Service Manager

Service Manager
Location: Northampton, Northamptonshire
Salary: £45,000 - £50,000 per annum + Bonus + Company Vehicle
Hours: Monday to Thursday 8:00am – 5:00pm | Friday 8:00am – 4:00pm
Full time, Permanent

About the Role

Interaction Recruitment have partnered with a well-established plant hire firm who is seeking an experienced and driven Service Manager to lead their service operation and play a key role in the future growth of the business.

This is a senior management position responsible for overseeing the day-to-day performance of our service department, managing a team of office administrators, workshop technicians and field engineers, whilst ensuring the highest standards of customer service, operational efficiency, profitability and health & safety compliance.

The successful candidate will be a strong leader with excellent commercial awareness, a solid engineering background, and the ability to build lasting relationships with customers and stakeholders. You will also play a significant role in future business development initiatives, including a planned company relocation and expansion project.

Benefits

Bonus Scheme

• Up to 10% of annual salary
• Based on business and personal objectives

Holiday

• 20 days annual leave
• 8 Bank Holidays
• 3 additional days between Christmas and New Year company shutdown
• 1 additional day's holiday after 2 years' service
• Further additional day awarded every two years thereafter
• Maximum of 5 additional days

Pension

• 5% Employee Contribution
• 4% Employer Contribution

Additional Benefits

• Company vehicle (Electric or Hybrid)
• Company credit card for business expenses
• Company Fuel Card
• Company mobile phone
• Company laptop
• Life Assurance of 2x annual salary

Team Responsibility

You will have direct responsibility for:

• Service Administration Team
• Internal Engineers and Support Team
• Mobile Service Engineers

Including the management of:

• 2 Service Administrators
• 5 Field Service Engineers
• 2 Workshop Engineers
• 1 Yard Person
• Oversight of administrative support for 4 National Engineers/Operations

You will also be responsible for recruiting additional personnel as required to support business growth.

Key Responsibilities

Service & Operational Management

• Coordinate service engineers and company resources to ensure work is completed efficiently and within agreed timescales.
• Allocate engineers based on skills, competency levels and experience.
• Manage all repair and service activities, ensuring jobs are progressed proactively.
• Drive engineer utilisation and operational performance.
• Ensure all departmental processes and procedures are followed.
• Distribute work according to operational priorities and customer requirements.
• Manage engineer schedules, workloads and performance on a daily basis.

Customer Relationship Management

• Deliver exceptional customer service throughout all interactions.
• Proactively visit customers to generate service opportunities and develop long-term relationships.
• Respond to customer enquiries, concerns and complaints professionally and effectively.
• Engage with existing, dormant and prospective customers to grow service revenue.
• Pursue and maximise all departmental revenue opportunities.

Team Leadership

• Lead, motivate and develop service administration staff and engineers.
• Identify training and development opportunities.
• Manage performance concerns professionally and promptly.
• Recruit new team members where required.
• Promote a positive working environment and healthy working relationships.

Health, Safety & Compliance

• Manage the company’s Health & Safety requirements.
• Ensure compliance with all Company Health, Safety, Environmental and Quality policies.
• Ensure all departmental activities comply with UK legislation and industry standards.
• Maintain a safe working environment across office, workshop and field operations.

Commercial & Financial Management

• Produce weekly departmental KPI reports.
• Monitor and report monthly financial performance.
• Ensure purchase and sales invoices are processed accurately and promptly.
• Participate in monthly management meetings.
• Support profitability through effective resource planning and commercial decision making.
• Demonstrate strong understanding of departmental Profit & Loss performance.

Business Development & Strategic Projects

• Support future business growth initiatives.
• Contribute to major company projects, including planned relocation and expansion activities.
• Collaborate with all internal departments and stakeholders to achieve business objectives.

Skills & Competencies

The ideal candidate will possess:

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Strong negotiation and relationship-building abilities
• Proven leadership and team management capability
• Strong decision-making skills
• Excellent problem-solving and prioritisation abilities
• Commercial and financial awareness
• Customer-focused mindset
• Strong organisational skills
• Ability to work independently and as part of a management team
• High level of integrity, reliability and professionalism
• Flexible, resilient and adaptable approach
• Strong sense of ownership and accountability
• Excellent telephone and customer service manner
• Sound mechanical and engineering knowledge

Experience & Qualifications

Essential

• Full UK Driving Licence
• Strong engineering and mechanical understanding
• Experience managing people, resources and customer relationships
• Commercial awareness and understanding of business performance

Desirable

• NVQ Level 3 in Plant Maintenance or equivalent
• IOSH Managing Safely
• Minimum 3 years' industry-related supervisory or management experience
• Experience within plant, agricultural machinery, construction equipment, materials handling or related industries
• Knowledge of Dealer Management Systems
• Proficient in Microsoft Office or Google Workspace applications

Interaction Recruitment have specialist consultants across the majority of industries within the UK, including but not limited to, Finance & IT, Technical & Engineering, Industrial, Commercial and Hospitality. We offer both temporary and permanent support. For more information regarding the position or to discuss any other opportunities, you can reach Julius on (phone number removed), (phone number removed) or email on (url removed)

INDTE