Engineering Workshop Manager
Location: Bicester
Salary: £60,000 to £65,000 + £500 per month car allowance (DOE)
Hours: Monday to Friday, days, 8:00am to 5:00pm core hours
My client is looking to appoint an experienced Engineering Workshop Manager to lead a busy engineering workshop supporting fabrication, machining, refurbishment, repair and customer site work.
This is a senior workshop leadership role suited to someone who has already managed a similar engineering environment. The successful candidate will need strong practical understanding of fabrication and welding, with enough machining knowledge to plan and manage varied workshop activity including one-off jobs, batch work, refurbishment and urgent customer requirements.
The workshop supports a wide range of engineering services, including fabrication, machining, reverse engineering, gearbox overhauls, pump refurbishment, mechanical repairs, welding and customer site installation work. The role requires someone who can manage both in-house workshop priorities and customer site activity, while keeping jobs moving safely, efficiently and to the required standard.
The role
As Engineering Workshop Manager, you will be responsible for the day-to-day leadership of a skilled team of approximately 10 tradespeople, including fabricators, welders, machinists, fitters and installers.
You will plan and prioritise workshop workload, allocate labour, support site work planning, manage urgent requirements, and make sure standards are maintained across quality, delivery, health and safety, and team performance.
This is not a production line management role. It would suit someone from a fabrication, welding, machining, engineering services, industrial maintenance, pump/gearbox refurbishment or similar practical engineering background.
Key responsibilities
- Lead and manage the day-to-day activity of a busy engineering workshop.
- Manage a team of approximately 10 skilled tradespeople.
- Plan workshop workload and allocate labour effectively.
- Balance planned workshop jobs with urgent customer site requirements.
- Support scheduling of customer site work, repairs, installation and breakdown activity.
- Monitor job progress, priorities, quality and delivery expectations.
- Manage performance, standards and behaviour within the team.
- Maintain strong health and safety standards across workshop and site activity.
- Communicate clearly with the Managing Director, internal teams and customers where required.
- Help keep the workshop organised, productive and commercially focused.
Experience required
Applicants must have experience managing a relevant engineering workshop environment.
Relevant backgrounds may include:
- Fabrication and welding businesses
- Engineering services companies
- Machine shops
- Industrial maintenance/service providers
- Pump, gearbox or mechanical refurbishment businesses
- Food/FMCG engineering contractors
- Businesses carrying out both workshop and customer site engineering work
A strong fabrication and welding background would be particularly useful, as much of the customer site work is fabrication-led. Machining knowledge is also important, although this is more about understanding varied workshop jobs, batch work and practical engineering priorities than running a high-volume production environment.
The person
My client is looking for someone who is organised, practical and commercially aware, with the confidence to lead experienced tradespeople and make sensible decisions when priorities change.
You will need to be comfortable dealing with a varied workload, where planned jobs, urgent customer needs and site work all need to be balanced properly.
This role will suit someone who can keep standards high without overcomplicating things, communicate clearly, and bring structure to a busy engineering workshop.
Package
- £60,000 to £65,000 basic salary
- £500 per month car allowance
- Monday to Friday, days
- Core hours 8:00am to 5:00pm
- Flexibility required around customer work, urgent jobs and operational priorities
Job Types: Full-time, Permanent
Pay: £60,000.00-£65,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- On-site parking
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Bicester OX27: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Experience:
- Engineering Workshop: 5 years (required)
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: In person
