General Manager in Hillingdon, Greater London

General Manager, Bespoke Textile Print Manufacturing - West London

High profile boutique designer / manufacturer of bespoke printed textiles and wallcoverings for major Brands and high profile commissions for palaces, embassies, private houses and hotels, seeks a qualified, dynamic & skilled General Manager / Managing Director to take responsibility for leading the Business through it’s next exciting phase of evolution & growth.

With the flexibility to produce bespoke limited editions as well as high volume production, they offer a range of services spanning Studio, Screen making, Fabric preparation/finishing/storage, Hand and Machine Screen Printing and Large Format Digital Printing.

Having built a successful & highly regarded Business for over thirty years, the existing Owners are making plans to step back from the day to day leadership, and seek to appoint a strong General Manager, Managing Director or senior Sales/Commercial/Operational leader with the proven professional background, breadth of experience, cultural maturity and capability to transition the Business from it’s long standing & effective management into a new era of Business opportunity & commercial longevity.

Assuming a leadership responsibility from appointment, you will benefit from the knowledge, expertise and support of the owners during an agreed & appropriate handover period, as they progressively step away from the day-to-day operation of the company, whilst providing the knowledge, technical expertise and support as you develop a deep understanding of the company, its customers, people, manufacturing processes and culture in order to lead the business through its next chapter.

Key responsibilities;

• Commercial Growth, Sales & Marketing - taking ownership of the company's overall sales and commercial strategy.
• Financial & P&L Leadership - assuming responsibility for the company's P&L and overall financial performance.
• Operations & Manufacturing - developing a thorough understanding of the company's manufacturing processes, capabilities and constraints, you will work closely with production leadership to ensure quality, capacity, efficiency and delivery standards are maintained/enhanced
• People & Culture - the culture of the company is an incredibly important part of its success, so you will be highly visible and accessible across the business, building genuine relationships and credibility with employees at every level.

Essential Experience

• Significant senior leadership experience within an SME, owner-managed, entrepreneurial or autonomous business/divisional environment.
• Meaningful P&L and financial responsibility.
• A track record of having improved commercial performance and contributed directly to business growth, with a strong connection to sales, customers and business development.
• Experience working within a manufacturing, product, production or similarly operational business.
• Leadership of multidisciplinary teams rather than a single specialist function.

Relevant professional backgrounds

• Direct textile-printing experience is not considered essential, but career experience in any areas of the Print Manufacturing Industry is considered highly desirable.

Other relevant professional/Industry considered:

• Luxury interiors and furnishings
• Textiles, fabrics and wallcoverings
• Design-led/bespoke/specialist manufacturing

You will join & lead an established business with a skilled workforce, strong heritage and loyal customer relationships in a role that combines the responsibility to protect what has/does makes the company successful, whilst bringing the commercial intelligence, corporate structure, entrepreneurial drive and people engagement/leadership skills required for successfully driving it’s next chapter.

Offering an attractive salary that is aligned with the current status of the company & commensurate with the responsibilities of the role, it will be combined with an incentive structure linked to Business performance & profitability, plus the longer-term incentive of significant share ownership driven by the continued success of the Company. This is an opportunity not simply to manage an existing operation, but to shape the future of an independent British business with significant heritage, specialist capability and a very clear potential for further development, transitioning them from an owner-led business through the stated ambition to lead an MBO/ELBO in defining the future success of this organisation.

General Manager, Managing Director, Sales, Operations, Manufacturing, SME, Commercial, Print, Screenprint, Large Format, Digital, Flat Bed, Reel Fed, Printed textiles, wallcoverings