Office Manager

A well-established food manufacturing business is looking for a new Office Manager.

Reporting into senior operations leadership, the Office Manager will take overall responsibility for the office, staff and the day-to-day running of office operations. You'll lead and develop an administration team, act as the key escalation point for complex customer/order queries, and ensure smooth coordination between Customer Service, Production, Warehouse/Dispatch and Accounts. The role is hands-on and requires strong organisational control, excellent stakeholder communication, and confidence managing processes in a fast-paced manufacturing and logistics environment.

Key Responsibilities

Office & Team Leadership

• Overall management of the administration office and daily office operations.
• Supervision, training, coaching, support and performance oversight of the administration team.
• Allocate and prioritise workloads, plan holidays, and ensure adequate administrative cover.
• Maintain continuity of office operations during staff absence and peak workload periods.

Customer Service & Order Administration

• Oversee customer service standards, including shared inbox management and query resolution.

Supervise and support:

• Sales order processing, amendments and order administration
• Routine data entry and maintenance of customer records
• New customer account set-up
• Complaint logging and associated administration
• Act as the primary point of escalation for customer service and administrative queries, including investigation of complex customer/order issues.

Manage dispatch, logistics & POD Administration (UK & Export)

• Supervise and oversee the dispatch administration for domestic and export orders (documentation support as required).
• Transport bookings, delivery tracking, and coordination with transport providers.
• Manage customer collections and associated administration.
• Proof of Delivery (POD) retrieval, checking and filing.

Invoicing, Payments & Credit Control Support

• Invoicing and payment administration (including system processing and reporting).
• Credit control follow-up and administrative support to Accounts (in line with agreed processes).

Cross-Functional Coordination & Operational Control

• Liaise daily with Production, Warehouse/Dispatch, Samples team, Accounts, customers, suppliers and transport partners to ensure smooth information flow and fast issue resolution.
• Monitor outstanding customer orders, production progress, dispatch schedules and unresolved admin issues; proactively drive actions to maintain service levels.
• Ensure office procedures are followed consistently and administrative standards are maintained.

Required Skills & Experience

• Computer literacy: Microsoft (excel, word, excel) - Intermediate skills
• Intermediate - Advanced Excel skills
• Proven experience in an administration/office management role, ideally within manufacturing, food production, FMCG, distribution or logistics.
• Demonstrable people-management experience (supervision, training, performance support, workload planning).
• Excellent organisation, attention to detail, and ability to prioritise in a high-volume environment.
• Strong communication skills (written and verbal) and confident handling of sensitive issues (complaints, delayed deliveries, invoice queries).
• Google Workspace: Gmail, Google Sheets, Google Docs, Google Drive - Intermediate
• Adobe: Acrobat (PDF editing), Illustrator, Bridge
• Sage 50 Accounts (invoicing, exporting reports/data)

Benefits

25 days Holiday plus bank holidays

Access to small electric vehicle after 6-month successful review

Company pension auto enrolment

'Perks at work' discount membership

Day off for your Birthday

Free parking onsite