Operations Director Recruitment

Operations Director Executive Search

Recruiting the right Operations Director is one of the most commercially significant appointments a growing UK business makes — yet it is frequently approached with insufficient clarity about what the role actually needs to deliver. Operations leadership spans an unusually wide range of responsibilities: process improvement, supply chain, technology operations, people management, financial controls, and strategic planning. No Operations Director is expert in every dimension. The skill in making a great appointment is defining precisely which operational challenges the business most needs solving — and finding a candidate who has solved exactly those problems before.

Exec Capital places Operations Directors for UK businesses on a permanent, interim, and fractional basis. We have an active network of operations leadership candidates across sectors and business sizes, including specialists in manufacturing, logistics, professional services, technology, and PE-backed growth businesses. Every search is run by our specialist team, with Adrian Lawrence FCA overseeing each mandate.

We also recruit Heads of Operations — the title many multi-site, leisure, wholesale and scaling businesses use for their senior operations leader. Whether your business calls the role Operations Director, Director of Operations, ops director or Head of Operations, the search starts in the same place: a clear view of what the operation needs to achieve over the next two to three years, and the level of authority the person needs to achieve it.

From Adrian Lawrence: “The Operations Director brief is the one where we most often find a gap between what the CEO thinks they need and what the business actually needs. ‘Someone to sort out our operations’ is a starting point, not a brief. The most effective Operations Directors I have placed are those who were matched to a specific operational challenge — a scaling business that needed its processes rebuilt for growth, a PE-backed business that needed its cost base restructured, a professional services firm that needed its delivery model redesigned. That specificity is what determines success.”

How Operations Director Recruitment Works

Every Operations Director or Head of Operations search follows the same six stages. The detail inside each stage changes with the format — a permanent search is broader and deeper, an interim or fractional appointment is narrower and faster — but the order does not. We agree the timetable with you at briefing, based on how specialised the profile is and how quickly you need someone in post.

If you are not yet sure whether you need a permanent Operations Director, an interim operations leader or a part-time arrangement, that is a normal place to start. The first conversation is about the problem, not the format, and we will tell you plainly if a different appointment would serve the business better.

Operations Director vs COO: Which Does Your Business Need?

Operations Director and Chief Operating Officer (COO) are closely related roles — both focused on operational leadership — but they differ in seniority, scope, and the governance context in which they operate. Choosing the right title and level before starting the search determines the candidate pool and the likely commercial impact of the appointment.

An Operations Director is typically the most senior operations leader in a mid-market or growth-stage business — responsible for the operational functions, reporting to the CEO or Managing Director, and managing the operations team. They may or may not sit on the executive leadership team. In most UK businesses with annual revenues below £50m, Operations Director is the conventional and appropriate appointment. The role is focused on operational delivery — ensuring the business runs efficiently, processes are fit for purpose, and the operations function supports commercial growth.

A COO (Chief Operating Officer) is a C-suite designation — sitting alongside the CFO, CMO, and CEO on the executive board. The COO has a broader mandate than an Operations Director: they typically have responsibility not just for operations but for the overall business execution — managing multiple functional areas, deputising for the CEO, and contributing at the highest level of strategic planning. In larger businesses, particularly those with complex multi-site or multi-product operations, institutional investor backing, or an executive board requiring a dedicated operational leader at C-suite level, a COO is the appropriate appointment. For COO appointments, see our COO recruitment page, our fractional COO service, and our interim COO page.

The practical test: if your business needs someone to own the operational function and report to the CEO on a day-to-day basis, an Operations Director is the right appointment. If your business needs someone who will sit at the CEO’s right hand, manage multiple functional areas beyond core operations, and represent operational performance at board and investor level, the COO designation is more appropriate. Exec Capital will work through this distinction with you as the first step of any brief.

Title choice also affects who applies. Experienced COOs rarely respond to an Operations Director brief, because they read it as a step down; strong Operations Directors who are ready for a bigger role will often respond to a COO title even if the scope is closer to an Operations Director’s. Getting the title right is therefore a recruitment decision as much as an organisational one. If the business is FCA-regulated and the role carries responsibility for the firm’s internal operations and technology, the senior manager function question (SMF24, Chief Operations function) also needs to be settled at briefing — our SMF24 Chief Operations function hiring guide covers that point.

