About Us
Established in 1977, Fifth Column is one of the UK's leading garment decoration companies, specialising in screen printing, embroidery and HD digital printing. From our 11,000 sq ft London production facility, we work with clothing brands, breweries, music merchandise companies, agencies, charities, events and businesses across the UK.
As we approach our 50th year, we're looking for an experienced manager to lead our customer-facing office team and take genuine ownership of how enquiries, quotations and orders are handled — from first contact through to production.
The Role
This is a senior, hands-on position. You'll lead a small team of Account Managers, while staying close enough to day-to-day work to spot issues, step in when needed, and keep things moving.
You'll report directly to the Managing Director and work closely with production, but you'll be expected to run the office function independently rather than wait for direction. Opportunities shouldn't disappear into an inbox — we want someone who builds structure around enquiries and follow-ups, and helps the team convert more of them into profitable orders.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and manage the customer-facing office team, including workloads and priorities
- Make sure enquiries and customer emails are dealt with promptly
- Monitor outstanding quotations, drive follow-up, and improve quote conversion and retention
- Set and track practical KPIs (response times, quotations, follow-ups, order processing)
- Support the team with pricing, complex enquiries and customer escalations
- Ensure orders and production information are accurate before handover to production
- Work with production to manage lead times, capacity and customer expectations
- Identify bottlenecks and improve systems and working practices
- Coach the team and hold people accountable to standards
- Provide clear reporting on enquiries, quotations, conversion and workload
- Help identify where systems, automation and AI can genuinely improve efficiency
About You
- Experience managing a customer service, account management, sales support or commercial operations team
- Background in print, garment decoration, promotional merchandise, branded clothing or a similar manufacturing environment
- Strong experience preparing quotations and managing B2B customers
- Confidence to manage performance and have difficult conversations when necessary
- Excellent attention to detail and a practical understanding of margins
- Comfortable prioritising in a busy environment with high enquiry and order volume
- A natural instinct to follow things through rather than wait to be asked
Experience with screen printing, embroidery, DTG/DTF or branded merchandise is a significant advantage. We're particularly interested in people who've worked in a busy SME, where managers are expected to solve problems rather than just report them upwards.
What We Offer
- £45,000–£50,000 salary, depending on experience
- Annual performance bonus
- Company pension
- Bike to Work scheme
- Employee discount
- Casual dress
- On-site parking
- Monday to Friday hours
- Genuine influence over how the business operates, in an established independent London manufacturer
This is a fully office-based role in Tottenham Hale. Hybrid or remote working is not available.
Applicants must have the right to work in the UK. Fifth Column is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates.
