Senior Estimator and Office Manager

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

• Manage daily commercial administrative flows.
• Maintain visibility through production dashboards.
• Resolve complex technical order escalations.

Leadership & People Development

• Lead the sales administration team.
• Build capability through regular coaching.
• Foster accountability and ownership mindset.
• Recruit and onboard appropriate talent.

Service Level Delivery

• Monitor order-to-delivery KPIs.
• Use data to shorten lead-times.
• Deliver daily order pipeline briefings.

System & Process Improvement

• Support implementation of ERP systems.
• Identify order processing workflow inefficiencies.
• Lead root cause defect investigations.

Customer Experience & Communication

• Promote customer-first manufacturing solutions.
• Review communications for technical clarity.
• Gather feedback from industrial installers.

Stakeholder & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Represent administration in plant meetings.
• Build strong production-to-office relationships.
• Maintain credibility through professional delivery.

Performance Reporting & Continuous Improvement

• Maintain accurate dispatch performance metrics.
• Analyse trends to minimize wastage.
• Embed Lean manufacturing principles office-wide.

Health, Safety & Compliance

• Ensure procedures align with industrial standards.
• Keep safety compliance training logs.
• Promote zero-harm plant site rules.

Your Experience/ Requirements

Key Attributes & Behaviours

• Customer-First: Understands impact of dispatch delays.
• Credible Leader: Commands respect across office/factory.
• Strategic: Uses supply-chain data effectively.
• Change Champion: Drives modern administrative workflows.
• Clear Communicator: Bridges technical production and sales.
• Organised: Proactively manages material lead-times.
• Fair: Balances factory capabilities with demands.

Success Measures

• Achieving factory lead-time SLAs.
• Positive administration team staff retention.
• Reduced volume of order specification errors.
• Accurate dispatch reporting and insights.
• Successful system and ERP adoptions.
• Constructive feedback from manufacturing stakeholders.