The Problem with "RevOps" as a Catch-All
Companies frequently hire their first RevOps professional with an ambiguous mandate to optimize go-to-market systems, then struggle with results. The fundamental issue: RevOps comprises four distinct specializations requiring coordinated effort. After leading revenue operations across multiple B2B SaaS organizations, Jordan Rogers identifies when each function becomes essential.
Marketing Operations: The Demand Engine Mechanics
What they own:
- Marketing automation platforms (HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot)
- Campaign execution infrastructure
- Lead scoring and routing logic
- Attribution modeling
- Marketing data hygiene
When you need them:
- Lead-to-MQL conversion metrics remain unclear
- Campaign data misalignment with CRM systems
- Channel-to-pipeline attribution unknowable
- Marketing velocity hampered by technical dependencies
"Treating Marketing Ops as 'the Marketo admin'" represents a common mistake. Strategic partners understand marketing methodology alongside technical capabilities.
Sales Operations: The Revenue Machine Builders
What they own:
- CRM architecture and administration (Salesforce, HubSpot CRM)
- Sales process design and optimization
- Compensation plan administration
- Pipeline management and forecasting
- Territory planning and quota setting
- Sales enablement tool stack
When you need them:
- Sales processes vary inconsistently across representatives
- Pipeline forecasts consistently miss targets
- Deals stall indefinitely in "verbal commit" status
- Revenue-generating effectiveness remains unmeasurable
- Compensation calculations depend on spreadsheets
Allowing Sales Ops to become a "ticket-taker for CRM requests" prevents strategic optimization.
Customer Success Operations: The Retention Engine
What they own:
- Customer success platforms (Gainsight, ChurnZero, Catalyst)
- Health scoring models
- Renewal and expansion workflows
- Customer onboarding processes
- Usage data integration
- Customer communication cadences
When you need them:
- Customer churn prediction proves impossible
- Onboarding duration extends inconsistently
- CS teams remain reactive rather than proactive
- Expansion prospects disappear unmeasured
- Usage data sits unexploited
"CS Ops is just 'customer support operations'" misses the mark. Focus centers on retention metrics, expansion economics, and lifecycle orchestration, not ticket administration.
Business Systems: The Integration Architects
What they own:
- GTM systems roadmap and strategy
- Platform integrations and data flow
- Quote-to-cash infrastructure
- Subscription billing systems
- Revenue recognition support
- Data governance frameworks
- Vendor relationship management
When you need them:
- Data synchronization between systems fails
- Point solutions create disconnected tool ecosystems
- Quote-to-cash requires manual intervention
- Report generation demands data reconciliation
- Tech stack evolved without architectural direction
Many organizations omit this function, distributing responsibilities across Marketing Ops, Sales Ops, and IT. That eliminates end-to-end system architecture ownership.
The Emerging Role: GTM Engineer
GTM Engineers have emerged recently as go-to-market technology stacks increased complexity beyond off-the-shelf integration capabilities. These professionals function as software engineers exclusively focused on revenue operations infrastructure.
What makes them different from traditional Business Systems roles:
GTM Engineers focus on:
- Custom API integrations exceeding native capabilities
- Internal tools development (data enrichment pipelines, custom reporting dashboards)
- Data warehouse management and reverse ETL
- Advanced automation using Python, JavaScript, or programming languages
- Scalable solutions transcending no-code tool constraints
Traditional Business Systems focuses on:
- SaaS platform configuration and optimization
- Vendor relationship management
- Process design and workflow automation
- Low-code/no-code solutions
When you need a GTM Engineer specifically:
Your data needs exceed platform capabilities
- Native integrations lose data accuracy
- Complex transformations required between systems
- Real-time synchronization exceeds standard tool performance
You're building custom tooling
- Internal lead enrichment engines
- Custom scoring models using data science
- Proprietary data pipelines from product to CRM
Scale demands it
- Processing millions of records
- Complex data governance at enterprise scale
- Performance optimization beyond platform limits
"Companies at scale (especially product-led growth companies) increasingly hire GTM Engineers alongside traditional RevOps roles."
My take: Organizations under $50M ARR typically don't need dedicated GTM Engineers. Invest in strong Business Systems generalists first. However, companies hitting platform capability ceilings or drowning in manual data work automatable via custom code benefit from technical expertise.
The solution avoids replacing Business Systems with GTM Engineer tasks, but complementing strategic system architecture with technical implementation.
How These Functions Work Together
These aren't isolated teams. They represent interconnected revenue engine components.
