Operations Manager (FM)

CNX Recruitment are delighted to be partnering with a leading national facilities management provider to recruit an experienced Operations Manager for a prestigious pharmaceutical manufacturing site in Cheshire.

This is a fantastic opportunity to join a highly respected organisation delivering critical hard services within a complex, highly regulated environment. The successful candidate will play a key role in ensuring the safe, compliant, and efficient delivery of engineering and maintenance services while driving operational excellence and continuous improvement.

The Role

As Operations Manager, you will lead the day-to-day delivery of Hard FM services across a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, overseeing engineering teams, compliance activities, maintenance programmes, and stakeholder relationships.

You will be responsible for ensuring all services are delivered safely, efficiently, and in line with contractual obligations, statutory requirements, and client expectations.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the delivery of hard FM services including mechanical and electrical maintenance, critical utilities, and infrastructure.
• Ensure full compliance with statutory regulations, industry standards, and site-specific procedures.
• Manage engineering teams, supervisors, and specialist subcontractors.
• Monitor and improve performance against KPIs, SLAs, asset reliability, and maintenance targets.
• Drive a strong safety culture across all operations.
• Build and maintain excellent relationships with client stakeholders.
• Lead operational reviews, reporting, and governance meetings.
• Support budget management, cost control, and efficiency initiatives.
• Oversee maintenance planning and delivery to minimise disruption to production.
• Lead incident investigations, risk management activities, and continuous improvement programmes.

About You

To be considered for this position, you will have:

• Proven experience in an Operations Manager, Technical Services Manager, or similar leadership role within Facilities Management.
• Strong technical knowledge of hard services, including mechanical, electrical, and critical building systems.
• Experience working within highly regulated environments such as pharmaceutical, life sciences, healthcare, or advanced manufacturing.
• A thorough understanding of statutory compliance and health & safety legislation.
• Demonstrable experience leading engineering teams and delivering against contractual KPIs.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills.

Desirable Qualifications

• Engineering qualification in Mechanical, Electrical, or Building Services Engineering.
• NEBOSH, IOSH, or equivalent Health & Safety qualification.
• Knowledge of GMP/GxP environments.
• Experience within critical or high-availability operational environments.

What''s on Offer?

• Opportunity to work on a flagship pharmaceutical manufacturing facility.
• Career progression within a market-leading facilities management organisation.
• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• Long-term stability and exposure to a highly regulated, technically challenging environment.
• Supportive and collaborative working culture focused on continuous improvement and operational excellence.

If you are an experienced Operations Manager with a strong hard services background and are looking for your next challenge within a critical pharmaceutical environment, we would like to hear from you.

Apply today or contact CNX Recruitment for a confidential discussion.