Operations Manager – Manned Guarding

Palmer McCarthy; Reading; Remote; GBP 43,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

Palmer McCarthy is seeking an Operations Manager for the manned guarding sector. The role is predominantly home-based with travel across England, focusing on protecting client relationships and resolving operational issues to retain and grow business.

You will manage client relationships, attend meetings and site visits, and work with operations teams to ensure excellent service delivery. This is a hands-on, client-facing leadership role requiring proactive problem-solving and strong commercial

Qualifications

• Experience in operations, account or contract management, ideally in security or 24/7 service environments.
• Strong client-facing and relationship-management skills.
• Practical problem solver with ownership and calm under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Manage and develop relationships with key clients, acting as senior operational contact.
• Attend client meetings and site visits, use data to drive discussions on SLA/KPI performance.
• Own complaints and escalations, coordinate practical solutions and corrective actions.
• Work with control room and teams to maintain high service delivery and performance.
• Retain hours and identify opportunities to increase services within accounts.

Skills

Client-facing

Relationship management

Contract management

Problem solving

Travel across England

Job description

Salary: £50,000 basic + car/car allowance + growth-related bonus per year

Operations Manager - Manned Guarding (Ref 2793)

£50,000 basic + car/car allowance + growth-related bonus
Home-based | Travel across England

Palmer McCarthy has been retained by an established security and resilience services provider to recruit an Operations Manager to strengthen its client-facing operational team.

This is a hands-on, client-facing role focused on protecting client relationships, resolving operational issues and helping retain and grow existing business. With a strong established control room already managing day-to-day scheduling and first-line operational activity, this role provides the operational presence with clients and at key sites.

The Role

As Operations Manager, you will manage client relationships, attend regular meetings and site visits, resolve escalated issues and work closely with operational teams to ensure excellent service delivery.

You will be expected to identify problems early, take ownership and find practical solutions, while also looking for opportunities to retain client hours and increase services within existing accounts.

The role is predominantly home-based, with regular travel to client and operational sites across England. Site visits are driven by client requirements rather than being a constant feature of the role.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage and develop strong relationships with key manned guarding clients, acting as a senior operational point of contact.
• Attend client meetings and site visits, using operational data and performance information to drive service discussions.
• Take ownership of complaints, escalations and service issues, coordinating practical solutions and corrective action.
• Work closely with the control room and operational teams to maintain strong SLA/KPI performance and service delivery.
• Protect and develop existing accounts by retaining hours and identifying opps to increase services.

What We're Looking For

• Operations, account or contract management experience, ideally within security, manned guarding, resilience, labour supply or another 24/7 service environment.
• Strong client-facing and relationship-management skills, with the confidence to handle difficult conversations and represent the business professionally.
• A practical problem solver who takes ownership, remains calm under pressure and gets involved when required.
• Good commercial awareness, with an understanding of the importance of retaining clients and developing existing business.
• Well organised, flexible and responsive, with the ability to travel across England and manage a fluid operational workload.

The Opportunity

This is an important appointment within an established security provider with mature operational infrastructure and a strong control room function.

For the right Operations Manager, it offers the opportunity to take ownership of important client relationships, make a visible impact on service delivery and contribute directly to the retention and growth of existing business.

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