The difference between the tasks RevOps are told they'll be doing and the stuff they actually get to do is clearly big — but just how big is it?
Here at Rattle, the question has weighed heavily on our big T-rex brains since we first we've ran our proprietary survey in the winter (which helped us write up our ever-popular State of RevOps report). There were clear indications then that a rift exists between what RevOps thought and what they got, but we've wondered: how much of those expectations are self-inflicted — plucky hope from bushy-tailed RevOps — and how much of it is the result of from poor table-setting at the onset from the companies themselves.
So, as tech enthusiasts, we decided to leverage A.I., and looked into how the job of RevOps is sold to potential job-seekers first, then we compared that to the way RevOps talks about their jobs once they're in the role.
Let's briefly detail our process first.
Our Methodology
We spent just under a month amassing 522 job descriptions of RevOps roles (some which had been archived, others which are still live today) from English speaking countries and fed them into an LLM. We then asked the A.i. to produce a perfectly average RevOps job description from that training set.
Once we had that initial JD in-hand, we primed the LLM with 900+ (scraped) social media posts from in and around the ground-level concerns of RevOps, including revenue operations and revenue process keywords — all from the same period of time, from folks with RevOps in their titles. We then asked the LLM again to write another job description.
Below you'll find both job descriptions, as well as some of our thoughts around the very clear (at times pretty funny) differences.
Aside from some formatting, they have been posted here unaltered from their initial forms.
Let's have a look at both.
1. The Perfectly Average RevOps JD
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Head of Revenue Operations (RevOps)
Company: [Company Name]
[Company Name] is seeking a dedicated and strategic Head of Revenue Operations (RevOps) to join our team. This leadership role is vital to our organization, ensuring the seamless integration and alignment of all revenue-generating operations within our company, including Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success. This position is instrumental in improving operational efficiency, driving revenue growth, and enhancing the customer experience by providing strategic insights and solutions.
Location: [Location or Specify if Remote]
Key Responsibilities:
- Strategic Leadership: Play a crucial role in shaping and guiding the overall revenue strategy of the company, ensuring that revenue targets and customer satisfaction goals are met.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success teams to streamline processes, optimize workflow, and ensure seamless communication and integration among all departments.
- Data Analysis & Insight Generation: Analyze key metrics and performance indicators to provide insights and make recommendations for optimizing revenue-generating operations.
- Process Optimization: Evaluate and improve sales and operational processes and methodologies to enhance efficiency, productivity, and revenue.
- Technology Management: Oversee the implementation and management of tools and technologies used by Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success teams to ensure optimal utilization and alignment with organizational goals.
- Forecasting & Planning: Develop and manage accurate revenue forecasts and establish key performance metrics for the revenue team.
- Team Development & Management: Hire, train, and manage a high-performing RevOps team, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and objectives.
Key Requirements:
1. Educational Qualification:
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, or a related field.
- Master’s degree or additional certifications are a plus.
2. Work Experience:
- Minimum 5-7 years of experience in revenue operations, sales operations, or a related field within a SaaS or technology company.
- Proven experience in a leadership role with a track record of driving revenue growth and operational efficiency.
3. Skills:
- Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities.
- Excellent analytical skills with the ability to analyze data and develop insights and strategies based on data analysis.
- Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills.
- Proficiency in using CRM software and other sales and marketing automation tools.
4. Personal Attributes:
- Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
- Commitment to continuous improvement and learning.
- Proactive mindset with a focus on solutions and results.
To apply for the Head of RevOps position, please send your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience and explaining why you are the best fit for this role to [email address]._
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and we encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.
Seems pretty standard, right? Well now let's have a look at the next version.
2. The Perfectly Honest RevOps JD
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Desperately Needed Head of Revenue Operations (RevOps)
Company: [Company Name]
Location: [City, State] – Yes, you actually have to commute here. No, we haven’t embraced remote work yet.
Position Type: Full-Time with Overtime (unpaid, because, you know, you're management)
About Us:
[Company Name] is half-heartedly hunting for a Head of Revenue Operations (RevOps). Why? Because the last three left faster than a cat in a bathtub. It’s a lot like herding blind cats through a dog park – with a handful of catnip. But we believe in miracles and think you might be the unicorn we are daydreaming of! Ultimately, we understand that the role will be demanding, and the ideal candidate will need to navigate through our existing structures that are sometimes more about bureaucracy than efficiency. The revenue operations look good on paper but need someone with the grit and patience to get things in actual working order.
