General Manager
Business Operations, Customer Liaison & Partnerships
Company: Crowdguard Ltd
Location: Vanguard House, Bradley Lane, Standish, WN6 0XF
Reporting to: Managing Director
Salary: £39,000–£45,000 per annum, depending on experience
Hours: Full-time, 39 hours per week, with flexibility required to meet the needs of the business
Benefits: Company bonus scheme, pension, death in service cover, paid expenses and other standard company benefits
Role type: Full-time, permanent
The Company
Crowdguard Ltd provides Hostile Vehicle Mitigation and protective security solutions to protect people, places and publicly accessible locations across the UK.
Crowdguard delivers temporary, permanent and semi-permanent HVM solutions for events, local authorities, venues, stadiums, public realm schemes and commercial clients.
The business operates in a specialist, safety-critical sector where planning, communication, documentation, competence, customer service, commercial awareness and professional delivery are essential.
As Crowdguard continues to grow, the business requires strong coordination across all areas, including sales, operations, accounts, marketing, customer relationships, partnerships and internal systems.
Purpose of the Role
The General Manager will support the Managing Director in the day-to-day oversight, coordination and development of the business.
The role exists to help bring the business together across sales, operations, accounts, marketing, business development, customer liaison, partnerships, systems, people and reporting.
This is a progressive leadership role, working closely with and being mentored by the Managing Director. The successful person will develop a full understanding of the business and will support improved communication, clearer systems, stronger follow-through and better visibility across the company.
The role is not designed to replace department leads or take direct responsibility away from existing managers. Instead, the General Manager will help ensure the business is joined up, information is visible, actions are followed through and priorities are understood across the team.
This role would suit someone who is organised, commercially aware, confident with people, system-led and capable of seeing the bigger picture while still following through on detail.
Role Overview
The General Manager will maintain visibility of what is happening across the company and support the Managing Director by ensuring key information, actions and priorities are properly managed.
The role will include:
- Understanding current activity across sales, operations, accounts, marketing and partnerships.
- Supporting communication between departments.
- Tracking priorities, actions, deadlines and decisions.
- Encouraging consistent use of company systems.
- Supporting business development activity and customer follow-up.
- Maintaining visibility of key customer relationships, opportunities and strategic partnerships.
- Helping ensure sales handovers, operational planning, customer updates, invoicing, marketing activity and reporting are aligned.
- Identifying gaps, delays, duplication or unclear ownership.
- Supporting the Managing Director with business improvement, process development and day-to-day coordination.
- Learning the commercial, operational and strategic workings of the business.
Key Responsibilities
1. Business Coordination and Management Support
The General Manager will support the Managing Director with day-to-day business coordination and visibility.
Responsibilities include:
- Working closely with the Managing Director to understand company priorities.
- Maintaining visibility of activity across sales, operations, accounts, marketing and partnerships.
- Helping ensure departments are communicating effectively.
- Supporting internal updates, actions and follow-up.
- Tracking agreed actions from meetings and ensuring they are progressed.
- Identifying where tasks, issues or decisions are not being followed through.
- Helping create structure around internal communication and business rhythm.
- Supporting the preparation of weekly management updates.
- Bringing together information from different parts of the business so the Managing Director has clear visibility.
- Helping ensure decisions are recorded and communicated clearly.
2. Sales Visibility and Business Development Support
The General Manager will support with business development activity and sales visibility.
This role does not replace the sales function, but provides support, coordination and follow-through around opportunities, customers and growth activity.
Responsibilities include:
- Maintaining visibility of key enquiries, live opportunities and customer priorities.
- Supporting the Managing Director with business development activity where required.
- Understanding how enquiries move through the business from initial contact to quotation, handover, delivery and follow-up.
- Helping ensure sales information is properly recorded, updated and followed through.
- Supporting communication between sales, operations and accounts before and after handover.
- Helping identify where customer expectations, pricing, lead times or operational requirements need clarification.
- Supporting preparation for customer meetings, presentations, proposals and follow-up notes where required.
- Attending customer meetings, site visits or business development meetings
- Helping identify opportunities for repeat work, service agreements, training, maintenance, product sales or future projects.
- Developing an understanding of Crowdguard’s commercial model, pricing approach, customer sectors and growth opportunities.
3. Customer Liaison and Relationship Support
The General Manager will help support a professional and consistent customer experience across the business.
Responsibilities include:
- Supporting customer liaison before, during and after project delivery.
- Helping ensure customer requirements and expectations are clearly communicated between sales, operations and accounts.
- Supporting follow-up with customers after completed projects.
- Helping capture customer feedback, lessons learned and future opportunities.
- Ensuring customer queries or concerns are directed to the right person and followed through.
- Supporting the Managing Director with key customer updates where required.
- Helping ensure commitments made to customers are recorded, communicated and actioned.
- Encouraging a professional, responsive and consistent customer experience across the business.
- Helping ensure customer feedback is used to improve systems, service and delivery.
