The Modern COO Benchmark Report 2026

It’s a new annual report produced by Vestd in partnership with Operations Nation for operations leaders. 

Because the role usually grows around the person rather than being designed up front, there’s no standard job description to measure against.

The benchmark fills that gap with survey data from operations people of every title, plus first-hand accounts from roundtable discussions.

The report also includes practical actions for ops and their CEOs, from keeping a re-homing list for work nobody owns to deciding where an AI-freed day should go before it arrives.

Your numbers can then back up your next conversation about scope, title, priorities or reward, including equity.

271 in-house operations leaders (COOs, Heads of Operations, VPs and Directors of Operations, and Chiefs of Staff), plus 22 fractional and portfolio operators reported separately.

Fieldwork ran from 16 July to 20 September 2026, alongside five roundtables with 24 practitioners. 63% of organisations are UK-headquartered and 58% have fewer than 51 people, so the results describe this community well rather than the whole profession.

A global membership community of 800+ operations leaders across 40+ countries, including COOs, Heads of Operations, Chiefs of Staff and others doing the job under different titles.

Founded in 2020, it brought together three earlier communities: Ops Stories, COOhort and COO Stories. Members compare notes through events and a members-only community, and 48% of this year’s respondents named it as one of their communities.

Vestd is proud to be Operations Nation's first missiON Partner. We champion the operations profession because we believe the people building companies should also have the opportunity to share in the value they create.

Vestd is the equity management platform that has been helping companies give their people a real stake in what they’re building for over a decade.

Vestd supports every major tax-efficient share scheme, with Companies House
integration and specialist support to make ownership effortless, and helps businesses prepare for and close funding rounds for a fixed fee.