Job Summary:
As the Head of RevOps, you’ll be the meat in a sales, marketing, and customer support sandwich. It’s a game of workplace Jenga, where you pull out one block, and the entire tower might collapse. Your role is to keep the blocks in place while juggling chainsaws and deciphering the different languages each department speaks (none of them are English). You will be required to do this while spinning plates, rubbing shoulders, and harassing reps for CRM data. As the Head of RevOps, expect to manage confusion between departments, which are never on the same page. You will need to bring order, create alignment, and deliver transparency while working with senior leadership, so be prepared for mixed messages and rapidly changing goals, too. Your job is to be the buffer that absorbs the pressure and still ensure the revenue-generating departments achieve their targets. Good luck.
Key Responsibilities:
- Translate sales to marketing, marketing to customer support, and customer support to human language.
- Implement new strategies with the charm of a cat trying to get its owner up at 3 AM.
- Reimplement strategies when nobody listens to you the first time.
- Or the second.
- Stare into the abyss of revenue data.
- Attempt to refine the customer journey, a bit like trying to teach cats to line dance.
- Battle with integrating and aligning all activities; it's like syncing up a cat's nap schedule, so good luck with that!
- Keep the peace. Be the cat whisperer among a group of well-intentioned but slightly confused alley cats.
Requirements:
Education:
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent, but a Ph.D. in Cat Herding or Chaos Management is a plus.
Experience:
- Whatever years of experience managing the unmanageable, preferably in a similar circus... uh, industry.
- Proven ability to translate “I can’t work with this department!” into constructive dialogue.
Skills:
- Cat-like reflexes for dealing with unexpected and sudden crises.
- Ability to laugh in the face of utter confusion and still purr at the end of the day.
- Fluent in corporate jargon, sarcasm, and realistic optimism.
How to Apply:
If you’ve read this far and haven’t run off into the sunset, you may just be the masochist we need. Email your resume and a detailed plan for world domination (or just departmental harmony) to [contact email].
The Biggest Takeaway: They're Not Even Close
First, RevOps people really love to talk about cats. (Dear lord that was a lot of cat talk.)
Second, there's an obvious disparity between the average and honest RevOps job description, and that highlights a significant communication gap and mismatched expectations between employers and potential employees.
Sure, traditional job descriptions often present an idealized version of the role, focusing on the strategic and impactful aspects without acknowledging the potential difficulties and mundane tasks involved. But this? This is overkill. The on-the-job reality is that the actual role of RevOps seems to may involve mostly just "navigating bureaucracy," dealing with interdepartmental conflicts, and other unglamorous tasks, leading to frustration.
While the second job description is playful reminder of the general gaps between the way a job is positioned and the way it's lived, it's also poignantly making the claim that transparency, clear communication, and setting realistic expectations are crucial for RevOps to succeed. There is certainly a great undercurrent of frustration running beneath the second post, even for all its cat jokes.
How Rattle Plays Into All This
So obviously yet, acknowledging the complexities and challenges of a role can lead to better-prepared and more satisfied employees, ultimately benefiting both the organization and its staff. But actually shocker... that's not the argument we're here to make today.
We're here to say that the first job description isn't just idealized to attract great RevOps talent!
It's actually this is the kind of strategic input that Revenue teams actually need. That's why they're hiring RevOps to begin with!
The problem is when the job is exposed to the air of reality, with all of the pains of human nature, clunky CRM design, distractions, noise, and a difficult selling environment. Process optimization becomes impossible because so much time is spent on process adherence.
And that's why Rattle's brand of Process Automation is so powerful. After RevOps pros are able to achieve workflow efficiency, and automate away the pain that they feel from constantly chasing all those wayward members of their team, they can then actually move into the strategic role they were promised.
That means yes, finally, somebody is actually doing the optimization that these job descriptions describe.
So in the end, the real shocker here is that the job description isn't wrong. It's that it's been seemingly made to feel idealized to the point of being unattainable. But with Rattle, it actually is.
If you'd like to take a 21-day free trial for yourself (provided you have a RevOps-slash-cat-related job right now), you can — and should — start it today right here.
And we promise, we're mostly dog people anyway.
