TEST LABORATORY MANAGER - TESTING & CERTIFICATION

 “Career development and leadership opportunity for commercially focused Test & Certification specialist with best in class experience in mechanical and electrical test engineering or other disciplines, including chemical, metallurgical, forensics etc to UK and International Standards”

Salary:  c£40,000 + Excellent Large Company Benefits

Location:  Wolverhampton

Commutable from Birmingham, Kidderminster, Stafford, Stone, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Wednesbury, Stourbridge, Halesowen, Bromsgrove, Lichfield, Tamworth, Stoke on Trent, Telford, Shrewsbury, Droitwich, Redditch, Worcester, Coventry, Warwick, Sutton Coldfield, Coleshill, Crewe

Our client is a well-established and respected manufacturer of fixtures, fittings and components both mechanical and electronic in the home and building infrastructure products sector. Highly acquisitive and experiencing excellent growth, the company is based in a brand-new office, distribution centre and test centre complex in the West Midlands close to the M6/M54 but has operational facilities and subsidiaries nationally and globally.  

They are now seeking to strengthen their Test Centre team with the appointment of a Manager to head up their brand-new Test & Certification facility.  Our client offers testing and certification services both on an in-house basis to internal group companies and also to external customers including other manufacturers of mechanical, electrical and electronic components and products, in line with industry and national and international standards and certifications.  The role also encompasses management of product certification schemes to ensure continuity of compliance and maximise value from product certifications

Testing equipment is predominantly pneumatic, hydraulic plus electrical/electronic includes tensile and other strength tests. 

The Role:

You will manage our client’s brand-new Test Engineering Centre, ensuring that internal and external customer needs are met, providing an exemplary service, managing product certification scheme to ensure continuity of compliance and maximum value from product certifications. The role is as much about team management as technical competence.

• Promote and maintain compliance with procedural requirements and best practice for safety, health and environmental factors associated with testing operations, ensuring suitable provision is made for the identification of hazards and management of risks
• Develop & maintain the necessary systems and competencies within the testing team to manage daily operations, testing scheduling, and quote and report generation
• Promote and maintain professional standards of service.
• Manage the testing capacity to suitably cater for customer indicative, UKAS accredited, competitor analysis, development and audit test requirements.
• Develop & maintain the necessary systems and competencies within the testing team to manage daily operations, testing scheduling, and quote and report generation
• Preparation of audit test samples for our client’s certified product testing.
• Maintain a test quotation and booking service with transparent lead times and manage the provision of testing to agreed service levels.
• Maintenance and development of UKAS accredited ISO 17025 Laboratory management system, manuals, procedures and accreditation requirements.
• Identification and implementation of testing service improvements including scope of service and efficiency
• Promotion of our client’s testing services within the industry to maximise value.
• Development and maintenance of our client’s product certifications including CE marking, Kitemark and Certify product schemes, and product specific testing evidence.
• Monitor and evaluate developments within industry testing and product standards, identifying threats and opportunities and liaising with key stakeholders.
• Represent our client’s testing services at the Test House Studies Group.
• A key area is the day to day management and development of the Test Engineers and Team Leader to ensure flexibility and a high quality of service.
• Maintain good relationships internally with key members of executive team as well as customers and external bodies.

The Background:

• Degree/HNC/HND educated in Mechanical or Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Forensics or similar.
• Experience of Electrical/Electronic Engineering advantageous. Experience could be gained in mechanical, electronic, chemicals, biological, metals sectors or forensics.
• Currently working within a similar specialist testing team or alternatively as part of a quality or product development function within a manufacturing environment but keen to develop career further into testing and certification.
• Experienced leading and motivating engineers including apprentices is essential.
• Experience of BSI standards essential.
• Customer facing experience essential – this could be external customers or internal customers within different product or manufacturing divisions of the same organisation.
• Experience of planning resource allocation and creating and presenting reports.
• Structured problem-solving techniques, including analysis and corrective and preventative action identification
• Ability to technically appraise company and competitor products.

In return our client offers a competitive salary plus pension, 25 days holiday and the option to choose from a wide variety of other benefits offered by our client.

PROCUREMENT OPERATIONS TEAM LEADER SAP P2P

“Excellent opportunity for graduate calibre SAP eProcurement specialist to develop a high performing team to drive P2P process improvement and best practice.”

£40-48500 + Excellent blue-chip benefits package including defined contribution pension & enhanced holiday entitlement

Location: North West (with UK and Mainland European travel)

Commutable from Ellesmere Port, Mold, Wrexham, Birkenhead, Wallasey, Chester, Warrington, Runcorn, Widnes, Liverpool, Crewe, Knutsford, Macclesfield,  Shrewsbury, Greater Manchester, Wigan, Newton le Willows, Leigh, Heywood, Skelmersdale.

Our client is a major global player in the nuclear industry. Operating on a UK nuclear licensed site specialising in safe, cost effective and reliable uranium enrichment services 
If you are looking to build your career in a developing and ambitious company, we would love to hear from you.
 
Key Accountabilities:

Functional expertise in SAP and P2P processes, manage a team that utilise SAP Procurement modules. Lead the delivery of transactional procurement activities to a high-performance standard with an international remit. Is expected to understand and work within international constraints and will continuously improve operations with a view to harmonise globally setting best practice minimum standards, whilst managing delivery to a range of stakeholders and suppliers.

•    Management of resource to ensure timely delivery of P2P activity in line with business requirements and ensuring compliance to group policies. 
•    Provide coaching and advice to requisitioners on the P2P process. Develop and deliver training and/or training materials to support global process improvement. 
•    Leading the team to provide first line support to operations on supplier performance management, working on conjunction with senior buyers and category managers to drive improvements
•    Create and maintain P2P procedures, work instructions with supporting process flow maps to ensure process excellence and standardization including replenishment stock
•    Cleansing of quality data in the SAP production system
•    Assist with the roll-out and ongoing management of Card Payments
•    Lead Automation projects to reduce the number of P2P transactions required and improve approval flows for P2P
•    Active contribution to the ongoing development of functional capabilities to ensure value delivery is sustainable in the long term and functional effectiveness and efficiencies is improved on a continual basis.

The Person:
The successful candidate will be educated to Degree (or equivalent) level and demonstrate experience and a demonstrable track record in: 
•    Experience of working with senior stakeholders and operating in different cultures, ideally across geographies 
•    Able to work in a cross functional team and work autonomously
•    Highly motivated and accountable to drive continuous P2P performance in efficiency and effectiveness
•    Experience of leading a team to provide first line support to operations on supplier performance management solid knowledge of leading project management techniques and skilled in leading project teams on implementing the P2P procurement strategy and delivering against appropriate objectives with minimal supervision.
•    Setting standards for documentation management, knowledge management and administration which ensures adherence to regulatory obligations, to ensure our client’s interests are fully protected throughout P2P lifecycle.
•    Managing ambiguity and being confident to take accountability for creating a governance model, resource plan and deliver plan to meet the business requirements efficiently