Operations Manager Interview Questions for Hiring

Introduction

Hiring the right Operations Manager is critical in the Operations industry to ensure consistent delivery, process reliability, and scalable growth. The role requires operational insight, people leadership, and a focus on continuous improvement.

This guide contains practical Operations Manager interview questions for all stages of the hiring process, including eight basic questions, ten intermediate scenario questions, ten advanced questions, and five pre-screening one-way video interview questions ideal for initial screening on ScreeningHive.

Operations Manager Interview Questions

Basic Operations Manager Interview Questions

• Can you describe your experience managing day to day operations in a similar industry?
• What metrics do you consider most important for measuring operational performance?
• How do you prioritise competing operational tasks under tight deadlines?
• Explain your approach to inventory management and demand forecasting.
• How do you ensure compliance with health, safety, and regulatory standards?
• Describe a time you improved a process to reduce waste or cost.
• What systems or software have you used for operations planning and reporting?
• How do you communicate operational changes to cross functional teams?

Intermediate Operations Manager Interview Questions

• A production line is missing its output targets. How would you investigate and address the shortfall?
• You inherit a team with low morale and high turnover. What steps would you take in the first 90 days?
• Describe how you would build a capacity plan for peak season demand.
• How would you evaluate whether to automate a manual process or retain human oversight?
• Explain a time you negotiated with a vendor to improve cost or service levels. What was your approach?
• A key KPI has declined suddenly. Walk through how you would identify root causes and corrective actions.
• How do you balance short term problem solving with long term process improvements?
• Describe your method for managing cross functional projects involving operations, product, and finance.
• How would you implement a continuous improvement program across multiple sites or teams?
• Explain how you set targets and cascaded them through the operations team.

Advanced Operations Manager Interview Questions

• Describe an operations strategy you developed that scaled capacity while controlling cost. What were the key trade offs?
• How do you design operational architecture to support rapid geographic expansion?
• Explain your experience with lean methodologies, Six Sigma, or other optimization frameworks and the measurable results achieved.
• How would you redesign supply chain flows to improve lead times and reduce buffer inventory?
• Discuss how you integrate data analytics into operational decision making. Which data models or dashboards do you prioritise?
• Describe a complex change program you led and how you managed stakeholder alignment and risk mitigation.
• How do you assess and manage operational resilience and business continuity planning?
• Explain your approach to cost-to-serve analysis and how it influenced pricing or fulfilment decisions.
• How have you used vendor segmentation and strategic partnerships to drive operational excellence?
• Describe a time you transformed a multi site operation. What governance, KPIs, and incentives did you put in place?

Pre-Screening Video Interview Questions for Operations Manager

These pre-screening interview questions are ideal for one-way video interviews on ScreeningHive. Use them to quickly evaluate fit, communication skills, and core competencies before progressing candidates to live interviews.

1. Tell us about your most significant operations improvement project and the impact it had.

   This question evaluates the candidate's ability to lead change, measure results, and communicate outcomes concisely.

2. How do you prioritise safety, quality, and delivery when they conflict in a busy operations environment?

   This assesses decision making, risk management, and how the candidate balances competing priorities.

3. Describe your experience managing teams and how you develop frontline supervisors.

   This looks for leadership style, coaching approach, and ability to develop operational talent.

4. What tools or metrics do you use daily to monitor operational health?

   This checks technical familiarity with operations reporting and whether the candidate focuses on actionable metrics.

5. Explain a time you had to make a rapid operational decision with limited information. What was the outcome?

   This evaluates judgment under pressure, problem solving, and learning from outcomes.

Conclusion

This set of Operations Manager interview questions helps hiring teams and candidates prepare for realistic screening and evaluation. The mix of basic, intermediate, and advanced questions supports thorough hiring decisions and role alignment.

Using ScreeningHive one-way video interviews enables faster screening, consistent evaluations, and better candidate experience by capturing clear responses early in the recruitment process.