Operations Analyst

Succeeding in business is like trying to get across town during rush hour: Although there are many ways to reach your destination, not all paths are equal. Because there are bottlenecks, roadblocks, and detours, getting where you need to be quickly, easily, and efficiently requires careful decisions about your itinerary and route.

As an Operations Analyst, also known as an Operations Research Analyst, you’re your company’s GPS system, paid to find and fix deficiencies in its processes, practices, and procedures so that it can more easily reach its destination, which might be higher profits, fewer costs, improved customer service, enhanced product offerings, or increased market share.

To do your job well as an Operations Analyst, you use math, engineering, and technology to create models of problems and simulations of solutions. For instance, if you own a busy mall, you may simulate different traffic patterns in the parking lot to determine which will ease congestion most. Or, if you own a supermarket, you may simulate different merchandise displays in order to determine which will move the greatest number of products. If you make cars, meanwhile, you may create a model that helps you determine the ideal number of employees in a shift, or the optimal number of parts to keep in stock for production.

It doesn’t matter what the problem is. As an Operations Analyst, you’re paid to identify it, collect data about it, and ask questions that will help you solve it, then use software and strategies to analyze the situation and make recommendations resulting in the more efficient management of money, materials, equipment, people, and time.