Is it just you, or is it the job? Soon you’ll know.
Most operations leaders measure their role against a sample size of one: their own career. So we asked nearly 300 of them what the job actually involves.
The first Modern COO Benchmark is almost ready. You’ll be able to hold your own role up against it very soon.
First look: Wednesday 21 October, Farringdon, London
The report: coming soon. ON members will be the first to get their hands on it.
Launch checklist
4 of 5 done
What’s in it
You’ve been asking | The benchmark measures |
Is my remit normal? | Which of 27 business functions operations leaders own |
Where does my week actually go? | What eats the week, and what operations leaders want more time for |
Where do I stand with the CEO? | Reporting lines, and how the CEO relationship really works |
Should I own the AI? | What AI should and shouldn’t touch, from the people closest to the work |
Is there a stake in this for me? | How many work somewhere with an employee share scheme |
When we say COO, we mean operations leaders broadly: COOs, Heads of Operations, Operations Directors, VPs of Operations and Chiefs of Staff.
Why 2026
AI is changing the operations role right now. Not in five years: this year, in the ops teams we talk to every week.
And nobody had a clear picture of what the role looked like before it started moving.
So 2026 is the baseline: the first proper measure of what operations leaders own, where their week goes and what they think AI should and shouldn’t touch.
→ Not a report you read once. A reference point you can hold your own role up against.
→ Every year from now on. We run it again in 2027, and the year after, so we can watch the role change instead of guessing.
→ Every answer read. Including the open-text ones. Some of you wrote essays (we loved every one).
Sales has benchmarks. Engineering has benchmarks. Ops has a group chat. Soon it’ll have both.
First look ON 21 October
The report gets its first outing on Wednesday 21 October in Farringdon, in a room full of the people it’s about. The room is full, but we’re filming it.
→ The first look at what nearly 300 operations leaders told us
→ A panel with the founder, investor and operator views. Ben Gateley moderates, and nobody gets to say “it depends” without a follow-up.
Can’t be there? Subscribe to the newsletter and we’ll send you the recording, and the report when it’s out.
Built with Vestd
This benchmark exists this year because Vestd pushed us to do it. Thank you to Ifty Nasir and the whole Vestd team for backing it from the first question to the last chart, and for their patience while we read every answer.
Vestd is the share scheme and equity management platform helping startups and scaleups give their people a real stake in what they’re building. Thinking about a share scheme for your team? Talk to Vestd
Good to know
Read it first
ON members get the report before anyone else. Everyone else gets it the moment it’s public.
Not a member? Join Operations Nation See it on stage at ONwrapped, 3 December