Head of Operations Recruitment

“Head of Operations” is the most searched title in UK operations leadership, and it covers a wider range of roles than Operations Director does. In some businesses it is the senior operations leader in all but name. In others it is a level below an Operations Director or COO, running day-to-day delivery while the director owns strategy, budget and board reporting. Before we start a Head of Operations search, we pin down which of those two roles you are actually hiring, because they attract different candidates and command different packages.

What does a Head of Operations do?

A Head of Operations is responsible for making the business deliver, consistently, every day. In practice that usually means:

• Running daily operations across sites, teams or service lines — staffing, scheduling, service standards and the operating rhythm of the business.
• Managing operational managers — site managers, general managers, warehouse or production managers, customer service leads — and holding them to agreed KPIs.
• Owning processes and standards — standard operating procedures, health and safety, compliance checks, audits and quality controls.
• Controlling operating cost — labour, consumables, maintenance and supplier spend against budget, with explanations for the variances.
• Delivering improvement projects — a new system, a new site opening, a process redesign or an integration, alongside running the existing operation.
• Reporting upwards to the Operations Director, COO, MD or founder on performance, risks and resource needs.

In multi-site leisure, hospitality and retail businesses, the Head of Operations is often the person who visits sites, sets the standards, and makes sure a customer gets the same experience wherever they walk in. In wholesale, distribution and logistics, they tend to own the warehouse, transport and fulfilment operation and the systems behind it. In scaling service and technology businesses, the title often describes the first senior operations hire, who takes over everything the founders have been doing informally.

Head of Operations vs Operations Director: the difference

The distinction is about authority and horizon rather than activity. An Operations Director usually owns the operational strategy, the operating budget and the case for investment, sits on or reports into the leadership team, and is accountable to the board for operational performance. A Head of Operations is usually accountable for execution: hitting the plan, running the teams and fixing problems as they arise, often within a budget and strategy set above them. In smaller businesses the two jobs are the same job, and the title is a matter of company culture. We set out the detailed comparison, with examples of when each title fits, in our guide to Operations Director vs Head of Operations.

Where the two roles are genuinely different, the hiring risk runs in both directions. Hire a Head of Operations when you need an Operations Director, and you will get strong delivery but no one shaping the operating model, making the investment case or challenging the plan. Hire an Operations Director when you need a Head of Operations, and you may pay for strategic capability the business cannot use, with a leader who becomes frustrated by hands-on work. Our briefing process is designed to catch that mismatch before a search goes to market.

Recruiting a Head of Operations with Exec Capital

We run Head of Operations searches on the same basis as Operations Director searches: permanent appointments on a retained basis, and interim or consultant-basis appointments where the business needs someone quickly or for a defined project. Typical Head of Operations briefs we see include a multi-site operator professionalising its estate before further openings, a wholesale or distribution business rebuilding its warehouse and fulfilment operation, and a founder-led business appointing its first senior operations leader so the founder can step back from daily running. If you are recruiting a Head of Operations, tell us about the role and we will help you decide title, level and package before anything is advertised.

Operations Director vs Head of Operations vs COO

The three titles overlap, and different businesses use them differently. The table below shows how they usually compare in UK businesses; it is a guide rather than a rule, and the right answer for your business depends on size, ownership and the problem you are hiring to solve.

Operations Director or Director of Operations?

These are the same role. “Operations Director” is the more common form in UK private companies; “Director of Operations” is more common in US-owned businesses, charities, healthcare, education and the public sector. Neither title tells you whether the holder is a statutory director registered at Companies House — many Operations Directors are employees with “director” in their job title only. Where someone is appointed to the board, they take on the general duties of a company director, including the duty to promote the success of the company under section 172 of the Companies Act 2006. Make that decision deliberately, and say which it is in the brief.

Managing Director vs Operations Director

A Managing Director runs the whole business, or a whole business unit, with accountability for revenue, profit and strategy. An Operations Director runs one part of it — how the business delivers — and usually reports to the MD. In owner-managed businesses, the MD and Operations Director often divide the work as “outside and inside”: the MD leads customers, growth and investors, while the Operations Director runs people, sites and processes. When an Operations Director is being groomed as a successor, the brief should say so, because it changes the profile you need. Our comparison of Managing Director vs Operations Director responsibilities goes into more detail, and we also handle Managing Director recruitment where the senior role you need is the MD.

When Should a Business Hire an Operations Director?

