Control Room Manager

Control Room Manager

West Midlands, Onsite

Permanent

Up to £65,000

This is a pivotal people leadership role within our state of the art Logistics Centre, where you will manage the core function of a world class automation. The Control Room Manager owns the operational bridge between the Knapp WCS/Automation and the Manhattan WMS. You will lead a specialist 24/7 team to guarantee maximum system throughput, manage complex workload strategy, and drive continuous improvement in a highly compliant environment.

Automation & Systems Leadership

• System Integrity: Own the core shift management of the Knapp and Manhattan WMS, ensuring seamless operation, identifying performance deviations, and achieving optimal system availability and throughput.
• Workload Strategy: Strategically manage the daily workload flow, tactical workload reduction, and outbound delivery schedule, making critical real time decisions to guarantee maximum fulfilment and trunking adherence.
• Capacity Control: Lead all pick planning and re profiling activity, ensuring area resource estimates and A frame slotting are optimized for efficiency and maximum service levels.
• Issue Resolution (Drive & Document): Coordinate and drive technical and engineering expertise to rectify system faults immediately. Conduct meticulous root cause analysis post resolution, ensuring all learnings are accurately documented and shared across the network.

Team Management & Culture

• People Leadership: Manage, mentor, and motivate a specialist team of direct reports, providing 24/7 coverage. Oversee operational teams to ensure efficient running of all automation systems.
• Development & Culture: Foster a positive, collaborative culture aligned with company principles. Champion continuous improvement and provide targeted training to elevate the team's skills in automation management and complex issue resolution.

Strategy, Reporting & Compliance

• Performance Reporting: Prepare and present robust reports on system performance, team efficiency, and issue resolution to senior management, driving accountability against KPIs, service, productivity, and cost targets.
• Strategic Vision: Deliver operational strategy through proactive management of automation, seeking innovative solutions to realize the system's full potential and creating long term strategic plans for technical resource development.
• Safety & ESG: Champion a Health and Safety culture, conducting regular audits and inspections to maintain compliance and continuously improve safety processes and behaviours.

Required Profile & Essentials

• Automation Expertise (Essential): Proven experience in warehouse control and management systems (WCS/WMS), including complex automated and robotic technologies. Experience with Manhattan and/or Knapp is highly desirable.
• Leadership Acumen: Demonstrated ability to lead and motivate a specialist team in a demanding, fast paced environment, including providing ongoing coaching and development.
• Analytical Power: Excellent analytical, problem solving, and data analysis skills to effectively interpret performance metrics, manage ambiguity, and drive root cause resolution.
• Organisational Drive: Strong organisational ability to manage time, tasks, and resources effectively, balancing operational demands against strategic goals.
• Compliance Context: Experience in a highly regulated and audited environment is preferred, with a strong commitment to quality standards (EUGDP).

What's on offer

• Foundational Role: Be one of the first to join a brand new, highly automated operation, playing a key role in shaping and establishing best practice ways of working from the ground up.
• Leadership Commitment: This is a people leader role requiring flexibility, including participation in a weekend working rota and being on call for emergency orders and alarm call outs.