Salary and Outlook

According to the US Department of Labor, there are 104,100 people employed as operations research analysts in the United States. The median annual salary is $86,200. Entry level employees earn approximately $48,050 per year and senior employees earn approximately $144,330 per year.

Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime pay, 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.

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