Operations Manager

Location: Kettering, Northamptonshire
Salary: Up to £50,000 per annum DOE
Hours: 37.5 hrs per week

Our client is a long-established company specialising in the design and manufacture of physical testing machinery. Trusted by leading global brands, their equipment is exported worldwide to support quality and performance standards across multiple industries. Their Kettering facility combines engineering expertise with advanced production processes to deliver high-value, low-volume machinery.

The Operations Manager will oversee the end-to-end coordination of production, service, logistics, and operational delivery, ensuring customer commitments are met on time, to quality standards, and within budget.

This is a hands-on leadership position requiring a strong engineering background, proven production management experience, and commercial awareness. The role bridges engineering, production, sales, and customers, ensuring products are delivered profitably and reliably.

It includes customer-facing responsibilities and contributes to business development and strategic marketing through operational and technical input.

Operational Delivery & Planning

• Own and continuously improve delivery performance from order acceptance to shipment, installation, commissioning, and service.

• Lead integrated planning across sales, engineering, production, service, and procurement, ensuring priorities, capacity, and risks are visible.

• Serve as the escalation point for delivery issues, proactively communicating and mitigating risks.

Production & Service Oversight

• Manage and support team leaders responsible for:

  • Mechanical production and assembly

  • Electrical build, calibration, and commissioning

  • Global service and technical support

  • Logistics and order fulfillment

• Ensure all production, calibration, and service activities adhere to agreed processes and quality standards.

• Oversee logging and escalation of design, production, supplier, or parts defects.

Commercial & Margin Awareness

• Meet financial objectives through operational decision-making.

• Minimize avoidable cost leakage via improved planning, sourcing, internal manufacturing vs. subcontracting decisions, and clear service charging.

• Collaborate with Sales, Procurement, and Engineering to ensure commercially sound decisions.

• Report financial performance against budget.

Customer & Market Engagement

• Act as a senior operational contact for key customers, fostering confidence in delivery and service.

• Support the development of service offerings, training, upgrades, and aftermarket opportunities.

• Contribute operational and technical expertise to marketing materials, product positioning, and business development.

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, coach, and develop team leaders, enhancing planning discipline, accountability, and confidence.

• Promote a commercially aware, customer-focused culture across production and service teams.

• Support skills development, training records, and succession planning.

Continuous Improvement & Governance

• Enhance consistency of operational processes without adding unnecessary bureaucracy.

• Maintain feedback loops between production, service, and engineering teams.

• Support skills development, training records, and succession planning.

Essential

• Willingness to challenge constructively and improve ways of working

• Engineering background (mechanical and/or electrical)

• Proven experience in production or operations management

• Experience leading technical or production teams

• Strong planning, coordination, and problem-solving skills

• Commercial awareness

• Confident communicator with internal teams and customers

• Comfortable in a low-volume, high-value manufacturing environment

Desirable

• Experience in test equipment, machinery, or capital equipment

• Exposure to service, commissioning, or calibration activities

• Previous customer-facing or account support experience

• Involvement in business development or product marketing

• Knowledge of CE/UKCA or regulated machinery environments

• Experience managing subcontract manufacture

• days (service-related) annual leave

• Life assurance

• Group personal pension plan

• Income protection

• Free parking

• Flexible working hours

• Potential for global travel

Recruitment Contact: This vacancy is being handled exclusively by Interaction Recruitment.
Closing date: Friday 13th March
1st Stage Teams interviews: 25th & 26th March 2026

INDKTT