Job Description

Operations Manager - Signage Manufacturing & Installations

Location: Inverness, Scotland
Salary: 50,000-60,000 per year depending on experience, with a performance-related bonus linked to operational performance and business improvement. Planned start date February, with flexibility for the right candidate.

We are looking for an experienced Operations Manager to take full responsibility for the day-to-day running of our signage manufacturing and installation operations. This is a well-established and growing business, and the role has been created to bring greater consistency, accountability and operational control across production and installation, ensuring work is delivered safely, on time and to the required standard. The owner remains involved at a strategic level, while the Operations Manager leads the operational side of the business and is trusted to make day-to-day decisions.

The role involves owning the smooth and efficient delivery of work across production and installation. This includes planning and managing production and installation schedules, allocating labour, vehicles and resources effectively, sequencing jobs to maximise efficiency and minimise disruption, resolving operational issues quickly and practically as they arise, maintaining high standards of quality, safety and professionalism, and reducing avoidable delays, rework and operational friction. Day-to-day operational decisions sit with this role, including job sequencing, resourcing adjustments and routine site or client issues, and you will be supported in enforcing standards and processes across the team. Clear communication with the owner is expected, with regular updates on work in progress, capacity, performance and any emerging risks, while strategic direction and major business decisions remain with the owner.

You will line-manage supervisors, fitters and operational staff, setting clear expectations around performance, conduct and attendance and addressing issues fairly, consistently and directly when required. This role suits someone comfortable having direct conversations, maintaining standards without unnecessary drama or micromanagement, and acting as the clear point of contact for operational decisions.

A key part of the role is identifying recurring operational problems and putting practical solutions in place. This may involve improving handovers between sales, production and installation, tightening processes where they are unclear or inconsistent, introducing simple systems that improve flow and visibility, and removing avoidable friction without adding unnecessary bureaucracy. The focus is on making the business easier to run, more predictable and more consistent.

This is a hands-on operational leadership role focused on delivery, standards and consistency. It is not a project-only role, a purely administrative position or a people-pleasing role.

The ideal candidate will have experience managing operations in a trade-led environment such as signage, construction, fit-out or manufacturing. You should be confident making decisions, organised under pressure, practical in your approach and comfortable managing tradespeople and supervisors. Experience within signage or installation environments would be an advantage but is not essential.

The successful candidate will be calm, fair and consistent, clear and direct in their communication, comfortable taking ownership and accountability, and focused on outcomes rather than activity. You should value clarity over ambiguity and be willing to take responsibility for results.

Within the first 90 days, day-to-day operations should be under clear control, avoidable disruption and firefighting should be reduced, scheduling and resource planning should be more consistent, and you should be the established point of ownership for operational decisions. As a result, the business should feel more structured, predictable and easier to run.

This role offers real authority and ownership within a stable, established business, with the opportunity to have a genuine impact on how the operation performs and develops, supported by a performance-related bonus linked to making the business run better.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: 50,000.00-60,000.00 per year

Work Location: In person