Head of Service

Midlands, UK

A major global automation manufacturer

This is not the kind of role that comes to market very often.

I’m working confidentially with one of the UK’s largest and most established automation businesses to appoint a senior service leader to their UK & Ireland leadership team.

The company has a strong culture of developing and promoting from within, and the senior leadership team has been remarkably stable. That is exactly what makes this opportunity so unusual: it is a rare chance for an external leader to step into a business with serious scale, long-term stability, and a well-established service function.

The role will lead a major UK & Ireland service division, with responsibility for field service, service supervision, aftersales support, customer satisfaction, service performance, operational efficiency, and the continued development of a high-performing team.

This is a proper leadership role, not just a management title.

You will need to bring:

• A proven background in service leadership
• Experience in automation, robotics, controls, machinery, or the machine tool industry
• Strong commercial and operational judgement
• The ability to lead field-based engineering teams
• A track record of improving service performance, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency
• A Midlands base, or the ability to be regularly present in the Midlands

The successful candidate will be someone who can operate strategically but also understands the reality of running a high-performing service organisation: response times, SLAs, engineer utilisation, service revenue, contract renewals, spare parts availability, customer escalations, and team development.

If you are already leading a service team in automation or machine tools, and you are open to a rare senior leadership move with one of the most respected names in the sector, I’d be happy to speak confidentially.

Message me directly or email mf@franklandautomation.com for a discreet conversation.