Overview
The Office Manager plays a pivotal role in keeping commercial operations running smoothly for a leading manufacturing business. Working closely with customer service, technical estimation, and production teams, this position ensures the day-to-day administration office performs efficiently. You will bridge the gap between factory floor output and client satisfaction, nurturing a culture focused on customers, accountability, and continuous improvement.
This role leads a team working to maintain service excellence and uphold the wider Group vision of operational discipline, manufacturing accuracy, and customer success. The goal is to create a consistently high-performing office function that supports factory colleagues, delivers a dependable service to trade customers, and drives ongoing improvements in order efficiency, accuracy, and customer satisfaction.
The Role
Operational Management
1. Manage daily commercial administrative flows.
2. Maintain visibility through production dashboards.
3. Resolve complex technical order escalations.
Leadership & People Development
4. Lead the sales administration team.
5. Build capability through regular coaching.
6. Foster accountability and ownership mindset.
7. Recruit and onboard appropriate talent.
Service Level Delivery
8. Monitor order-to-delivery KPIs.
9. Use data to shorten lead-times.
10. Deliver daily order pipeline briefings.
System & Process Improvement
11. Support implementation of ERP systems.
12. Identify order processing workflow inefficiencies.
13. Lead root cause defect investigations.
Customer Experience & Communication
14. Promote customer-first manufacturing solutions.
15. Review communications for technical clarity.
16. Gather feedback from industrial installers.
Stakeholder & Cross-Functional Collaboration
17. Represent administration in plant meetings.
18. Build strong production-to-office relationships.
19. Maintain credibility through professional delivery.
Performance Reporting & Continuous Improvement
20. Maintain accurate dispatch performance metrics.
21. Analyse trends to minimize wastage.
22. Embed Lean manufacturing principles office-wide.
Health, Safety & Compliance
23. Ensure procedures align with industrial standards.
24. Keep safety compliance training logs.
25. Promote zero-harm plant site rules.
Your Experience/ Requirements
Key Attributes & Behaviours
26. Customer-First: Understands impact of dispatch delays.
27. Credible Leader: Commands respect across office/factory.
28. Strategic: Uses supply-chain data effectively.
29. Change Champion: Drives modern administrative workflows.
30. Clear Communicator: Bridges technical production and sales.
31. Organised: Proactively manages material lead-times.
32. Fair: Balances factory capabilities with demands.
Success Measures
33. Achieving factory lead-time SLAs.
34. Positive administration team staff retention.
35. Reduced volume of order specification errors.
36. Accurate dispatch reporting and insights.
37. Successful system and ERP adoptions.
38. Constructive feedback from manufacturing stakeholders.