There are 5 different levels of operations: Chief Operations Officer (COO), Director of Operations (DOO), Operations Manager, Operations Coordinator, and Operations Assistant.
What people don't realize though is that very few businesses have a need to have more than three levels in their businesses, and most don’t need a COO or an Operations Assistant. For this reason it is most likely the middle three layers will be the roles that you see in job descriptions, although titles may vary.
Within the different levels of operational roles, the amount of innate leadership expands as we get to the top. Also, the commitment to the business will be much higher at the COO level, and smaller at the Operations Assistant level. Additionally the higher the position, the higher the autonomy.
Lots of times we are growing in our careers we will start at the bottom. It’s common to have the CEO of the business serve as the COO and the DOO, and bring in their first or second hire to help in the assistant or coordinator space.
It's okay to not see all 5 levels of operations being held in individual roles throughout a biz. Wearing multiple hats within an organization is more common than you would think.
What matters is that you are building the team that best serves the needs of your biz and knowing these 5 levels of operations allows you to do just that!