The most common triggers for an Operations Director appointment that Exec Capital encounters include:

• Growth has exposed operational fragility: The business has scaled to a point where informal processes, workarounds, and manual interventions that worked at £5m are breaking down at £20m. The CEO is spending too much time on operational problems that should be managed below them, and the lack of operational structure is becoming a constraint on further growth.
• Private equity investment: PE investors typically require a solid operational framework as a foundation for the value creation plan. An Operations Director who can implement the process disciplines, reporting structures, and management cadence that the investor expects — while delivering the operational improvements that drive EBITDA growth — is often among the first senior appointments in a PE-owned business. See our private equity recruitment capability.
• A significant operational change programme: A business implementing a new ERP system, redesigning its service delivery model, integrating an acquisition, or restructuring its supply chain needs operational leadership that can manage the change programme alongside running the existing business. This is one of the most common triggers for an interim Operations Director appointment where the change is time-bounded.
• Operational cost pressure: Businesses facing margin compression — through rising input costs, pricing pressure, or inefficiency — need Operations Director-level leadership to identify and execute the structural cost improvements that management below that level cannot drive. An Operations Director who has restructured comparable cost bases before brings a roadmap that an internally promoted operations manager typically cannot.
• Business transformation: Pivoting the operating model, entering a new geography, launching a new service line, or shifting from a project-based to a recurring revenue model all require operational leadership at a senior level to redesign the delivery infrastructure the business needs to operate the new model at scale.
• Departure of an existing Operations Director: When an Operations Director leaves, the operational momentum they have built — process quality, team capability, supplier relationships, management rhythms — begins to erode faster than most businesses anticipate. An interim appointment while the permanent search is conducted prevents the business from losing operational ground. See our interim Operations Director page for urgent appointments.
• Opening new sites or locations: A business moving from two or three sites to ten or more needs standard operating procedures, site management capability and a roll-out plan that a founder or general manager cannot run alongside everything else. This is one of the most common triggers for a first Head of Operations or Operations Director in leisure, hospitality, healthcare and retail.
• Preparing for sale or investment: Buyers and investors look closely at whether the business depends on its founders to run day to day. An Operations Director who has built a management team and documented processes makes the business easier to diligence and less dependent on any one person.

Two warning signs suggest an appointment is overdue rather than merely useful. The first is when the same operational failures keep recurring — missed deliveries, stock errors, staffing gaps, customer complaints — and each is fixed individually without anyone owning the cause. The second is when the CEO or founder has become the only person who can make operational decisions, so that every problem queues up for them. Either sign means the business is paying for the absence of an Operations Director already; it is simply paying in margin, customer goodwill and management time rather than salary.

What Does an Operations Director Do?

The Operations Director’s responsibilities vary significantly with business size, sector, and operating model — but the core functional areas typically include the areas below. For a fuller explanation of the role, see our guide to what an Operations Director does, and for a template you can adapt, our Operations Director job description.

Operational Strategy and Planning

The Operations Director translates the business strategy into an operational plan — defining how the business will deliver its products or services at the quality, cost, and scale the commercial strategy requires. They own the operational budget, manage the allocation of operational resources, and provide the CEO and board with a credible view of operational capacity, constraints, and investment requirements. The operational plan is typically reviewed annually and updated quarterly alongside the broader business planning cycle.

Process Design and Improvement

One of the highest-return activities an Operations Director performs is systematic process improvement — identifying where the business’s operational processes are inefficient, inconsistent, or not fit for current scale, and redesigning them. This includes implementing process documentation, standard operating procedures, and performance management frameworks that allow the business to operate consistently without depending on specific individuals. Many growing businesses have never formally documented how they do things; an Operations Director who builds that infrastructure creates a scalable operating model rather than a collection of individual practices.

Technology and Systems Oversight

The Operations Director typically owns the operational technology stack — the ERP, CRM, and operational management systems that the business runs on. They make or heavily influence the systems investment decisions, manage the technology vendors, and lead the implementation of new operational systems alongside the IT leadership. For businesses without a dedicated IT Director, the Operations Director often absorbs the operational technology governance responsibility entirely. See our IT Director recruitment page for separate technology leadership appointments.

