Operations Manager, Director of Operations, VP of Operations. The titles sound similar. The roles are not.
One of the most common mistakes exhibit houses and experiential agencies make in an operations search is hiring the wrong level. They post a VP of Operations role when what they need is a strong Director. Or they hire an Operations Manager when the scope of the job demands someone with more authority and broader ownership.
The difference between these three roles is not just seniority. It is scope, decision-making authority, and what the company actually needs at this stage of its growth. Getting that wrong costs time, money, and in some cases, the person you just hired.
Here is how to think about each level, what each role owns, and which one fits where your company is right now.
Operations Manager: Running the Day to Day
The Operations Manager is a tactical role. Their job is to keep things moving. At an exhibit house, that means managing production schedules, coordinating with fabrication and vendors, tracking job status, and making sure the right materials and resources are in the right place at the right time. At an experiential agency, the focus shifts toward vendor coordination, logistics, and keeping multiple programs running simultaneously without anything falling through the cracks.
In both environments, a strong Operations Manager is deeply organized, communicates constantly, and knows how to prioritize when everything feels urgent. They are executing against a system, not building one.
The Operations Manager typically reports to a Director or VP and does not carry broad authority over people or process outside their defined lane. They are not setting strategy. They are executing it.
When do you need this role? When your production and project management teams are growing and need a dedicated resource focused on operational coordination. This is often the first operations hire a growing exhibit house or experiential agency makes.
Director of Operations: Building and Managing the System
The Director of Operations is a step up in both scope and authority. Where the Operations Manager runs the day to day, the Director owns the system that makes the day to day possible.
At an exhibit house, the Director of Operations typically owns production management, shop scheduling, vendor and subcontractor relationships, I and D coordination, and direct oversight of the operations team below them. At an experiential agency, the Director is often managing a broader vendor and production network across markets, with responsibility for how programs are staffed, resourced, and executed at scale.
This is where process lives. The Director of Operations builds and refines the workflows that determine how work moves through the organization, how capacity is managed, and how the team responds when volume spikes. They are also the person leadership turns to when something breaks operationally and needs to understand why.
The Director needs credibility with the people doing the work and the ability to communicate clearly with leadership. They are a bridge, not just a manager.
When do you need this role? When your company has outgrown a single Operations Manager and needs someone who can own the operational infrastructure, develop the team below them, and represent operations in leadership conversations.
VP of Operations: Owning the Operational Future
The VP of Operations is an executive role. The scope is not just running operations well today. It is building the operational capability the company needs to grow.
At a mid-size to large exhibit house, the VP of Operations may oversee multiple facilities, regional I and D teams, a network of labor partners, and the full operations leadership team. At a larger experiential agency, the VP may be responsible for operational infrastructure across multiple verticals, vendor ecosystems, and program delivery at national or global scale.
In both cases, the VP of Operations sits in executive conversations about capacity, margins, capital investment, and where the business is going. They translate those conversations into operational decisions and hold the team accountable for executing them.
This is not a role for someone who is strong tactically but has never led at a strategic level. The VP of Operations needs to think in systems, manage managers, and influence decisions that go well beyond day-to-day execution.
When do you need this role? When the company is large enough, or growing fast enough, that operations cannot be managed by a Director alone. Also when the founder or CEO is still carrying operational decisions that should belong to someone else. That is one of the clearest signs a company needs a VP of Operations, not just a stronger Director.
The Question Most Companies Get Wrong
Before starting an operations search, the most important question is not what title to post. It is what the role actually needs to own.
A company that posts a VP of Operations but describes a Director-level job will attract VP-level candidates who will leave in 18 months because the role did not match the title. A company that posts a Director role when they actually need executive-level leadership will wonder why the hire is not performing at the level they expected.
The other mistake is promoting from within without being honest about whether the person is ready for the next level. An outstanding Operations Manager is not automatically a strong Director of Operations. The skills that make someone exceptional at execution do not always translate to building and managing a system. Recognizing that distinction before you promote is far less costly than recognizing it after.
What Strong Operations Candidates Look Like at Every Level
Across all three levels, the candidates who perform best in exhibit and experiential operations roles share a few things:
• They have worked in the industry. General operations experience transfers partially. The trade show calendar, compressed production timelines, and the overlap of multiple programs running simultaneously are specific to this world. Candidates who have lived it perform faster.
• They are visible with the team. The best operations leaders at every level are not managing from a desk. They know what is happening because they are in it.
• They communicate without being asked. Whether it is an Operations Manager flagging a schedule risk or a VP presenting capacity constraints to the executive team, the best candidates do not wait to be chased for information.
• They are calm under pressure. This industry is not a calm industry. The person who sets the tone for how operations responds when things go sideways shapes the entire culture of the team.
How EXHIBITRECRUITER | EVENTRECRUITER Handles Operations Searches
We have been placing operations talent at exhibit houses and experiential agencies for over 25 years, across all three levels. One of the first things we do when a client comes to us with an operations search is help them get clear on which level they actually need. That conversation alone has saved more than a few companies from an expensive mismatch.
Operations candidates at the Director and VP level are rarely looking. They are running teams, managing programs, and too busy to update a resume. Reaching them requires a network and a reputation built over decades inside this industry.
If you are ready to start an operations search or just trying to figure out which level makes sense, start with The Hiring Signal.
exhibitrecruiter.com/the-hiring-signal
Cal Cook
EXHIBITRECRUITER | EVENTRECRUITER
