Salary and Outlook
According to the US Department of Labor, there are 104,200 people employed as operations research analysts in
the United States.
The median annual salary is $82,360.
Entry level employees earn approximately $48,690 per year and senior employees earn approximately $160,850
per year.
Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime, or retirement benefits that may be offered by employers.
Job Duties
- Develop business methods and procedures, including accounting systems, file systems, office systems, logistics systems, and production schedules.
- Formulate mathematical or simulation models of problems, relating constants and variables, restrictions, alternatives, conflicting objectives, and their numerical parameters.
- Specify manipulative or computational methods to be applied to models.
- Develop and apply time and cost networks to plan, control, and review large projects.
- Break systems into their components, assign numerical values to each component, and examine the mathematical relationships between them.
- Design, conduct, and evaluate experimental operational models in cases where models cannot be developed from existing data.
- Educate staff in the use of mathematical models.
- Perform validation and testing of models to ensure adequacy and reformulate models as necessary.
- Collaborate with senior managers and decision makers to identify and solve a variety of problems and to clarify management objectives.
- Present the results of mathematical modeling and data analysis to management or other end users.
- Collaborate with others in the organization to ensure successful implementation of chosen problem solutions.
- Analyze information obtained from management to conceptualize and define operational problems.
- Study and analyze information about alternative courses of action to determine which plan will offer the best outcomes.
- Prepare management reports defining and evaluating problems and recommending solutions.
- Define data requirements and gather and validate information, applying judgment and statistical tests.
- Observe the current system in operation and gather and analyze information about each of the parts of component problems, using a variety of sources.