General Manager in Rochdale

We have a fantastic opportunity for a General Manager to join our Rochdale depot on a full-time permanent basis. The successful candidate will be accountable for the end-to-end performance of the depot, ensuring safe, compliant, customer-focused and financially sustainable operations. The role has full responsibility for operational delivery, engineering performance, people leadership and commercial outcomes at depot level, and plays a key role in delivering franchising and contract commitments.

Operational & Service Delivery

• Lead the delivery of all operational and service performance targets for your depot, ensuring franchise and contract commitments are met or exceeded.

Safety, Compliance & Engineering

• Ensure punctual, reliable and high-quality service delivery, minimising lost mileage and disruption.
• Maintain strong relationships with key clients and stakeholders (e.g. Transport Authorities), acting as the senior local point of contact.
• Hold accountability for safety performance across the depot, embedding a strong safety culture and ensuring compliance with all statutory, regulatory and company standards.
• Ensure robust safe systems of work, SOPs and injury prevention practices are in place and actively managed.
• Oversee engineering performance in collaboration with engineering leadership, ensuring vehicle availability, compliance and cost control.
• Ensure all depot operations meet legal, regulatory and licence requirements.

Financial & Commercial Management

• Deliver depot performance in line with agreed budgets, cost targets and EBIT.
• Maintain effective financial control, forecasting and reporting, ensuring compliance with company accounting and audit requirements.
• Drive cost efficiency initiatives while maintaining service quality and safety.
• Support the mobilisation of new contracts or service changes where required.

People Leadership & Culture

• Provide strong, visible leadership to all depot colleagues, setting clear expectations and role-modelling First values.
• Lead and develop the depot management team, ensuring performance objectives, reviews and development plans are in place.
• Ensure effective workforce planning to meet service requirements.
• Manage employee and industrial relations constructively within a unionised environment.
• Drive engagement, inclusion and wellbeing, creating a positive and accountable culture.

Continuous Improvement & SLT Collaboration

• Deliver short- and long-term depot improvement plans aligned to wider business objectives.
• Actively contribute to regional and functional leadership forums.
• Work closely with SLT colleagues across Operations, Engineering, Commercial and Performance functions to drive consistency, learning and improvement.
• Support franchising readiness and performance reporting, recognising that client priorities and metrics may vary.

Skills/Experience

• Proven senior management and leadership experience in a complex, customer-facing operational environment.
• Strong commercial acumen with experience delivering performance against challenging financial and service targets.
• Demonstrable experience of leading and developing management teams.
• Experience managing industrial and employee relations in a unionised setting.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, including working with external clients or authorities.
• High level of financial literacy and confidence working with operational, engineering and financial data.
• Ability to work collaboratively across functions and influence at senior levels.

Desirable

• Experience within the transport or regulated services sector (ideally bus or rail).
• CPC in Road Transport Operations (or willingness to obtain) to act as O-Licence Traffic Manager.

Salary Competitive, plus up to 15% annual bonus.