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The Most Impactful Back Office Roles Every Organization Should Hire

After leaving a brief stint in Public Accounting, I’ve spent the better part of the last decade working in what are widely referred to as back-office roles at client-facing companies. 

Admittedly, for my first 5 or so years, I always viewed the back office as a necessary but not a particularly valuable part of a company and didn’t think much, if anything, we did impact results in any meaningful way and that the roles and people were fairly replaceable.

It wasn’t until Covid hit, forever changing the way companies work, that I came to the revelation that I had been very wrong about that back-office assumption the entire time. 

While it’s true that the back office does not bring in revenue directly, its importance and value in doing so should not be overlooked or underestimated. 

What is a back office job?

The back office of a company is made up of the roles and departments that provide support to the revenue-generating roles within the company, better known as the front office.

While back office roles aren’t directly responsible for the generation of revenue, they are integral in the day-to-day operations of a company and support the front office by providing services such as human resources, accounting, compliance, and legal.

Without these departments and roles, companies couldn’t function properly, making them absolutely essential for any business.

Back-office jobs that create the most impact:

• Human Resources
• Data Entry / Data Analyst 
• Accounting & Finance
• Financial Analyst
• Information Technology
• Operations Manager / Director
• Offline & Online Security
• Compliance Officer
• Employee Experience Manager
• Corporate Sales Trainer

Human Resources for back office

One of the most important roles within the back office is Human Resources. HR personnel are responsible for recruiting, onboarding, and training new employees as well as keeping up with employee regulations, policies, and benefits.

Having a team of reliable HR personnel is essential to company growth as they are able to ensure that the best people are in place to do the job and that everyone is knowledgeable of their roles, policies, and procedures.

Data Entry / Data Analyst for back office

Data entry and data analysis are also essential to the operations of any company.

Data entry personnel are responsible for entering accurate information into databases, while data analysts — or those who specialize in interpreting and analyzing data — can provide valuable insights into how a business is performing.

Having an accurate understanding of how a company is doing financially, operationally, and even competitively is essential in order to make informed decisions that are beneficial for the company as a whole.

Accounting & Finance for back office

The accounting and finance departments provide invaluable support for a company, ensuring that all financial records are accurate and up-to-date which allows management to make informed, real-time decisions.

They’re responsible for producing financial reports, tracking expenses, monitoring cash flow, and performing other important financial functions.

Having a reliable accounting and finance team is essential for any business, as it helps to make sure that funds are being managed properly and in the best interests of the company.

Financial Analyst for back office

Financial analysts are responsible for performing financial research and providing comprehensive analyses of a company’s financial health.

They use data to make predictions about a company’s future performance, allowing executives to make better-informed decisions about the direction that the business should take.

Information Technology for back office

The IT department is responsible for managing and maintaining all of the company’s technological systems — from email accounts to software programs — as well as troubleshooting any technical issues that may arise.

Having a reliable and knowledgeable IT team is essential for any business, as it ensures that employees can do their jobs efficiently and effectively without any technology-induced delays.

Operations Manager / Director for back office

An operations manager or director’s role is to oversee the day-to-day activities of a company.

This includes ensuring that all processes are running smoothly and efficiently, while also looking for new ways to improve operations.

Having an experienced operations manager or director who understands the ins and outs of a business can be invaluable in improving overall operations.

Offline & Online Security for back office

The security team is responsible for protecting the company’s physical and digital assets, as well as its personnel.

Having a reliable security team ensures that all of the company’s valuable assets are kept safe and secure, while also providing peace of mind to employees.

Compliance Officer for back office

Compliance officers are responsible for making sure that a company follows the laws, regulations, and ethical standards that apply to its business.

Having an experienced compliance officer ensures that all of a company’s operations remain within legal boundaries and reduces the potential for costly fines and penalties in the future.

Employee Experience Manager for back office

Many companies have come to realize the importance of employee engagement and well-being and have invested much more in people strategy than they had in the past.

An Employee Experience Manager is responsible for creating a positive and engaging employee experience as well as employee recognition programs, onboarding new employees, and other initiatives that foster the well-being of their people.

Corporate Sales Trainer for back office

Some companies have transferred successful Sales employees to roles in Corporate Sales Training.

While these valuable employees are no longer directly generating revenue, they are working in a role that may allow them to have an even greater impact if they are successful in improving and growing the program with other successful sales professionals.

Why is the back office so important?

Staffing your back office with the right roles and the right people for those roles is a critical, but often overlooked factor for the long-term success of an organization. 

If you are trying to continuously grow and scale over the long term in a competitive environment, the strength of your back office and the quality of the support it’s able to provide can be a significant advantage.

It’s critical the front office understands this and that the relationship between the front office and back office is strong and dominated by collaboration instead of conflict. 

Without this understanding, the level of support your back office will be able to provide is already severely limited. 

Staffing back-office roles

There is an endless list of roles that could be considered back office and while there are some roles/departments that every company needs, the level of investment appropriate for each department and role can vary greatly depending on your strategic vision. 

At the end of the day, the most important thing is to ensure you have the right people in those roles and that they are supported by the necessary resources — budget, technology, support — to do their job effectively. 

Having the right team in place will help you provide a higher level of support for your front-office operations so that they can focus on what’s most important — growing the business.

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