Endorsements narrow the claim.
NBOP-CP says you run an operation. An endorsement says which kind. It is a second assessment against the same eight domains, not a different body of knowledge and not a course.
Every endorsement sits on top of a current NBOP-CP and expires with it, so a holder has one renewal date rather than six. If the core credential is revoked, the endorsements go with it. That is deliberate: a specialism that outlived the credential underneath it would be a way around the eligibility rule.
NBOP does not sell preparation for any of these and does not require any. The gate for each one is published below, in full, before you answer anything.
Customer Success Operations
You run renewal, health and escalation as a process the organisation can rely on, rather than as a set of relationships that happen to be working.
Requires accountability in at least 3 of these 5 domains, plus a current NBOP-CP
- Measurement and reporting
- Operating cadence
- Capacity and resourcing
- Role design and accountability
- Systems and tooling
Integrated Operations
You hold the handoffs between functions and are accountable when work falls between them, which is where most operational failure originates and where nobody is usually accountable.
Requires accountability in at least 4 of these 5 domains, plus a current NBOP-CP
- Process architecture
- Operating cadence
- Role design and accountability
- Change and adoption
- Measurement and reporting
AI and Automation Operations
You decide which work is automated, you own the result when it fails, and you are accountable for what happens to the roles the automation displaced or altered.
Requires accountability in at least 3 of these 5 domains, plus a current NBOP-CP
- Systems and tooling
- Process architecture
- Change and adoption
- Role design and accountability
- Capacity and resourcing
Marketing Operations
You own the mechanics of demand: lifecycle, attribution, and the reporting the rest of the business argues about and acts on.
Requires accountability in at least 3 of these 5 domains, plus a current NBOP-CP
- Measurement and reporting
- Systems and tooling
- Process architecture
- Capacity and resourcing
- Operating cadence
Revenue and Sales Operations
You own pipeline definitions, territory and quota design, and the forecast process, which means you are accountable for a number other people are paid against.
Requires accountability in at least 3 of these 5 domains, plus a current NBOP-CP
- Measurement and reporting
- Capacity and resourcing
- Operating cadence
- Financial operations
- Systems and tooling
Why endorsements and not separate credentials
Eight standalone credentials would mean eight standards to write, revise and defend, and a core credential that meant less every time another one was added. An endorsement does the opposite: it makes the claim more specific over time rather than more diluted.
It is also the honest structure. Operations work is not eight separate professions. It is one practice applied to different problems, which is why every endorsement is assessed against the same eight domains rather than against a syllabus of its own.
What an endorsement costs
The fee is not published yet. When the board sets it, it will appear here and on each endorsement page before anyone is asked to pay anything.
Certification itself is $695, once, on acceptance, and the credential runs for three years. Recertification requires sitting the assessment again rather than paying a maintenance fee.