London Underground Operations Manager in Southampton

Lead and develop a high-performing LUL engineering and CRM support team within a fast-paced critical power environment, ensuring exceptional service delivery while driving continuous improvement and operational efficiency. This role requires a strong blend of technical expertise, leadership, communication, planning, and commercial awareness to successfully manage performance, customer relationships, and service quality. The ideal candidate will bring hands-on field experience and customer-facing expertise, with solid knowledge of critical power infrastructure including UPS systems, batteries, emergency lighting, impedance testing, specialist test equipment, and remote monitoring solutions.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• QHSE: You are responsible to protect the Health & Safety of all employees & any third party that our work impacts, minimizing risk and reducing adverse events to the environment. You will ensure that we are always operating compliantly, ensuring any changes to our activities are managed. You will be fully conversant with the companies EHS Policy and the HSE’s ‘Leading H&S at work’. You will ensure that we have a full complement of site/activity specific RAMS that your engineers understand and work to. You will ensure that your Technical Manager/Supervisors undertake 100% of the engineer quality control & H&S audits on time. Recording both service engineer performance and customer feedback. To assist with the implementation / monitoring of the company HSE policy measuring and recording compliance. Assist with the registration of all sites to ISO14001 Environmental & OHSAS18001 Health and Safety management standards. Assess and control all risk (health, safety and environmental) identified for all standard activities and premises. Identify and comply with all relevant legislation. To ensure premises are suitable for use. Ensure safe working practices with appropriate procedures, prevention measures & precautions are in place. Reduce adverse events; incur no lost time events or high severity events. Ensure that all adverse events identifying and implementing improvement action as appropriate. To increase awareness within your team of the management system and elements of operation. E.g. health and safety policy and environmental management. To sit on an EHS committee. Attend daily meetings with customer. Hold monthly contract review meeting. Contract renewal management whilst working closely with the customer. Stock check by Ops Manager – attendance at Tufnell Park. OLBI (Offline Battery Inverter) management - manage and oversee the 52 week maintenance – ensure the 2hr attendance and 2hr fix SLAs are met. Oversee and manage the UPS contract: ensure the 2hr SLA for P1s is met. Customer Audit: Operations manager to attend site in line with customer audit. Collate all documentation prior to audit (Vertiv EHS teams). Oversee the day to day with the – liaise closely where required with dedicated customer engineering team. Customer face to face meetings. Attend regular contract review meetings at various locations in the UK. RCA reports are very detailed. SLAs attached to this. Utilise the support of local UK technical team in Sheffield and factory teams if required. Ensure the timely issuance of RAMS to the customer.
• Engineering Management/Activity: You will be expected to assist with dynamically leading the UPS business development, direct work content & competence of your field team, ensure maximum utilization and efficiencies are constantly delivered. You will demonstrate successful management of a large engineering team, provide visible leadership throughout the business and demonstrate ability to lead and influence your teams. You will focus on and promote excellent customer service at the heart of all our engineering activities, develop and lead programs to standardize and raise our engineering customer service levels nationwide. To offer technical guidance and support to your CRM team, Technical Managers and Engineers. Evaluate employee performance and motivate to achieve peak productivity. To ensure your team promote the company image on site by providing a professional service to customers. Manage usage of the company’s electronic tooling (Oracle, FDB, MFS) and assist in the development and implementation of new initiatives (Connected CE). To appropriately and professionally respond to all requests for assistance. The candidate must be prepared to travel to varying locations across the UK.
• Customer Relations Management: To manage a team of Customer Relations Managers who will own & manage key customer accounts within their specific business sector. To develop a strategy for utilising your CRMs to improve contribution/profit on all revenue stream of their accounts. Actively manage the commercial contract discussions with the customer and ensure all commercial issues are dealt with in a proactive manner. Responsible for your team reaching or exceeding budgeted financial & operational targets. You will play a key role in our attempts to grow and develop all service revenues throughout the UK operation and tie in closely to our Sector driven Product Sales teams. Pro-actively manage and present reports & reviews on remedial sales, contract revenue, gross profit margin and overall operational performance of your team.
• General: Provide consistency across your team in the delivery of services ensuring our processes and procedures are implemented and adhered to. Manage resource levels, delivering services within deadlines and seeking to improve resolution & customer service whilst maintaining staff morale. Have a technical understanding of Vertiv service offerings to be able to drive internal and customer discussions. Foster excellent customer relations. Create an environment in which personnel are encouraged to contribute to the development of the Department and their own careers.
• Human Resources: In collaboration with your Manager & Training Managers you will assess your teams training requirements to ensure all staff have the required competence to efficiently effect repairs, maintain & support future strategic offerings. Develop and agree the personal objectives of your teams to maximize effective service delivery, revenue, productivity, maintain staff morale and minimize return service visits. Ensure completion of annual appraisals, including periodic conversations and End of Year summaries. Communicate regularly and effectively with staff working on the respective client services to ensure they are kept informed of, and encouraged to be involved in, all relevant client-related activities. To ensure absenteeism is minimised.
• Reporting: To meet/exceed all KPI’s set. Provide your Manager with feedback on operational performance. Provide your Manager with feedback on financial performance. Provide your Manager with statistics on Site visit inspections, Incident/Accident claims, Calibration, PA testing, PPE issue, Training & Customer feedback.
• Interactions: Customers, yours & other discipline engineering teams, Customer Support and Operational teams, Senior Management, Key Accounts, Technical Support staff, Service Contract Sales, Product Sales, Marketing, Facilities, HR, Finance, Sub contract Service Providers & Suppliers.
• Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: 5 years’ experience of UPS Field Service. 10 years in the Mechanical/Electrical Industry or similar. Strong focus on customer satisfaction and long-term customer relation building. HNC /HND in Mechanical/Electrical engineering or equivalent. Excellent written and verbal communications. Excellent organizational and time management skills. Self motivated and capable of operating with minimal supervision. Ability to successfully interface with various departments and personnel in potentially stressful situations. A recognized team leader and strong communicator. Clean Driving License.