Chief Operating Officer
A chief operating officer turns a company's strategy into the daily operations that deliver it, with responsibility for budgets, supply chains, people and the processes that connect them.
- Median salary*
- $200,200
3.5%vs last year, before tax
- People employed*
- 2,400
0.0%vs last year
- Projected growth*
- +2.1%
to 2035
- AI exposure*
- Moderate
- automation risk
- Average hours*
- 45/wk
+5h vs all jobs
- Shortage status*
- Not in shortage
national
Chief operating officers sit alongside the chief executive, usually as the most senior operational role below them, translating board-level strategy into the systems and processes departments actually follow. Where a chief executive sets direction and manages the board, the chief operating officer owns execution, so operations, supply chains, budgets and often human resources report through the role. The title is most common in large organisations with several business units, and the scope varies widely by company and industry.
How much do chief operating officers earn?
The median full-time salary for a chief operating officer is $200,200 per annum, before tax, up $42,600 since 2018.
Pay at this level is set by individual negotiation rather than an award or enterprise agreement, and it tracks the size of the organisation and how many functions report through the role, so a chief operating officer running several business units is paid on a different scale from one in a smaller private firm. Bonuses tied to profit, margin or operational targets can make up a large part of the package, which means the split between base salary and incentive matters as much as the headline number. It is worth asking how the bonus is calculated and what proportion of it has actually been paid in recent years.
What does a chief operating officer do day to day?
The list below is what fills most weeks; the exact mix shifts with seniority and whatever stage the current work is at.
- Designing operational processes that cut cost or lift output across several departments, then tracking whether the change held
- Reviewing KPI dashboards and presenting performance results to the chief executive and the board each month
- Setting budgets and reallocating resources when one part of the business needs more support than another
- Leading cross-functional teams through a major change, such as an ERP rollout, a restructure or an acquisition integration
- Identifying operational risks, from supply chain gaps to compliance failures, and putting controls in place before they bite
What skills do chief operating officers need?
Employers look for operations management, strategy development, budgeting and forecasting, backed by ERP systems (SAP, Oracle) fluency and strong people leadership.
Specialist skills
- Operations management
- Strategy development
- Budgeting and forecasting
- Risk and internal controls
- Process improvement
- Financial analysis and modelling
Software and tools
- ERP systems (SAP, Oracle)
- Business intelligence platforms (Tableau, Power BI)
- Project management software (Microsoft Project, Asana)
- Financial modelling tools (Excel)
General skills
- People leadership
- Stakeholder management
Is the job growing?
About 2,400 people work as chief operating officers in Australia, and employment is projected to grow 2.1% over the decade to 2035. That's modest growth: demand is steady rather than booming.
How do you become a chief operating officer?
Here's the path most chief operating officers take, step by step.
- 1Earn a degree in business, commerce, engineering or a related field
A bachelor degree is the usual foundation, and 52% of people now working as chief operating officers hold one. The subject matters less than the analytical grounding and early exposure to how money, people and processes move through a business.
- 2Build a record of running something
Employers look for evidence you have owned a budget, a team and a set of numbers someone else measured. Line management in operations, supply chain, manufacturing or a large service function is the usual training ground, and the scale of what you ran matters more than the title you held.
- 3Move into a general manager or functional head role
A general manager role carries profit and loss responsibility across a business unit and a team of managers, and the two jobs share 67% of their skills, so it is a common stepping stone into the executive team. Research and development managers also move into the role where the company's operations depend on technical delivery.
- 4Add a postgraduate qualification if it helps
26% of people in the role hold a postgraduate qualification, often an MBA or a masters in a technical discipline. It counts most for career changers and for candidates crossing between sectors, where the credential is a quick signal of breadth.
- 5Take the step into the executive team
Chief operating officer appointments are usually made internally or through executive search rather than from advertised applications. The move depends on being visible to the chief executive and the board before the role is created, which is why internal candidates with a track record in the same company are common.
Ready to apply as a chief operating officer?
Whether you're working toward becoming a chief operating officer or already are one and want a hand with the next step (sharpening your resume for ATS screening, tightening your cover letter, or knowing what you'll actually be asked at interview), here are examples grounded in this specific role, not generic templates.
What jobs can a chief operating officer move to?
None of the roles chief operating officers typically move into pay more than the role itself. Chief Executive Officer is the closest match. If a bigger salary is the goal, moving up into a senior or principal position within the role is usually the faster route than moving sideways.
| Move to | Typical pay change | Overlap | Retraining |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chief Executive Officer A chief operating officer brings deep operational oversight and strategic execution to the top executive role, stepping up to lead the whole organisation. | −$18,200 | 44% | reskill |
| Management Consultant A chief operating officer brings a whole-of-business perspective and operational expertise to consulting, helping clients improve performance. | −$73,100 | 45% | short course |
Moves are chosen from Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility, which follows income tax records between 2011-12 and 2020-21, together with entry requirements and skill overlap. A known move is one people were seen making in that data. Pay change compares median full-time pay for the two roles.
Who works as a chief operating officer?
The typical chief operating officer is 51 years old; 68% are men, 98% work full-time, and full-timers average 45 hours a week.
- 51
- Median age
- 32%
- Female share
- 98%
- Full-time
- +5h
- vs all-jobs avg
What's it like being a chief operating officer?