Supply Chain and Vendor Management

For businesses with physical supply chains — manufacturing, distribution, retail, construction — the Operations Director manages the supplier relationships, procurement strategy, and logistics infrastructure that determine cost of goods and service reliability. For service businesses, the equivalent is the vendor and partner ecosystem that the business depends on to deliver its services. The Operations Director’s commercial management of these relationships — contract negotiation, performance management, risk mitigation — is directly reflected in margin and service quality. Where supply chain is a large enough discipline to need its own leader, see our Supply Chain Director recruitment service.

Quality and Compliance

The Operations Director is responsible for maintaining the quality standards the business’s customers and regulators require. This includes overseeing quality management systems, managing accreditations and certifications — such as ISO 9001 quality management certification — and ensuring the business’s operational practices comply with relevant regulatory requirements. For businesses in regulated sectors, the compliance dimension of the Operations Director role can be significant. In most operational businesses it includes health and safety: the Health and Safety Executive’s guidance on managing for health and safety sets out the plan, do, check, act approach that a competent operations leader should be able to evidence across every site.

People and Team Leadership

The Operations Director manages the operations team — typically one of the largest teams in the business — and is responsible for the performance culture, the management capability of operational managers, and the staffing levels and skills mix that the operational model requires. In businesses with significant operational headcount, the Operations Director’s capability as a people leader — their ability to set clear expectations, develop managers, and maintain engagement in a demanding operational environment — is often the most commercially important dimension of their contribution.

Financial Controls and Reporting

The Operations Director works closely with the CFO to maintain the financial controls within the operational function — managing the operational cost base, monitoring variances against budget, and providing the financial reporting that the board needs to understand operational performance. They are typically a key contributor to the management accounts, the board pack, and the investor reporting pack in businesses with institutional investment.

Operations Director Recruitment: Sector Considerations

Manufacturing and Industrial

Manufacturing Operations Directors need specific experience of production management, lean manufacturing principles, supply chain optimisation, and — increasingly — the integration of operational technology and industrial IoT systems into the production environment. Lean and Six Sigma qualifications are common among experienced manufacturing Operations Directors. The Make UK body represents UK manufacturers and provides useful context on the operational challenges driving Operations Director appointments in the sector. Our manufacturing executive recruitment practice covers the wider leadership team, including engineering and plant leadership.

Professional Services

In law firms, accountancy practices, consultancies, and engineering businesses, the Operations Director manages the delivery infrastructure — the resource allocation, project management frameworks, utilisation metrics, and quality processes that determine whether the business delivers its services profitably. The commercial model in professional services is fundamentally different from product businesses, and Operations Directors who have only worked in product environments often struggle with the utilisation-based economics and the matrix management dynamics of professional services delivery.

Technology and SaaS

Technology business Operations Directors typically manage a combination of customer success operations, implementation services, technical support, and the internal operational infrastructure of the business. In SaaS businesses particularly, customer onboarding speed and customer success metrics — churn, NPS, expansion revenue — are operational accountabilities that sit with the Operations Director. See our CTO recruitment page for separate technology product and engineering leadership.

Financial Services

Operations Directors in FCA-regulated businesses operate within a specific compliance framework — operational processes must meet regulatory standards, operational risk is a board-level governance concern, and the interaction between the operations function and the compliance and risk team is ongoing and consequential. The FCA’s operational resilience requirements place specific obligations on how firms manage their operational processes and technology dependencies. An Operations Director with FCA-regulated sector experience understands these obligations and how to build operational processes that meet them.

PE-Backed Growth Businesses

The Operations Director in a PE-backed business is a critical contributor to EBITDA improvement — one of the primary value creation levers available to the investor. The most effective PE-backed Operations Directors are those who can identify and execute operational improvements at pace, work comfortably with the investor’s value creation team, and manage the cultural challenges that operational change in a PE environment creates. UK Private Capital (the industry body formerly known as the BVCA) publishes research on how private capital investors back and develop UK businesses, and operational improvement is a recurring theme in how investors describe value creation — which is why Operations Director appointments are often prioritised early in the ownership period.

Multi-Site Leisure and Hospitality

Gyms, leisure centres, venues, hotels and restaurant groups depend on consistent standards across many locations, often with large part-time and shift-based workforces. The senior operations leader — frequently titled Head of Operations — needs experience of site roll-outs, area manager structures, labour scheduling against demand, health and safety across public-facing sites, and the customer experience metrics that drive membership retention or repeat visits. Candidates from single-site environments often underestimate how much of the job is building managers who can run sites without them. Our leisure and hospitality executive recruitment page covers the wider leadership team in this sector.

