What does it cost to hire a business operations specialist in Knoxville?

Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role and never by salary or location. A contingency firm billing 20 to 30% of this role's $77,700 median wage in the Knoxville, TN area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would charge roughly $15,540 to $23,310 on the first year salary alone.

What should an offer for a business operations specialist in Knoxville look like?

Employers in the Knoxville, TN area pay business operations specialists, all other a median of $77,700, with the middle half of the market between $56,870 and $115,210 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A band set below $56,870 competes for the bottom quarter of that market.

Is the talent for this role already in Knoxville?

This is a job zone 4 occupation, which usually calls for a bachelor's degree, and 33.7% of Knoxville adults hold one or higher (Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501). That is a workable pool, though the search will reach beyond the city line.

Hiring a business operations specialist in Knoxville, TN

Employers in the Knoxville, TN area pay business operations specialists, all other a median of $77,700 a year, with the middle half of the market between $56,870 and $115,210 (BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 13-1199). Filling it through recruitlocalpros runs Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role rather than by salary or location, and our vetted recruiting partner handles sourcing, screening and placement end to end.

Do Knoxville residents in business and financial operations work earn more than employers in the Knoxville, TN area pay?

Knoxville residents working in business and financial operations occupations earn a median of $59,124 (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011), against $73,540 as the median of the 27 wages BLS publishes for that same occupation group in the Knoxville, TN area (BLS OEWS, May 2025), a difference of 20%, with the employers figure the higher of the two.

Both sides of that figure describe the whole business and financial operations group, not this one role. In the Knoxville, TN area the group covers 27 occupations BLS publishes a wage for, from tax preparers at $44,940 to management analysts at $97,470 (BLS OEWS, May 2025), with business operations specialists, all other at $77,700 inside it.

That comparison is between two different measures, not a pay gap. The two weight the same occupation group differently: the Census figure is the midpoint across the people who actually hold those jobs, so a group carrying a few very well paid occupations is pulled toward them, while the BLS figure is the midpoint across the 27 published occupation wages, which counts each of those occupations once whatever its headcount. Census also counts where people live and BLS counts where the jobs are, and the two cover different populations, Census the civilian employed population 16 and over, BLS wage-and-salary jobs only. Read the number against other cities, where the same definitional difference applies on both sides, rather than as a shortfall.

Published wages across this group in the metro run above what Knoxville residents in it earn, which usually means employers here draw this talent from beyond the city line rather than from inside it.

What does a business operations specialist earn here?

Place of work

What employers pay

Annual wages paid to business operations specialists, all other by employers in the Knoxville, TN area. BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 13-1199.
25th percentile	$56,870
Median	$77,700
75th percentile	$115,210

Half of business operations specialists, all other in this area earn between $56,870 and $115,210 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A band set below $56,870 competes for the bottom quarter of the market. Occupation detail for SOC 13-1199 at O*NET OnLine.

Place of residence

What Knoxville residents earn

$59,124

Median annual earnings of Knoxville residents working in business and financial operations occupations, 4,975 people (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011). An occupation group rather than this one role, and where people live rather than where they work, so it is not the same measurement as the wages beside it.

What does the role actually involve?

Core tasks

Develop emergency management plans for recovery decision making and communications, continuity of critical departmental processes, or temporary shut-down of non-critical departments to ensure continuity of operation and governance.
Develop disaster recovery plans for physical locations with critical assets, such as data centers.
Test documented disaster recovery strategies and plans.
Analyze impact on, and risk to, essential business functions or information systems to identify acceptable recovery time periods and resource requirements.
Write reports to summarize testing activities, including descriptions of goals, planning, scheduling, execution, results, analysis, conclusions, and recommendations.

Task statements for SOC 13-1199, O*NET OnLine 29.1.

Tools and technologies in demand

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Visio, Inventory management systems, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Power BI.

Flagged in demand or hot for SOC 13-1199 by O*NET OnLine 29.1. Useful as a screen, not as a checklist.

Is the talent actually in Knoxville?

This is a job zone four: considerable preparation needed occupation. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not. O*NET OnLine, SOC 13-1199.

That matters here, because 33.7% of Knoxville adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. That is a workable pool, but the search will reach beyond the city line. Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501, residents of Knoxville aged 25 and over.

The average Knoxville commute runs 20.4 minutes, which is roughly how far your catchment reaches before candidates start saying no. 11.1% of Knoxville workers already work from home, so a fully onsite requirement here is competing against that. Census ACS 5-year 2023, place-level commuting characteristics for Knoxville.

How often do these jobs turn over?

In Knox County, accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services employs 1,384 and turns over 12.2% a quarter, with 303 hires against 212 separations. Average earnings in that industry run $6,790 a month. Census LEHD Quarterly Workforce Indicators, 2024 Q1, NAICS 5412.

That figure covers every occupation in the industry, not this role alone, so read it as the local churn rate rather than as a number about business operations specialists, all other. It still tells you what you are hiring into: a high-churn market, where speed matters more than a perfect fit.

What does the search cost?

The fee is set by the seniority of the role, never by salary and never by location. Across all six tiers it runs $6,240 to $54,340 per search. A contingency firm hiring at this role's $77,700 median in the Knoxville, TN area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would bill roughly $15,540 to $23,310 on the first year salary alone.

One owner runs the search from market map to signed offer. Searches typically fill in 23 to 35 days, which is a typical window rather than a promise, and the replacement guarantee runs 45 days at 50% off.

Questions employers ask about hiring a business operations specialist in Knoxville

What does it cost to hire a business operations specialist in Knoxville?: Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role and never by salary or location. A contingency firm billing 20 to 30% of this role's $77,700 median wage in the Knoxville, TN area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would charge roughly $15,540 to $23,310 on the first year salary alone.
What should an offer for a business operations specialist in Knoxville look like?: Employers in the Knoxville, TN area pay business operations specialists, all other a median of $77,700, with the middle half of the market between $56,870 and $115,210 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A band set below $56,870 competes for the bottom quarter of that market.
Do Knoxville residents in business and financial operations work earn more than employers in the Knoxville, TN area pay?: Knoxville residents working in business and financial operations occupations earn a median of $59,124 (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011), against $73,540 as the median of the 27 wages BLS publishes for that same occupation group in the Knoxville, TN area (BLS OEWS, May 2025), a difference of 20%. Both figures cover the whole occupation group rather than this one role, and one counts where people live while the other counts where the jobs are, so the percentage is not a pay gap.
Is the talent for this role already in Knoxville?: This is a job zone 4 occupation, which usually calls for a bachelor's degree, and 33.7% of Knoxville adults hold one or higher (Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501). That is a workable pool, though the search will reach beyond the city line.

Price this search

Eight questions about the role. Your tier range appears on screen.

Hiring a business operations specialist somewhere else?

Same role, different market. The wage band moves with the metro.

Other business and financial operations roles in Knoxville

Knoxville is the 3rd largest of 3 Tennessee cities in this dataset.