4. Partnerships and Supplier Relationship Coordination
The General Manager will support visibility and coordination around key partnerships, suppliers, manufacturers and strategic relationships.
Responsibilities include:
- Supporting partnership coordination and follow-up.
- Maintaining visibility of key supplier, manufacturer, distributor and strategic partner relationships.
- Helping ensure commitments made to partners are recorded, followed up and delivered.
- Supporting internal communication around partnership opportunities, product updates, training, stock, pricing or territory arrangements.
- Helping coordinate information between partners, sales, operations, accounts and marketing.
- Supporting meetings with partners and suppliers where required.
- Helping ensure partnership activity is aligned with Crowdguard’s commercial and operational priorities.
- Supporting marketing with suitable partnership updates, case studies or announcements where appropriate.
- Developing an understanding of how partnerships support business growth and market position.
5. Operations Visibility and Handover Support
The General Manager will not replace the Operations Manager, but will maintain awareness of operational pressures, risks and priorities.
The Operations Manager remains responsible for operational delivery, including sales handover, Reflow, planning, RAMS, resource planning, commercial tracking, timesheets and escalation. The General Manager’s role is to understand that process, support visibility and help ensure business-wide alignment.
Responsibilities include:
- Understanding upcoming jobs, live jobs and operational pressures.
- Supporting communication between sales, operations, accounts and marketing.
- Monitoring whether handovers, customer updates and close-outs are happening.
- Helping identify where operational issues affect sales, invoicing, customer service, marketing or reputation.
- Supporting lessons learned and continuous improvement after jobs.
- Helping ensure operational information is visible to the wider management team.
- Escalating issues to the Managing Director where delivery, customer service, finance or reputation may be affected.
- Supporting joined-up communication where customer promises, operational reality and commercial controls need alignment.
6. Accounts and Commercial Awareness
The General Manager will work with the Managing Director and accounts function to develop commercial understanding and support financial visibility.
Responsibilities include:
- Understanding how quotes, purchase orders, supplier invoices, customer invoices and payment milestones link together.
- Supporting visibility of jobs requiring invoicing, deposits, staged payments or close-out information.
- Helping identify where missing operational information may delay invoicing.
- Supporting communication between operations and accounts around costs, purchase orders, CVRs and customer billing.
- Helping track key commercial actions and financial follow-ups.
- Developing understanding of job profitability, margins, costs and commercial risk.
- Supporting the Managing Director with management information where required.
- Helping ensure commercial issues are identified and escalated early.
- Supporting joined-up reporting between sales, operations and accounts.
7. Marketing and Brand Coordination
The General Manager will support visibility between business activity and marketing output.
Responsibilities include:
- Understanding upcoming projects, completed works, partnerships, events and customer activity that may support marketing.
- Helping identify suitable case studies, photographs, project updates and lessons learned.
- Supporting communication between operations, sales and marketing.
- Helping ensure marketing activity reflects real business priorities.
- Supporting the marketing team with content planning, campaign priorities and internal approvals.
- Helping ensure the brand message remains professional, credible and aligned with Crowdguard’s standards.
- Encouraging the capture of project evidence and customer stories where appropriate.
- Supporting consistency between what Crowdguard markets, sells and delivers.
- Helping ensure key partnerships, new products and project successes are communicated professionally where appropriate.
8. Systems, Process and Internal Control
The General Manager will help encourage better use of systems and consistent working practices across the business.
Responsibilities include:
- Supporting the development and improvement of internal systems and processes.
- Encouraging consistent use of systems such as Reflow, CRM, accounts software, shared files, marketing trackers and management reports.
- Helping ensure information is stored in the correct place and is accessible to the right people.
- Identifying where information is missing, duplicated or not being updated.
- Supporting the creation of simple processes, checklists and workflows.
- Helping improve handovers between sales, operations, accounts and marketing.
- Supporting the business to become more system-led and less reliant on informal verbal updates.
- Escalating recurring process issues to the Managing Director.
- Helping ensure systems support accountability, visibility and better decision-making.
9. Meetings, Actions and Reporting
The General Manager will help create rhythm and accountability around internal meetings and business reporting.
Responsibilities include:
- Supporting weekly management meetings on Bloom Growth
- Preparing agendas, updates and action trackers where required.
- Recording key decisions, actions and deadlines.
- Following up with team members to ensure agreed actions are completed.
- Supporting departmental updates across sales, operations, accounts, marketing and partnerships.
- Helping produce simple management reports for the Managing Director.
- Tracking priorities, risks, opportunities and blockers.
- Ensuring issues are escalated early rather than left unresolved.
- Helping ensure meetings lead to actions, ownership and follow-through.
10. People, Culture and Communication
The General Manager will support a positive, accountable and professional working culture.
Responsibilities include:
- Encouraging clear communication between departments.
- Supporting team members to understand priorities and deadlines.
- Helping identify where workload, communication or process issues are affecting performance.
- Supporting the Managing Director with internal communication.
- Encouraging ownership, accountability and follow-through.
- Acting professionally and fairly with colleagues, suppliers, customers and partners.