Logistics, Wholesale and Distribution

In wholesale, distribution and third-party logistics, operations is where the margin is made or lost: warehouse layout and productivity, pick accuracy, transport cost, stock control and service levels to customers. Operations leaders in these businesses need fluency with warehouse management systems, labour planning, carrier management and the cost-to-serve analysis that shows which customers and products actually make money. Our logistics and transport executive hiring guide sets out the wider considerations for leadership hiring in the sector.

Construction and Property Services

Construction contractors, facilities management providers and property services businesses need operations leaders who can run multiple live projects or contracts at once, manage subcontractor supply chains, control margin on fixed-price work, and keep a strong safety record. The best candidates combine commercial awareness with operational discipline; the role is as much about avoiding margin leakage on contracts as about running the work. See our construction executive recruitment service for the wider team.

Who We Place

Exec Capital recruits operations leaders for businesses where operations is central to the commercial result. We do not publish client names or placement stories; what follows describes the types of business and brief we typically work on.

• Multi-site operators — leisure, fitness, hospitality, retail, healthcare and education groups that need consistent standards across an estate and a structure that can support further openings.
• Manufacturers — owner-managed and PE-backed manufacturers needing production, supply chain and continuous improvement leadership, often alongside a capital investment programme.
• Logistics, wholesale and distribution businesses — warehouse, fulfilment and transport operations where productivity, accuracy and cost-to-serve decide margin.
• PE-backed and investor-backed companies — businesses executing a value creation plan, a buy-and-build strategy or preparation for exit, where operations is a key lever. See also our PE operating partner recruitment work.
• Founder-led scale-ups — technology, services and consumer businesses appointing their first senior operations leader so the founders can focus on growth.
• Professional and financial services firms — businesses that need delivery, resourcing and operational resilience led at director level.

The common thread is a business that has outgrown the way it currently runs. Our candidates are Operations Directors, Heads of Operations, Group Operations Directors and COOs who have taken comparable businesses through that change, and our assessment is built around evidence that they have done so.

Permanent, Interim, or Fractional Operations Director?

Permanent Operations Director

A permanent appointment is appropriate where the business needs sustained, long-term operational leadership — where the Operations Director will build the processes, develop the team, and own the operational strategy over a multi-year horizon. Permanent Operations Director searches often take around eight to twelve weeks from brief to appointment, depending on the profile and notice periods; we agree the timetable with you at briefing. Exec Capital manages the full search on a retained basis.

Interim Operations Director

An interim Operations Director appointment provides experienced operational leadership for a defined period — covering a departure, leading a specific change programme, managing the operational workstream in a transaction, or providing stability while the permanent search is conducted. Exec Capital has an active network of experienced interim Operations Directors, including specialists in manufacturing turnarounds, service delivery redesign, and post-acquisition integration. Interim Operations Directors usually work on a day rate, often through their own limited company. Whether the off-payroll working rules (IR35) apply depends on the facts of each engagement, and for medium and large clients it is the client that must decide the status — HMRC explains the rules in its guidance on understanding off-payroll working (IR35). Because interim candidates are often available at short notice, we can usually move faster than on a permanent search. See our dedicated interim Operations Director page for urgent appointments.

Fractional Operations Director

A fractional Operations Director works with the business on a part-time basis — typically one to three days per week — providing senior operations leadership without the cost of a full-time hire. This model is well suited to businesses in the £2m–£15m revenue range that need Operations Director-level thinking but do not yet have the scale to justify a full-time appointment, or to businesses that need senior operational oversight alongside an existing operational team rather than a replacement for it.

Comparing the formats

Other ways to hire an operations leader

This page covers permanent Operations Director and Head of Operations recruitment. If you need someone in post quickly or for a fixed period, see our interim Operations Director service. For C-suite operational leadership, see COO recruitment, interim COO, fractional COO and part-time COO. If you are running the process yourself, our step-by-step guide on how to hire an Operations Director covers each stage.

What an Operations Director Typically Delivers in the First 90 Days

A new Operations Director or Head of Operations should not be expected to transform the operation in three months, but the first 90 days should produce visible progress and a plan the board believes. We ask candidates at interview to describe what they would do in this period, and we check with the appointee and the client around the 90-day mark. A sound first 90 days usually looks like this.

