Engineering Workshop Manager
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire
Salary: £70,000–£ 90,000 depending on experience
Job Type: Permanent, Full-time
We are looking for an experienced Engineering Workshop Manager to take responsibility for a busy and varied engineering operation based in Bicester.
This is a significant leadership role within a growing engineering business, with responsibility for bringing together and managing a broad range of workshop activities including fabrication, welding, machining, repair, refurbishment and reactive engineering work.
The role is not about being the best welder, CNC programmer or machinist in the building.
You must have sufficient technical understanding to confidently manage experienced engineers and tradespeople, question priorities, understand capacity constraints and allocate work intelligently.
It is about being the person who can organise the people, workload and priorities around them.
There is a lot happening within the workshop at any one time: planned production, one-off jobs, urgent customer requirements, fabrication work, machining, breakdown activity and changing priorities.
We therefore need somebody capable of bringing structure, accountability and clear direction to the operation.
You will take day-to-day ownership of the engineering workshop and its people, ensuring work is properly planned, prioritised, allocated and delivered.
Your responsibilities will include:
Leading and managing the workshop team across multiple engineering disciplines
Planning daily and weekly workloads
Allocating work according to skills, capacity and customer priorities
Managing competing priorities across fabrication, machining and reactive engineering work
Delegating effectively and ensuring clear ownership of jobs
Monitoring work-in-progress and ensuring jobs continue to move through the workshop
Identifying bottlenecks and resolving resource or capacity issues
Maintaining focus on quality, productivity and on-time delivery
Holding regular workshop and production meetings
Setting clear expectations and maintaining accountability
Managing performance, attendance, development and training
Supporting recruitment and skills development within the team
Ensuring appropriate workshop standards, housekeeping and Health & Safety
Working closely with engineering, design, commercial and customer-facing teams
Improving planning, workflow and operational discipline as the business develops
Ensuring urgent work is handled effectively without continually disrupting planned production
The workshop covers a broad mix of engineering activities including:
MIG and TIG welding
General fabrication
Sheet metal and fabricated assemblies
Cutting, forming and press brake operations
Laser-cut components
CNC turning / CNC lathes
Conventional turning
CNC milling
Conventional milling
General machining
Mechanical fitting and assembly
Pump and gearbox refurbishment
Mechanical repair
Hydraulic and industrial engineering work
One-off manufacture
Small-batch and repeat production
Reactive / breakdown engineering
You do not need to be an expert in every discipline.
However, you must have sufficient technical understanding to confidently manage experienced engineers and tradespeople, question priorities, understand capacity constraints and allocate work intelligently.
We are particularly interested in candidates with experience as a:
Engineering Workshop Manager
Works Manager
Fabrication Manager
Production Manager
Manufacturing Manager
Workshop Operations Manager
Fabrication / Welding Manager
Machine Shop Manager with broader fabrication exposure
Senior Workshop or Production Supervisor ready for the next step
A background that includes welding and fabrication is particularly valuable.
You may have originally trained as a welder/fabricator, machinist or mechanical engineer before progressing into supervision and management.
Technical credibility matters, but this appointment will ultimately succeed or fail on your ability to manage.
We need someone who can walk into the workshop, understand what is happening and establish:
What is urgent?
What is late?
What needs to happen today?
What labour is available?
Who has the right skills?
Where are the bottlenecks?
What needs escalating?
What can be delegated?
What needs communicating?
You should then be able to allocate responsibility, set expectations and manage delivery through the team.
This is not a role for somebody who wants to spend most of their day personally programming machines, welding or solving every technical problem themselves.
You should be able to demonstrate:
Strong people-management experience within an engineering or manufacturing environment
Experience managing skilled workshop personnel
Production or workshop planning
Workload and labour allocation
Delegation and performance management
Managing changing priorities and urgent work
Strong understanding of welding and fabrication operations
Working knowledge of machining / CNC environments
Responsibility for output, quality and delivery
Strong communication and leadership skills
The confidence to challenge, organise and support experienced engineers
Useful additional experience includes:
CNC machining
Laser cutting / sheet metal
Press brake operations
Mechanical repair / refurbishment
Subcontract engineering
MRP / ERP systems
Lean manufacturing / continuous improvement
KPI / SQDCP-style management
5S
Capacity planning
Skills matrices
ISO 9001
Health & Safety management
Engineering services or maintenance environments
This could suit an established Engineering Workshop or Works Manager looking for a broad operational role, or a particularly strong Production / Fabrication Supervisor who has already demonstrated that they can lead people, plan workload and take ownership of delivery.
The successful person will combine strong workshop leadership with practical engineering credibility.
Above all, we are looking for somebody capable of taking a busy engineering environment with multiple competing demands and creating clarity, structure, accountability and control.
Salary: £70,000–£90,000 depending on experience.
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire.
