Operations

Manage the processes and people involved in delivering a good or service.

What will my day to day look like?

Operations roles can look very different. They can be managing content production at scale for a media business, or supply chain for a retail business. However, they all tend to be very metric-driven roles that involve coordinating large numbers of people to maximise efficiency and minimise error. Your day to day will likely balance ongoing management and maintenance activities with some fire-fighting, along with running new initiatives to make structural improvements in your metrics and introduce automation.

Who is it good for?

Operations is highly executional work with a tight feedback loop. Consultants are usually great at making things more efficient and delivering results quickly.

Who is it not good for?

Operations roles are often hyper-focused on making a few numbers go up or down. When combined with repetitive daily tasks and fire-fighting, this can get boring after a while if you don't have larger-scale projects to work on.

Protip

If you're going for an Ops role, think carefully about the domain knowledge you have now and will acquire, as that will likely inform your current and next career move. Do you want to become great at content, supply chain, fraud detection, etc.?

Base Compensation
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$120K - $160K AUD
Bonus Structure
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Equity in the business that typically vests over 4 years with 25% per year.

Career Progression
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Operations organisations tend to grow quickly meaning there is opportunity to move up the ranks as new people join below you. Other organisations will value this experience - especially in the same domain.

Transferability
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Operations skills are useful in a lot of places, and can take you to leadership/GM roles in operations heavy businesses. However, you won't learn core building or selling skills relevant to a wider business understanding.

Networking
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Operations roles will mostly expose you to people within your business unit and maybe some external partners. This will expand your network a little, but not significantly without going out of your way.

Work-life Balance
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Most companies will have some busy periods, but for the most part being an employee at one is a pretty good life with reasonable hours and good perks.

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