- Supporting a culture where issues are raised early and resolved constructively.
- Helping maintain high standards across the business.
- Encouraging a joined-up approach where departments support each other rather than working in isolation.
11. Business Improvement and Development
This role is designed to develop over time. The General Manager will be expected to learn, improve and take increasing responsibility as competence grows.
Responsibilities include:
- Learning how each part of the business operates.
- Identifying areas where systems, processes or communication can be improved.
- Supporting business improvement projects.
- Helping implement agreed changes.
- Encouraging consistency and structure.
- Supporting the Managing Director with strategic projects where appropriate.
- Developing commercial, operational and leadership skills.
- Taking on additional responsibility as agreed with the Managing Director.
- Contributing ideas that support growth, efficiency, customer service and professional standards.
Decision Rights and Escalation
The General Manager may, within agreed authority:
- Request updates from departments.
- Follow up on agreed actions.
- Coordinate information between teams.
- Support meeting preparation and reporting.
- Support business development and customer follow-up activity.
- Identify and escalate risks, gaps or delays.
- Recommend process improvements.
- Support system discipline and internal communication.
- Attend customer, supplier or partner meetings with senior management.
- Help coordinate internal actions linked to customers, suppliers, partners or business priorities.
The General Manager must escalate to the Managing Director where:
- A customer issue is not being resolved.
- A department is not completing agreed actions.
- Information is missing or unreliable.
- There is a commercial, operational, safety or reputational risk.
- A process is not being followed.
- A deadline may be missed.
- A decision is required above their authority.
- There is disagreement between departments.
- The business lacks visibility of an important issue.
- A customer, supplier or partner commitment may not be met.
Skills and Experience
Essential
- Strong organisational skills.
- Excellent communication skills.
- Good IT and systems ability.
- Ability to manage actions, priorities and follow-up.
- Confidence working with different departments and personalities.
- Commercial awareness or willingness to learn.
- Ability to understand both detail and bigger-picture business priorities.
- Strong attention to detail.
- Ability to handle confidential business information.
- Willingness to learn all areas of the business.
- Professional approach with colleagues, customers, suppliers and partners.
- Confidence speaking with customers and external contacts.
- Ability to build positive internal and external relationships.
Desirable
- Experience in a general management, operations, commercial, project coordination or business support role.
- Understanding of sales, operations, accounts or marketing processes.
- Experience using systems such as Reflow, CRM, accounts software or project trackers.
- Experience supporting management meetings or internal reporting.
- Understanding of HVM, events, logistics, construction, public realm or protective security.
- Experience coordinating people, actions or projects.
- Experience supporting customer relationships, business development or partnerships.
- Experience preparing meeting notes, presentations, proposals or action trackers.
Personal Attributes
The successful person will be:
- Organised and structured.
- Curious and willing to learn.
- Confident but not arrogant.
- Practical and commercially aware.
- Good with people.
- Calm under pressure.
- Able to follow things through.
- Comfortable asking questions.
- Able to challenge respectfully.
- System-led and process-minded.
- Trustworthy and discreet.
- Positive and professional.
- Interested in how the whole business works.
- Comfortable speaking with customers, suppliers and partners.
- Able to bring people and information together.
- Capable of growing into a wider leadership role.
Development and Mentoring
This is a progressive leadership role and will be supported by the Managing Director.
The General Manager will be mentored to develop a full understanding of:
- Sales pipeline and customer relationships.
- Business development and opportunity management.
- Customer liaison and account development.
- Operational planning and delivery.
- Reflow and internal systems.
- Commercial control and job profitability.
- Accounts, invoicing and cashflow touchpoints.
- Marketing activity and brand positioning.
- Supplier, manufacturer and partner relationships.
- Management reporting.
- People, communication and leadership.
- Business planning and strategic priorities.
The intention is for the role to grow over time as the individual develops confidence, competence and wider business understanding.
Performance Measures
Performance will be reviewed against:
- Improved visibility across sales, operations, accounts, marketing and partnerships.
- Timely follow-up of management actions.
- Better communication between departments.
- Improved system discipline and record keeping.
- Clearer reporting to the Managing Director.
- Reduced missed actions, duplicated work or unclear ownership.
- Improved handover and follow-up between departments.
- Identification and escalation of risks or blockers.
- Contribution to customer follow-up and relationship development.
- Support with business development activity.
- Improved coordination of supplier and partner actions.
- Contribution to marketing visibility and project storytelling.
- Contribution to business improvement.
- Development of commercial and operational understanding.
- Professional growth into a wider management role.
Final Note
The General Manager role exists to help bring the business together.
The role is designed to support the Managing Director, improve communication, strengthen systems, create better visibility and ensure actions are followed through across the company.
This is an opportunity for someone with the right attitude, experience, curiosity and commitment to grow with Crowdguard and become a central part of the company’s future leadership structure.
Pay: £39,000.00-£45,000.00 per year
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Wigan, Greater Manchester: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Language:
Licence/Certification:
- Driving licence (required)
Work Location: In person
