To lead and manage CFAO Equipment’s Johannesburg Service operations with full accountability for safety, quality, cost, and delivery. The role of a Service Manager exists to ensure the efficient and effective delivery of field services, which are crucial for maintaining and repairing equipment at customer sites. This position is vital for leading a team of technicians, managing financial performance, and ensuring operational excellence. The Service Manager is responsible for optimizing resources, maintaining high-quality standards, and ensuring compliance with safety and regulatory requirements. Additionally, this role is key in fostering strong customer relationships, driving business growth, and supporting the overall strategic goals of the company. By overseeing all aspects of field service operations, the Service Manager helps ensure customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and financial success.

Key Performance Areas:
(Essential Duties & Responsibilities)

1. Leadership and People Management

•  Lead and manage technicians, artisans, apprentices and support staff to achieve department objectives.

• Set clear performance expectations and build a professional, accountable and continuously improving work culture.

• Drive coaching, skills development, succession planning and employee engagement.

• Ensure adherence to company policies, people processes and disciplinary requirements.

2. Financial Performance, Budgeting and Labour Recovery

• Own the Service department’s financial performance and annual budget, ensuring delivery against revenue, margin and profitability targets.

• Monitor revenue, expenses, overheads, consumables and labour recovery, and implement corrective actions where performance is off target.

• Identify and eliminate revenue leakage, including time-capture gaps, non-billable time, travel losses, incorrect system usage and policy non-compliance.

• Ensure accurate job costing, timely GRN processing, WIP conversion, invoice turnaround, job closure and month-end revenue recognition.

• Reporting on contract-level service margins, drive profitability improvement initiatives, including rate recovery, rework reduction and cost control.

3. Service Operations, WIP and Throughput

• Plan, coordinate and oversee service, maintenance and repair activities from job-card creation through execution, invoicing and closure.

• Establish and manage backlog and WIP governance, including ageing analysis, escalation thresholds, prioritisation and closure discipline.

•  Improve turnaround times, planning adherence, first-time-fix performance and right-first-time execution using lean and PDCA principles.

• Identify service constraints and bottlenecks, and coordinate cross-functional resolution of parts delays, GRN issues, approvals and other job-closure barriers.

• Provide leadership with visibility of operational performance, service risks and corrective actions.

4. Resource and Capacity Planning

• Optimise the use of labour, equipment and materials to improve efficiency, response times and cost performance.

• Drive effective maintenance planning through improved planned-versus-reactive work ratios, PM compliance, scheduling discipline and parts readiness.

• Balance workloads and routing, and provide data-based recommendations on overtime, outsourcing, recruitment and resource allocation.

5. Quality, Safety and Compliance

• Enforce OEM and internal quality standards across all field service activities and drive first-time quality with minimal rework.

• Use inspections, audits and root-cause analysis to identify quality failures.

• Ensure toolbox talks, risk assessments and internal audits are conducted as required.

• Maintain compliance with CFAO policies, OEM procedures, ISO requirements, ASEC requirements and applicable local laws.

6. Contract Performance and Commercial Improvement

• Monitor service and maintenance contract performance, including margin, cost-to-serve, SLA compliance, uptime delivery and operational risk.

• Identify underperforming, loss-making or commercially exposed contracts and lead structured turnaround plans.

• Recommend scope controls, pricing corrections, service-model changes and execution improvements to restore contract performance.

• Develop contract scorecards and review mechanisms to support renewal, retention and commercial decision-making.

• Provide operational and financial insight to support customer engagement and contract negotiation strategies.

7. Supplier and Vendor Management

• Manage relationships and performance with external repair vendors and parts suppliers.

• Ensure timely return of critical-path components and validate repair quality before acceptance.

• Negotiate and manage pricing and delivery terms to support cost control and operational efficiency.

8. Strategic Planning and Growth

• Develop and execute the Service department strategy in alignment with CFAO’s long-term business plan.

• Grow service contracts and actively promote the Service offering to internal and external stakeholders.

• Position Service as a key contributor to equipment lifecycle solutions.

• Collaborate with Sales and Rental to align service capability with market demand, customer needs and growth opportunities.

Required Minimum Knowledge, Skills Education / Training and Experience Requirement (s):

National Diploma/Degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
•  Business management qualification or relevant management training is advantageous.

• Minimum 5–7 years’ experience managing a workshop, maintenance or service department within a heavy machinery, automotive or industrial equipment.

• Strong leadership and people-management capability, with a demonstrated ability to drive performance and accountability.

Number of employees reporting directly / indirectly to this position:

• ± 80