Days 1 to 30: understand

• Meet every direct report and key operational manager one to one, and visit every site, line or warehouse.
• Review the operational KPIs, the budget and the last twelve months of performance against plan.
• Walk the main processes end to end — order to delivery, or booking to service — and note where work is duplicated, delayed or reliant on one person.
• Meet key customers and suppliers to hear how the business looks from outside.
• Check the basics: health and safety, compliance, insurance, contracts and any open risks.

Days 31 to 60: diagnose and stabilise

• Agree with the CEO the three to five operational priorities that matter most to the commercial plan.
• Fix the urgent issues that are costing money or customers now, without starting a reorganisation.
• Assess the management team: who is strong, who needs support, and where the gaps are.
• Set up a regular operating rhythm — weekly performance reviews, monthly reporting, clear escalation routes.

Days 61 to 90: plan and start delivering

• Present an operational plan to the CEO and board with priorities, resource needs, costs and measures.
• Agree the KPIs the Operations Director will be judged on over the following year.
• Begin the first improvement projects, with named owners and dates.
• Make or recommend any early changes to the team structure.

Interim Operations Directors work to a compressed version of this timetable, because they are usually appointed to deliver a defined outcome. For the equivalent plan at C-suite level, see our article on the first 90 days of a new COO.

Operations Director Compensation and Package Structure

Operations Director compensation varies significantly with business size, sector, and the complexity of the operational environment. Rather than quote rates that date quickly, we discuss current market levels for your specific brief at the outset of each search, based on the candidates we are speaking to. The main components of an Operations Director or Head of Operations package are:

• Base salary — driven mainly by the size and complexity of the operation (headcount, sites, turnover, regulatory exposure) and the location of the role.
• Annual bonus — usually tied to a mix of company profit and operational KPIs such as service levels, cost per unit, safety and quality measures.
• Equity or long-term incentives — common in PE-backed and founder-led businesses preparing for exit, through sweet equity, growth shares or EMI options.
• Benefits — pension, car or car allowance (especially where the role covers several sites), private medical cover and life assurance.
• Interim and fractional terms — a day rate for interim appointments, and a day rate or monthly retainer for fractional appointments, reflecting the days committed.

The most common mistake we see is benchmarking an Operations Director against the previous holder rather than the market. If the role has grown — more sites, more people, investor reporting — the package usually needs to grow with it to attract someone who has run an operation of that size. For published reference points, see our COO salary guide and directors’ salary guide. For COO-level compensation in larger organisations, see our COO recruitment page. Exec Capital provides market rate guidance as part of every search brief.

What to Look for When Hiring an Operations Director

Relevant operational context: An Operations Director who has managed a manufacturing supply chain is not automatically the right appointment for a professional services business, and vice versa. The operational challenges, the management culture, the technology environment, and the performance metrics differ substantially between sectors. Relevant sector experience is the most important filter — before skills, qualifications, or seniority level.

Track record of delivering operational improvement: Ask every Operations Director candidate to describe a specific operational improvement they led — the before state, what they did, the after state, and how it was measured. Candidates who can answer this question precisely, with quantified outcomes, have done the work. Candidates who speak in generalities about process improvement or operational excellence without specific evidence have not.

Commercial orientation: The best Operations Directors understand that their function exists to support commercial performance — not to optimise operations for its own sake. They measure themselves by business outcomes: margin, service quality, customer retention, delivery reliability. An Operations Director who optimises for internal efficiency metrics without connecting them to commercial results will frustrate the CEO and the commercial team.

Change management capability: Operational improvement almost always requires changing how people work — which creates resistance, uncertainty, and sometimes conflict. The Operations Director’s ability to lead change effectively — communicating clearly, bringing the team with them, managing resistance, and maintaining morale through disruption — is one of the most important personal qualities the role requires and one of the hardest to assess from a CV.

Financial literacy: The Operations Director manages a significant cost base and is accountable for the financial performance of the operational function. They need sufficient financial literacy to read and challenge the management accounts, model the financial impact of operational decisions, and engage credibly with the CFO on budgeting and variance analysis. Candidates who are uncomfortable with financial data are not ready for Operations Director accountability.

Scale match: An operations leader who has run a 2,000-person, 40-site operation inside a large group may struggle in a 150-person business with no support functions, and the reverse is equally true. Look for candidates who have worked at, or one step above, your current scale, and who have operated with the level of support your business can actually provide.