A real scenario from Thumbtack:
- Marketing Ops generates and scores leads as MQLs
- Business Systems ensures accurate lead routing to Sales with complete data
- Sales Ops provides workflows and tools for efficient lead handling
- Business Systems orchestrates quote-to-cash handoff upon deal closure
- CS Ops receives customers with context preserved for onboarding
- Business Systems ensures usage data informs health score calculation
- CS Ops identifies expansion opportunities and routes to Sales
- Sales Ops provides expansion motion playbook and tooling
"When one breaks, they all break."
The Organizational Question: How Should These Functions Report?
Three reporting models function effectively depending on company scale:
Model 1: The Integrated Team (Most Common at Scale)
- VP/Head of Revenue Operations
- Director of Marketing Operations
- Director of Sales Operations
- Director of Customer Success Operations
- Director of Business Systems
When it works: 200+ employees, $50M+ ARR, established go-to-market motion
Why it works: Clear individual accountability while maintaining strategic alignment through unified leadership
Model 2: The Specialized Model
- Marketing Ops reports to CMO
- Sales Ops reports to CRO
- CS Ops reports to Chief Customer Officer
- Business Systems reports to CTO or COO
When it works: Smaller companies (<200 employees) or organizations with distinct functional go-to-market motions
Why it works: Deep integration with each functional leader's priorities
Risk: Optimization occurs within functions rather than across the revenue engine
Model 3: The Hybrid Approach (My Preference)
- VP/Head of Revenue Operations owns strategy and Business Systems
- Marketing Ops, Sales Ops, and CS Ops report to respective executives with dotted-line RevOps relationships
When it works: 100-500 employees, growing rapidly, requiring functional autonomy balanced with systems thinking
Why it works: Functional teams maintain proximity to business partners while RevOps guarantees cohesive architecture development
What's Right for Your Stage?
Startup (Pre-$10M ARR):
- One professional managing all functions proves sufficient
- Prioritize Sales Ops hiring first, leveraging multiple roles while using native tool functionality
- Develop Business Systems discipline during scaling
Growth ($10M-$50M ARR):
- Begin specialization: dedicated Sales Ops and Marketing Ops professionals
- Business Systems becomes critical as integration complexity increases
- CS Ops may remain part-time or shared with Sales Ops
Scale ($50M+ ARR):
- All four functions require dedicated leadership
- Business Systems should own platform strategy, transcending integration management
- Consider specialized roles within each function (Salesforce Admin, Compensation Analyst)
The Skills That Matter
All RevOps roles need:
- Systems thinking (understanding how changes ripple through processes)
- Data fluency (SQL represents a superpower)
- Process design capability
- Vendor management experience
Marketing Ops specifically:
- Campaign operations experience
- Attribution modeling knowledge
- Marketing automation platform expertise
- Demand generation strategy understanding
Sales Ops specifically:
- Salesforce or comparable CRM expertise
- Compensation plan design experience
- Sales process design
- Pipeline analytics and forecasting
CS Ops specifically:
- Customer journey mapping
- Health scoring methodology
- Usage data analysis
- Retention economics understanding
Business Systems specifically:
- API and integration architecture knowledge
- Data governance frameworks
- Change management capability
- Vendor negotiation experience
GTM Engineer specifically (emerging specialty):
- Programming languages (Python, JavaScript, SQL)
- API development and documentation
- Data warehouse architecture (Snowflake, BigQuery)
- Reverse ETL tools (Census, Hightouch)
- Software engineering best practices (version control, testing)
- GTM business logic and process understanding
Common Pitfalls I See
1. Building specialists before you have the foundation
Don't hire Marketing Ops professionals if CRM infrastructure remains problematic. Fix foundational elements (Business Systems + Sales Ops) first.
2. Treating these roles as order-takers
These professionals should be strategic partners who challenge process assumptions, not personnel who execute tickets.
3. Not investing in Business Systems
This function prevents tech stack fragmentation. Don't omit it.
4. Keeping these teams too separate
Weekly cross-functional standups between all Ops functions prove non-negotiable.
5. Optimizing one function at the expense of others
Perfect lead routing loses value if CS teams cannot access that context. You haven't genuinely improved customer experience.
The Bottom Line
Marketing Ops, Sales Ops, Customer Success Ops, and Business Systems aren't competing functions. They represent different analytical lenses on identical challenges: How efficiently and predictably can we generate, close, and expand revenue?
Build them intentionally. Invest in appropriate sequence. Make them function together. And if you're struggling to get C-suite buy-in for the investment these functions require, read our take on what the C-suite gets wrong about RevOps. For a deeper look at how these functions are evolving, Gartner's research on the future of revenue operations provides useful context on where the industry is heading.