Operations Manager
Aspired Talent Ltd
Full-time | Permanent | On-site
Aspired Talent is recruiting an experienced and commercially focused **Service Operations Manager** to lead and develop the Aftersales function of an established, award-winning manufacturing business.
This opportunity is particularly suited to an experienced **Automotive Aftersales Manager, Service Manager, Workshop Manager or Service Operations Manager** who understands how to lead technical teams, strengthen customer relationships and improve departmental profitability.
You will take ownership of the department’s people, processes, performance and commercial results, ensuring customers receive a responsive and consistently high-quality service.
The Role
Working closely with the Head of Supply Chain and Planning, you will develop the Aftersales operation, improve systems and processes, and support the continued growth of service and maintenance revenue.
Your responsibilities will include:
Leadership and Team Development
- Leading and developing the Aftersales team.
- Creating a culture of accountability, teamwork and continuous improvement.
- Managing and supporting the Lead Transport Refrigeration Engineer.
- Ensuring engineers deliver excellent customer service and maintain high technical standards.
- Setting clear objectives, KPIs and individual development plans.
- Monitoring performance and supporting the continued development of the team.
Commercial Growth
- Identifying opportunities to increase service revenue, profitability and customer retention.
- Developing service and maintenance contracts.
- Growing planned preventative maintenance programmes and chargeable repair services.
- Working closely with the Sales team to develop existing customer accounts.
- Supporting the generation and conversion of new business opportunities.
- Ensuring commercial opportunities are identified and followed through.
Customer Relationship Management
- Building strong, long-term relationships with key customers.
- Acting as the senior escalation point for significant service issues.
- Ensuring customers receive a professional, responsive and consistent service.
- Using customer feedback and performance information to improve service delivery.
- Protecting customer relationships through effective communication and problem resolution.
Operational Performance
- Taking overall responsibility for the performance of the Aftersales department.
- Monitoring engineer capacity, utilisation, productivity and workload.
- Ensuring field-based resources are deployed effectively.
- Identifying operational challenges and implementing practical solutions.
- Improving response times, service quality and departmental efficiency.
- Ensuring work is properly planned, recorded and completed.
Contracts, Service Levels and Reporting
- Managing service contracts, renewals and customer agreements.
- Monitoring performance against agreed service-level agreements.
- Producing meaningful management information and performance reports.
- Using data to identify risks, trends and opportunities.
- Making informed recommendations to improve departmental performance.
Financial and Continuous Improvement Leadership
- Managing departmental revenue, costs, margins, utilisation and profitability.
- Supporting budgeting, forecasting and commercial planning.
- Driving improvements across Aftersales systems and processes.
- Ensuring Joblogic or similar field-service software is used effectively.
- Working collaboratively with other departments to improve service quality, reliability and customer satisfaction.
About You
You will be an experienced and proactive service leader who enjoys creating structure, developing people and delivering measurable results.
We are particularly interested in candidates with experience gained within:
- Automotive dealerships or dealer groups
- Commercial vehicle servicing
- Fleet maintenance
- Vehicle conversions
- Transport refrigeration
- Automotive engineering
- Mobile engineering or field-service operations
- Manufacturing or technical service environments
You may currently be working as an:
- Automotive Aftersales Manager
- Service Manager
- Regional Service Manager
- Workshop Manager
- Head of Aftersales
- Service Operations Manager
- Field Service Manager
- Engineering Service Manager
- Fleet Maintenance Manager
Essential Experience
- Proven experience in service management, aftersales or service-operations leadership.
- Strong leadership and people-management skills.
- Commercial awareness with experience identifying and delivering growth opportunities.
- Excellent customer relationship-management skills.
- Experience managing customer escalations and service issues.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
- Excellent organisational and prioritisation abilities.
- Confidence analysing performance data and producing meaningful management information.
- A good understanding of revenue, costs, margins and profitability.
- Strong IT skills, including Microsoft Office.
- A results-driven, accountable and proactive approach.
- Strong problem-solving and continuous-improvement skills.
Desirable Experience
- Automotive, commercial vehicle or fleet-service experience.
- Experience managing an automotive aftersales or workshop operation.
- Service sales or business-development experience.
- Knowledge of transport refrigeration.
- Experience within engineering or manufacturing.
- Contract-management and renewal experience.
- P&L responsibility.
- Experience managing mobile or field-based engineers.
- Experience using Joblogic or similar field-service management software.
Benefits
The successful candidate will join a stable, award-winning manufacturer that invests in its people and offers:
- Competitive employment package
- Company pension
- Life assurance
- Critical illness cover
- Profit-sharing scheme
- EV salary-exchange scheme
- Health and wellbeing support
- Training and development opportunities
- Christmas shutdown
- Additional leave
- Paid volunteering time
- Employee referral programme
- Reward and recognition initiatives
- Company events
- On-site canteen
- Free on-site parking
- Sabbatical opportunities
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