Interview questions that separate strong candidates

• “Take me through the operation you ran: headcount, sites, budget, and the three KPIs you were judged on.”
• “Describe a process you redesigned. What was the before and after, and how did you measure it?”
• “Tell me about a manager you had to move on. How did you reach the decision and what happened to performance afterwards?”
• “What would you look at first in our management accounts, and why?”
• “When did an operational change you led go wrong, and what did you do about it?”

Good answers are specific, include numbers the candidate can explain, and acknowledge what other people contributed. Vague answers about “driving efficiency” or “transforming culture” without detail are the most common sign of a candidate who has been close to change but did not lead it.

Exec Capital’s Operations Director Search Process

1. Brief and scoping: We work with the CEO to define the operational context — the size and complexity of the operation, the specific challenges the new appointment will need to address, the team they will inherit, and the personal characteristics that will work in the specific business culture. We ask specifically about the balance between immediate operational firefighting and medium-term improvement, because this determines whether a candidate with a change management background or a steady-state operations management background is more appropriate.
2. Candidate identification: We draw on our operations leadership network — Operations Directors and COOs we have placed or assessed, targeted referrals from our broader C-suite network, and market mapping for sector-specific profiles. We do not rely on job board applications as the primary source for Operations Director searches.
3. Assessment: We assess all candidates against the specific operational context of the brief — probing track record, change management experience, financial literacy, and cultural fit. We specifically test the gap between how candidates describe their experience and the underlying evidence of what they delivered.
4. Shortlist and selection: We present two to four candidates with full briefing notes and support the interview, reference, and offer process.

Throughout the search we keep you updated on market response, including any feedback from candidates on the role, the package or the business that you would want to know before final interviews. Where the market tells us the brief needs adjusting — for example, because the package is below what comparable operations leaders earn, or the scope combines two jobs — we say so early rather than at shortlist stage. Our approach to search is set out in more detail on our executive search methodology page.

Engagement and Fees

We explain our terms in writing before any work starts, and the structure depends on the format of the hire. We do not publish fee levels, because they depend on the role and scope; we will set out our terms for your brief at the first conversation.

• Permanent Operations Director and Head of Operations searches are run on a retained basis. The fee is a percentage of the first-year package, staged across the search, which allows our team to commit the time a direct search requires. Our guide to retained vs contingent executive search explains when each model makes sense.
• Contingent support may suit some less senior or easier-to-fill operations roles, where we are paid only on placement.
• Interim and fractional appointments are charged on a day-rate basis: you pay an agreed daily rate for the days worked, which covers the interim’s fee and ours. There is no separate search fee for most interim placements.
• What is included in a retained search: briefing and role definition, market mapping and direct search, candidate assessment and shortlist reports, interview coordination, referencing support, offer negotiation and contact through onboarding.

Operations Director and Head of Operations Jobs: For Candidates

This page is written for businesses hiring operations leaders. If you are an Operations Director, Head of Operations or COO looking for your next permanent, interim or fractional role, please register with Exec Capital so our team can consider you for future searches, and see our current opportunities. Many of our operations searches are confidential and are never advertised, so registration is the most reliable way to be considered.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between an Operations Director and a General Manager?

A General Manager typically has operational responsibility for a specific business unit, region, or division — with P&L accountability for that unit but not across the whole business. An Operations Director has operational accountability across the entire business — all functions, all sites, all operational processes — and reports directly to the CEO or MD. In businesses with multiple divisions, there may be both a Group Operations Director and divisional General Managers, with the Operations Director setting operational standards and managing GMs as part of the operations leadership structure.

Should the Operations Director have a formal operations qualification?

There is no mandatory qualification for an Operations Director, but the most widely respected professional frameworks in UK operations management are the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) for supply chain and procurement leaders, and Lean and Six Sigma certifications for process improvement specialists. For manufacturing Operations Directors, relevant engineering qualifications and Lean Manufacturing credentials are common. For most Operations Director appointments, practical experience in the relevant sector and operational context matters significantly more than formal qualifications.

How long does an Operations Director search take?

A focused permanent Operations Director search often takes around eight to twelve weeks from brief to appointment, plus the candidate’s notice period. Interim appointments can usually be made significantly faster, because many interim operations leaders are available at short notice. We agree the timetable with you at briefing.

At what revenue stage does a business need a dedicated Operations Director?

