Site Operations Manager - Machine Tools

The Clay Partnership; Preston; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

The Clay Partnership is seeking an experienced Service Operations Manager to lead day-to-day service and maintenance at a major blue-chip customer site in Preston. You will manage the site engineering team, coordinate maintenance, drive machine availability and ensure exceptional technical service.

Strong technical engineering knowledge is essential; you will support service engineers, troubleshoot CNC machine tool issues, and communicate with customer operations and engineering teams.

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing service, maintenance or engineering teams within CNC machine tools or high-value manufacturing.
• Strong operational leadership in a customer-facing environment.
• Solid technical engineering background with the credibility to support experienced engineers.
• Experience managing both planned preventative maintenance and reactive breakdown activity on complex production equipment.
• Strong customer-management skills and ability to engage with Engineering, Maintenance and Operations teams.

Responsibilities

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

Job description

We are looking for an experienced Service Operations Manager to take responsibility for the day-to-day management and delivery of service and maintenance activities at a major blue-chip customer site.

This is a highly visible, customer-facing operational leadership role with responsibility for managing the site-based engineering team, coordinating maintenance and breakdown activity, driving machine availability and ensuring the customer receives an exceptional level of technical service and support.

The successful candidate will provide the crucial link between the customer, the site engineering team and the wider service organisation. You will take ownership of operational priorities on site, ensuring engineers and resources are deployed effectively and that planned and reactive maintenance activities are managed professionally and efficiently.

Strong technical engineering knowledge is essential. You will need the technical credibility to support experienced Service Engineers, understand complex CNC machine tool problems, participate in technical discussions and communicate confidently with the customer’s engineering and operational teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day site service and maintenance operation, ensuring consistently high standards of delivery.
• Manage, motivate and develop the site-based engineering team, creating a culture of accountability and technical excellence.
• Plan and prioritise resources across planned maintenance, breakdowns and customer production requirements.
• Drive improvements in machine uptime, availability, response times, preventative maintenance completion and service quality.
• Coordinate complex breakdowns and technical issues, supporting engineers with fault finding, root-cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Act as the primary operational interface with the customer, leading service reviews, managing expectations and resolving escalations.
• Monitor service KPIs, engineering performance and outstanding actions, providing clear reporting and escalation to the Service Director.

The Ideal Candidate

• Proven experience managing service, maintenance or engineering teams within CNC machine tools, capital equipment or advanced manufacturing.
• Strong operational leadership with experience managing engineers in a demanding, customer-facing environment.
• A solid technical engineering background with the credibility to support and challenge experienced engineers.
• Experience managing both planned preventative maintenance and reactive breakdown activity on complex production equipment.
• Strong customer-management skills with the confidence to engage with Engineering, Maintenance, Operations and senior customer stakeholders.
• Proven people-management capability, including coaching, development, performance management and accountability.
• A proactive, organised and decisive approach with strong communication, problem-solving and continuous-improvement skills.

Preferred Background

• Previous experience as a Service Engineer, Senior Engineer, Team Leader, Service Manager or Maintenance Manager before progressing into operational leadership.
• Experience working for a machine tool builder, distributor or specialist service organisation.
• Strong exposure to sophisticated CNC machinery and high-value capital equipment.
• Experience managing engineers within a customer-site or field-service environment.
• Background within aerospace, automotive, defence, precision engineering or high-value manufacturing would be advantageous.
• Experience working with major blue-chip manufacturing customers.
• A track record of retaining strong technical knowledge while progressing into people and operational management.

Why This Role?

• Leadership with technical involvement – Lead and develop an experienced engineering team while remaining close to sophisticated CNC machine tools, breakdowns and technical problem-solving.
• Genuine autonomy and ownership – Have real responsibility for site performance, engineering priorities, machine availability and the overall quality of service delivered.
• The opportunity to join a leader in their with premium high precision equipment