On-site CNC Service Operations Lead

The Clay Partnership Ltd; Samlesbury; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

The Clay Partnership Ltd is seeking an experienced Service Operations Manager to lead day-to-day service and maintenance at a major blue-chip customer site in the United Kingdom. You will supervise the site engineering team, coordinate maintenance activities, and drive machine availability while delivering exceptional technical service and support.

You will act as the crucial link between the customer, the site team and the broader service organisation, owning operational priorities on site and

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing service, maintenance or engineering teams within CNC machine tools or advanced manufacturing.
• Strong operational leadership in a demanding, customer-facing environment.
• Solid technical background to support engineers and discuss complex CNC issues.
• Experience balancing planned preventative maintenance and reactive breakdowns on production equipment.
• Excellent customer-management skills with cross-functional stakeholders.
• Proven people-management including coaching, development and performance management.
• Organised, decisive with strong communication, problem-solving and continuous-improvement skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day site service and maintenance operation with consistently high delivery standards.
• Manage, motivate and develop the on-site engineering team, creating accountability and technical excellence.
• Plan and prioritise resources across planned maintenance, breakdowns and production needs.
• Drive improvements in machine uptime, availability, response times and service quality.
• Coordinate complex breakdowns and technical issues, supporting fault finding and corrective actions.
• Act as the primary operational interface with the customer, leading service reviews and escalations.
• Monitor service KPIs and reporting, providing escalation to the Service Director as needed.

Skills

Leadership

CNC/Engineering

Customer management

Problem solving

Team development

Job description

The Clay Partnership Ltd is seeking an experienced Service Operations Manager to lead day-to-day service and maintenance at a major blue-chip customer site in the United Kingdom. You will supervise the site engineering team, coordinate maintenance activities, and drive machine availability while delivering exceptional technical service and support.

You will act as the crucial link between the customer, the site team and the broader service organisation, owning operational priorities on site and