How To Hire A Business Operations Manager

A Business Operations Manager is the engine behind a company's internal efficiency and scalability. They align teams, optimize systems, and ensure the day-to-day operations run smoothly, allowing leadership to focus on growth and innovation. Whether you’re a startup building out processes or a growing enterprise looking to streamline operations, hiring a Business Operations Manager can dramatically improve organizational effectiveness and cross-functional execution.

Understanding The Role & Responsibilities

A Business Operations Manager bridges the gap between strategy and execution. They partner with teams across departments to ensure workflows, reporting, and resources are aligned with business goals. Their typical responsibilities include:

• Identifying and implementing process improvements to drive efficiency and scalability.
• Developing and maintaining operational KPIs, dashboards, and performance metrics.
• Managing cross-functional projects and collaborating with teams like Sales, Finance, HR, and Product.
• Analyzing business performance and making data-driven recommendations to leadership.
• Overseeing business systems and tools to ensure adoption and integration.
• Supporting budget management, vendor coordination, and resource planning.

This role varies depending on company size and industry. In smaller organizations, a Business Operations Manager may wear many hats, while in larger teams, they often specialize in optimizing systems or leading key operational initiatives.

Skills To Look For In A Great Business Operations Manager

A great Business Operations Manager is a strategic thinker, a process builder, and a collaborative leader. The most effective candidates blend data fluency with executional strength. Key skills to look for include:

Project Management & Execution

Look for experience leading cross-functional initiatives from ideation to completion. Strong candidates know how to manage timelines, prioritize tasks, and influence stakeholders.

Analytical Thinking & Business Acumen

Top-tier Business Operations Managers can dive into data, identify performance bottlenecks, and make actionable recommendations. Proficiency with Excel, Google Sheets, BI tools, and CRM dashboards is a must.

Process Optimization

Whether streamlining onboarding or improving financial reporting, your hire should be able to map out workflows, identify redundancies, and drive continuous improvement.

Cross-Functional Communication

The role often serves as a liaison across Sales, Marketing, HR, and Finance. Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to synthesize complex topics into clear action plans are critical.

Systems & Tools Familiarity

Experience working with business systems such as Salesforce, HubSpot, NetSuite, Asana, Notion, or Looker is valuable. Your candidate should be tech-savvy and comfortable managing integrations or implementations.

Adaptability & Initiative

Because operations often evolve quickly, your ideal candidate should be comfortable working through ambiguity, wearing multiple hats, and taking initiative without needing constant oversight.

Other Transferable Titles

Great Business Operations Managers often come from diverse professional backgrounds. You may want to consider candidates with titles such as:

Program Manager

Program Managers oversee multiple projects with a strategic lens. Their experience coordinating resources and tracking outcomes translates well into business operations roles.

Strategy & Operations Associate

This role often exists in startups or high-growth companies and involves working directly with leadership to solve business challenges. These individuals often bring data skills and strong problem-solving capabilities.

Revenue Operations Specialist

With a focus on aligning Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success, these professionals have strong experience with CRM tools, metrics, and operational reporting.

Chief Of Staff

Chiefs of Staff often lead internal operations, manage leadership priorities, and optimize workflows. If they’re looking for a more focused ops role, they bring relevant experience and high-level exposure.

Financial Analyst

Financial Analysts with exposure to operations and cross-functional collaboration can thrive in ops roles, especially when paired with business insight and systems thinking.

Interview Questions

Use these interview questions to assess both technical ability and operational mindset:

1. Describe a process you improved and the impact it had on the business.
2. How do you identify inefficiencies in team workflows or systems?
3. What tools have you used to manage operational reporting and dashboards?
4. Tell us about a time you led a cross-functional project. What challenges did you face?
5. How do you balance short-term tactical work with long-term strategic initiatives?
6. Walk me through how you would onboard a new system or tool across the company.
7. How do you ensure stakeholder alignment on key initiatives?
8. What do you do when priorities across departments conflict?

These questions reveal how the candidate handles complexity, prioritization, and stakeholder communication, core aspects of operations leadership.

Evaluating & Making The Final Decision

When making your final decision, look for a candidate who is both proactive and pragmatic. The ideal Business Operations Manager should demonstrate:

• A history of solving real business problems with measurable results.
• Comfort working across departments and influencing without authority.
• A builder’s mindset: someone who can create structure from ambiguity.
• Strong data literacy and a track record of using metrics to guide decisions.

Review case studies or work samples (such as process documentation or reporting dashboards) to see how they think. References can also offer insights into how the candidate managed pressure, built consensus, and improved outcomes in previous roles.

Partner With Premier

Hiring a Business Operations Manager can transform how your company operates day-to-day and how it scales long term. The right hire will streamline internal systems, surface key insights, and align people and processes to your business goals.

At Premier, we specialize in connecting businesses with operations talent who are ready to make a strategic impact. Whether you need a full-time leader or a temporary specialist, we’ll help you find the perfect match. Partner with Premier and optimize your operations from the inside out. Get started today.