Operations Manager → COO

This is a moderate transition with a typical 21-month runway and 54% skill overlap. Expect a +182% salary change, with strongest hiring demand in USA, UK, Canada. Employers hiring today include Series-B+ startups, Fortune 500. Focus your first 60 days on closing the gap in role-specific tooling and vocabulary.

1. 1Audit your Operations Manager experience for transferable skills that map to COO.
2. 2Close the top skill gap: role-specific tooling.
3. 3Build 2–3 portfolio artifacts that demonstrate COO outcomes.
4. 4Reshape your resume and LinkedIn around COO keywords and outcomes, not job titles.
5. 5Run a targeted outreach loop to COO hiring managers at Series-B+ startups, Fortune 500.

• ▸Why are you moving from Operations Manager to COO?
• ▸Walk me through a Operations Manager project where you applied skills relevant to COO.
• ▸Which parts of a COO role are new to you, and how are you closing that gap?
• ▸Where do you see yourself as a COO in 3 years?
• ▸Tell me about a stakeholder disagreement and how you resolved it.

• ▸Lead with a positioning line: "Operations Manager transitioning to COO, focused on Leadership and Stakeholder Management."
• ▸Reframe Operations Manager accomplishments using COO vocabulary — outcomes, not tasks.
• ▸Surface 54% of overlapping skills at the top; put Operations Manager-only work later.
• ▸Add a "Selected projects" section featuring 2 artifacts aligned to COO.
• ▸Quantify impact: dollars, users, uptime, cycle time — whatever a COO manager cares about.