and resilience in fast-paced, ambiguous environments, with a bias for action.
  • Collaborative team player who can foster cross-functional alignment and build consensus.
  • Customer-focused orientation, ensuring operational changes improve customer outcomes and experience.
  • Negotiation and influencing skills to secure resources, buy-in, and vendor commitments.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

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

Preferred Education:

  • Master's degree (MBA, MS in Operations/Industrial Engineering) or equivalent advanced degree.
  • Professional certifications such as PMP, PRINCE2, Lean Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt), or Scrum Master are strongly preferred.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Operations Management
  • Industrial Engineering
  • Business Administration / Management
  • Supply Chain / Logistics
  • Information Systems / Computer Science

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 3–7 years of progressive experience in operations project management, program delivery, or process improvement roles.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years managing large-scale, cross-functional operations projects with measurable business impact.
  • Demonstrated experience in workplace automation, vendor management, global rollouts, and implementing process improvement methodologies.
  • Proven track record of delivering projects on time and on budget in fast-paced or high-growth environments; experience in your industry (e.g., fintech, e-commerce, logistics, manufacturing) is a plus.
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