Senior Operations Manager

Your tasks

The Senior Operations Manager is accountable for the performance of assigned facilities management and technical service operations across data centres and critical facilities. The role leads resident and mobile teams to deliver contractual commitments, respond promptly to customers, manage operational risks and control delivery costs. It coordinates resources across FM and Service, resolves delivery issues and develops team capability, working with BD, Commercial and Technical teams to support customer retention and profitable growth.

Operations and Service Delivery

• Lead assigned FM and Service operations, with clear ownership of each account, work activity and contractual deliverable.
• Plan and oversee preventive and corrective maintenance, service requests, emergency response and operational ad-hoc works against agreed schedules and SLAs.
• Review performance, maintenance backlogs and overdue actions; assign owners and deadlines and intervene before service failures escalate.
• Resolve resource and scope conflicts between teams, coordinating support while protecting resident-site coverage and committed maintenance schedules.
• Oversee mobilisation and handover of new contracts, confirming scope, staffing, asset information, procedures, access and readiness.

Customer Response and Contract Performance

• Remain accountable for operational customer engagement, timely responses, regular updates and closure of service issues.
• Lead operational review meetings and track complaints, commitments and recovery actions through to completion.
• Manage client expectations against agreed scope and service levels; escalate variations or contractual ambiguity to Commercial.
• Ensure operational reports are accurate, timely and supported by maintenance records, performance data and completed actions.
• Coordinate with BD or Client Management on customer concerns affecting retention, while retaining ownership of the operational resolution.

Incident Risk and Change Management

• Lead incident response, escalation and recovery, ensuring prompt client communication and coordination with authorised technical specialists.
• Review incident reports and root cause analyses; implement corrective and preventive actions and verify their effectiveness.
• Review risk assessments, SOPs, MOPs, EOPs and emergency response plans for assigned operations, within delegated authority and with specialist review where required.
• Ensure high-risk works follow the applicable change-control process, including client or CAB approvals, competency checks, contingency plans and rollback arrangements.
• Maintain emergency readiness, escalation contacts and business continuity arrangements through drills and periodic reviews.

Team Leadership and Resource Planning

• Set responsibilities, performance expectations and KPIs for site leaders, supervisors and service teams; conduct regular reviews and coaching.
• Plan manpower, rosters, leave coverage and succession; ensure deployment matches workload, contractual requirements and competency.
• Maintain competency and training plans covering technical work, customer communication, documentation and safe working practices.
• Work with HR on recruitment, development and performance matters; establish named deputies and continuity arrangements for key roles.
• Maintain regular site engagement and resolve routine operational decisions within delegated authority, escalating material risks and decisions requiring approval.

Financial and Vendor Control

• Develop and manage operational budgets and forecasts; monitor labour, overtime, subcontractor, material and other delivery costs.
• Review contract profitability and cost variances with Commercial and Finance; implement savings that preserve safety and contractual service levels.
• Ensure completed work, service records and client acceptance documentation are submitted promptly to support billing and revenue recognition.
• Manage vendor performance, service schedules and quality; validate completion and payment milestones before recommending payment.
• Support procurement and supplier negotiations within approved limits, and provide operational inputs to client OPEX, CAPEX and lifecycle plans.

Safety Compliance and Continuous Improvement

• Enforce applicable safety, security, environmental, statutory and client requirements within the contracted scope.
• Coordinate audits and inspections, maintain relevant records and close non-conformances with accountable owners and deadlines.
• Support applicable certifications and agreed sustainability objectives, coordinating specialist input and client approvals where needed.
• Review asset condition, maintenance effectiveness and operational trends to identify reliability, productivity and resource improvements.
• Standardise work processes and improve CMMS or maintenance data, reporting and automation across assigned accounts.

Growth Support and Project Coordination

• Identify equipment lifecycle, reliability and service gaps; provide qualified opportunities and supporting evidence to BD or Client Management.
• Provide surveys, scope inputs, manpower estimates and delivery assumptions for quotations and tenders, without owning routine sales chasing or prospecting.
• Review proposed projects from an operability, maintainability and service-continuity perspective; coordinate interfaces with the project delivery team.
• Oversee operational ad-hoc works within assigned scope and authority; ensure major projects have a defined delivery owner and controlled handover.

Performance Measures

• SLA achievement, preventive maintenance completion and closure of overdue work.
• Customer response, complaint resolution and operational satisfaction.
• Incident recovery, corrective-action effectiveness and compliance with change controls.
• Manpower coverage, competency, productivity and overtime control.
• Operational cost performance, contract delivery margin and timely billing documentation.
• Safety and audit action closure, vendor performance and implemented improvements.

Requirements

Qualifications and Experience

• Diploma or degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering, Facilities Management or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
• Preferably at least seven years of relevant M&E, facilities or maintenance experience, including three years leading teams or multiple accounts; data centre or critical-facility experience is strongly preferred.
• Practical understanding of electrical and mechanical infrastructure, maintenance planning, critical-work controls and incident recovery.
• Experience managing SLAs, customer escalations, manpower, vendors and operational budgets.
• Strong leadership, judgement, communication and reporting skills; proficiency in Microsoft Office and CMMS or maintenance management systems.
• Able to support emergency escalations and site visits, including outside normal hours when required; support regional assignments as directed.

Other

Role Boundaries Operations owns delivery, customer response, resource deployment and operational cost control. BD owns prospecting and sales conversion; Commercial owns pricing and contract governance. Technical specialists retain the required technical approval responsibilities. Major projects remain with their designated delivery owner. Approvals and commitments must follow company and client authority limits.