diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Under the Hood-20250107-123955.yaml b/.changes/unreleased/Under the Hood-20250107-123955.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b819b38b4f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/unreleased/Under the Hood-20250107-123955.yaml	
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+kind: Under the Hood
+body: Change exception type from DbtInternalException to UndefinedMacroError when
+  macro not found in 'run operation' command
+time: 2025-01-07T12:39:55.234321-05:00
+custom:
+  Author: michelleark
+  Issue: "11192"
diff --git a/core/dbt/task/run_operation.py b/core/dbt/task/run_operation.py
index f87ac63e04e..fb71597dbf2 100644
--- a/core/dbt/task/run_operation.py
+++ b/core/dbt/task/run_operation.py
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 from dbt.node_types import NodeType
 from dbt.task.base import ConfiguredTask
 from dbt_common.events.functions import fire_event
-from dbt_common.exceptions import DbtInternalError
 
 RESULT_FILE_NAME = "run_results.json"
 
@@ -86,7 +85,7 @@ def run(self) -> RunResultsArtifact:
             unique_id = macro.unique_id
             fqn = unique_id.split(".")
         else:
-            raise DbtInternalError(
+            raise dbt_common.exceptions.UndefinedMacroError(
                 f"dbt could not find a macro with the name '{macro_name}' in any package"
             )
 
diff --git a/tests/functional/run_operations/test_run_operations.py b/tests/functional/run_operations/test_run_operations.py
index 258ed679d7e..eef66bec8a6 100644
--- a/tests/functional/run_operations/test_run_operations.py
+++ b/tests/functional/run_operations/test_run_operations.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
     run_dbt_and_capture,
     write_file,
 )
-from dbt_common.exceptions import DbtInternalError
+from dbt_common.exceptions import UndefinedMacroError
 from tests.functional.run_operations.fixtures import (
     happy_macros_sql,
     model_sql,
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ def test_macro_exception(self, project):
 
     def test_macro_missing(self, project):
         with pytest.raises(
-            DbtInternalError,
+            UndefinedMacroError,
             match="dbt could not find a macro with the name 'this_macro_does_not_exist' in any package",
         ):
             self.run_operation("this_macro_does_not_exist", False)