The job is broad and fast-moving, with a budget review, a supply chain problem and a conversation with a department head often landing in the same morning, and the week rarely running as planned. It suits people who can make a decision on incomplete information and then live with it, and who get more satisfaction from making a system work than from a single piece of analysis. Much of the work happens through other people, so patience and clear communication count for as much as operational knowledge.
What people like
- You see how the whole business fits together. The role sits across every function, so you can trace how a pricing decision in sales lands on the warehouse floor, which is hard to see from inside one department.
- You can fix what you find. When a process is broken, you usually have the authority and the budget to change it rather than escalate it and wait.
- Building the team around you. A large part of the job is choosing and developing the managers who run each function, and their progress shows up in whether the numbers hold without you in the room.
- A direct line to strategy. You work closely with the chief executive and the board, so you see decisions being made rather than receiving them after the fact.
What people find hard
- You answer for results you do not fully control. When a project slips or a supply chain breaks, the explanation is yours to give even where the cause sits in another team or outside the company.
- Long weeks and constant availability. Full-time hours average 45 a week, and they stretch well past that during a restructure, an acquisition or a bad quarter, with calls and messages arriving outside office hours.
- A good share of the job is political. Functions compete for money and headcount, so negotiation with peers and careful management of board and executive relationships take up real time.
- How much you control depends on the boss. The chief executive and the board decide the boundaries, and a role that looked broad in the interview can narrow once another executive claims a function.
Based on our synthesis of professional-body surveys and public accounts of the role, not first-person verified reviews.
Which industries employ chief operating officers?
Finance and Insurance Services employs the largest share of chief operating officers, followed by Manufacturing.
Top employing industries
- 1Finance and Insurance Services
- 2Manufacturing
- 3Professional Services
- 4Retail and Wholesale Trade
- 5Construction
Ranked by employment share; the source doesn't publish an exact percentage per industry.
| Bachelor degree | 52% | |
|---|---|---|
| Postgraduate | 26% | |
| Diploma / Advanced Diploma | 13% | |
| Other | 9% |
Will AI replace chief operating officers?
Chief operating officers work largely through other people and through decisions that carry consequences, which keeps automation at arm's length from the core of the job. Business intelligence platforms and ERP systems already assemble the performance data the role once waited weeks to receive, so the work is shifting toward interpreting it, choosing what to do and getting managers to act. The judgement, negotiation and accountability stay with the person.
Share of typical working time by exposure level
- Reading performance data and reporting to the boardDashboards in Power BI or Tableau now assemble the KPI pack automatically, so the work is mostly judging what the movement means and what to say about it.30%high
- Budgeting and forecasting across functionsFinancial models and ERP planning modules generate scenarios in minutes, but the assumptions behind them and the trade-offs between departments are still set by a person.25%high
- Leading people through major changeAn ERP rollout or an acquisition integration depends on persuading managers to change how they work, which happens in rooms and one-to-one conversations rather than in a system.25%low
- Designing operational processes and improvement programsProcess mining tools can map where work stalls, though deciding which fix is worth the disruption, and getting departments to adopt it, is not something software does.20%moderate
Moves least exposed to AI
These career moves from chief operating officer work are rated low for AI exposure:
- Chief Executive Officer
Solid skill overlap (44%), reskill to get there, and a low automation-risk profile.
- Management Consultant
Solid skill overlap (45%), short course to get there, and a low automation-risk profile.
Common questions about becoming a chief operating officer
Straight answers to the questions people ask most.
How much does a chief operating officer earn?
$200,200 per year before tax, based on median full-time earnings for the role. Pay at this level is negotiated individually and moves with the size of the organisation, the number of functions reporting to the role and how much of the package is tied to a bonus.
How do you become a chief operating officer?
Most chief operating officers get there by running something first, whether that is a business unit, a plant, a supply chain or a large service function. A degree in business, commerce, engineering or a related field is the usual foundation, and a general manager role is a common stepping stone because both jobs carry profit and loss responsibility and a team of managers reporting in.
Are chief operating officers in demand?
Chief operating officers are currently not in shortage. Employment in the role is projected to grow 2.1% over the decade to 2035 over the decade to 2035, from a small base of about 2,400 people, so openings tend to come from retirements and from companies creating the position rather than from expansion. Because appointments are usually internal or made through search, the practical way in is a senior operational job in the same organisation.
Will AI replace chief operating officers?
Not the job itself, but a growing share of the analysis behind it. Business intelligence platforms and ERP systems now assemble the performance pack that a chief operating officer once waited weeks for, and process mining tools can show where work stalls, which shifts the role toward judging what the numbers mean and persuading people to act on them. Leading a business through change, negotiating between functions and answering to a board are not tasks software takes over.
What can a chief operating officer move into?
Some step up into a chief executive role, where the work shifts from execution to setting direction and managing the board, and others move into management consulting, where a whole-of-business view and an operational track record are what clients are buying. Senior people from general management and research and development also move into the role, so entry and exit run through the same executive layer.
What is the difference between a chief operating officer and a chief executive officer?
The chief executive sets the direction of the company and answers to the board, while the chief operating officer turns that direction into how the business actually runs day to day. In a large company the chief operating officer usually has operations, supply chains, budgets and often human resources reporting through the role, and may or may not be next in line for the top job.
Related roles
- Chief Executive Officer
- Management Consultant
- General Manager
- Management Consultant
- Research and Development Manager
- Operations Manager
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