Most businesses benefit from a dedicated Operations Director appointment from around £5m–£10m revenue, when operational complexity has grown to the point where the CEO can no longer absorb operational management alongside their other responsibilities. The right timing depends more on the operational intensity of the business model than the absolute revenue level — a manufacturing business at £8m may need an Operations Director urgently; a professional services firm at £15m with a simple delivery model may manage without one for longer. If the CEO is spending more than 25% of their time on operational problems, a dedicated Operations Director appointment is almost certainly overdue.

What does a Head of Operations do?

A Head of Operations runs the day-to-day delivery of the business: managing operational teams and site managers, owning processes and standards, controlling operating costs, delivering improvement projects and reporting performance to the Operations Director, COO, MD or founder. In smaller businesses the Head of Operations is often the most senior operations leader.

What is the difference between a Head of Operations and a Director of Operations?

A Director of Operations (or Operations Director) usually owns operational strategy, the operating budget and board reporting. A Head of Operations is usually accountable for execution within that plan. In smaller businesses the two titles describe the same job. Our guide to Operations Director vs Head of Operations sets out the differences in detail.

Is an Operations Director the same as a Director of Operations?

Yes. The two titles describe the same role; “Operations Director” is more common in UK private companies, and “Director of Operations” in US-owned businesses, charities, healthcare and the public sector. Neither title means the holder is a statutory director unless they are formally appointed to the board.

What is the difference between a Managing Director and an Operations Director?

The Managing Director runs the whole business and is accountable for revenue, profit and strategy. The Operations Director runs how the business delivers — people, sites, processes and suppliers — and usually reports to the MD. In many owner-managed businesses the MD leads customers and growth while the Operations Director runs the operation.

Can we hire an Operations Director on an interim or part-time basis?

Yes. Interim Operations Directors work full-time for a defined period, which suits cover, turnarounds and change programmes. Fractional and part-time operations leaders work a set number of days a week, which suits smaller businesses that need senior judgement without a full-time salary. We place operations leaders in all of these formats.

Do you recruit Heads of Operations as well as Operations Directors?

Yes. We run Head of Operations searches for multi-site operators, wholesale and distribution businesses, manufacturers and scale-ups, on the same retained basis as Operations Director searches, and we help clients decide which title and level fits before the search starts.

Recruit an Operations Director — Permanent, Interim or Fractional

Exec Capital places Operations Directors and Heads of Operations for UK businesses at every stage of growth. We have an active network of operations leadership candidates — including specialists in manufacturing, logistics, multi-site leisure, professional services, technology, and PE-backed transformation. Permanent search is run on a retained basis; interim placement gives you an experienced operations leader for a defined period; and the fractional option provides a part-time Operations Director for businesses not yet requiring full-time operational leadership. Every search is run by our specialist team, with Adrian Lawrence FCA overseeing each mandate.

Related Operations Leadership Appointments

• COO Recruitment — Chief Operating Officer for larger businesses and PE-backed corporates
• Fractional COO — part-time COO for scaling businesses
• Interim COO — interim Chief Operating Officer appointments
• Interim Operations Director — interim operations leadership for defined periods
• Operations Director Job Description — detailed role and responsibilities guide
• Operations Director vs Head of Operations — how the two roles differ and which to hire
• How to Hire an Operations Director — step-by-step hiring guide

Related Director and C-Suite Appointments

• Managing Director Recruitment — MD appointments for owner-managed and growth businesses
• CEO Recruitment — Chief Executive appointments
• CFO Recruitment — Chief Financial Officer appointments
• IT Director Recruitment — technology operations leadership
• HR Director Recruitment — people and HR leadership
• Private Equity Recruitment — operations and executive appointments in PE-backed businesses
• Interim Executive Recruitment — all interim C-suite and director placements

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Sources and Further Reading

• Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) — professional standards for supply chain and procurement leaders
• Make UK — representing UK manufacturers and operational leaders
• BSI Group — ISO 9001 Quality Management System certification
• FCA — Operational resilience requirements for regulated businesses
• UK Private Capital (formerly the BVCA) — the UK private equity and venture capital industry body
• Companies Act 2006 — director duties applicable to Operations Directors
• HMRC — IR35 off-payroll working rules for interim operations engagements
• Health and Safety Executive — managing for health and safety

Compensation information on this page describes typical package structure only. Actual compensation is agreed on a per-engagement basis. Contact our team for current market rate guidance for your brief.