Job Description

Are you a technically grounded production or manufacturing professional who thrives on planning, costing, and delivering complex engineering work in high-pressure environments?
We're recruiting a Production Order Manager for a confidential industrial engineering business that operates in a job-shop manufacturing environment, delivering complex refurbishment and build projects against tight cost and delivery targets.
This role is ideal for someone who enjoys sitting at the intersection of engineering, production planning, logistics, and commercial delivery.
About the Organisation:
Our client is a privately operated industrial engineering and manufacturing business supporting large rotating equipment and complex mechanical assemblies.
They operate with:

• Lean management structures
• Strong delivery discipline
• High accountability for cost, output, and utilisation

The culture is practical, execution-focused, and driven by on-time delivery and resource efficiency, not corporate layers.
The Role:
As Production Order Manager, you will take full ownership of assigned manufacturing and refurbishment orders - from initial costing through planning, execution, delivery, and financial close-out.
You'll coordinate across production, procurement, logistics, and subcontractors to ensure that work is delivered on time, within cost, and to specification.
Key Responsibilities:

• Plan and manage end-to-end production orders for complex engineering projects
• Develop short- and medium-term production plans
• Cost projects accurately based on scope, materials, labour, tooling, and subcontracting
• Prepare and review quotations, including scope clarity, exclusions, and optional work
• Allocate and optimise resources (machines, people, tooling, materials)
• Track order progress, risks, and delivery milestones
• Coordinate procurement and subcontractors to prevent production delays
• Monitor order performance against cost, schedule, and utilisation targets
• Implement recovery plans where risks to delivery or cost arise
• Provide clear progress updates to internal stakeholders and customers
• Support invoicing, order close-out, and post-delivery review

Background & Experience:

• National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (essential)
• 5-10 years' experience in heavy engineering or job-shop manufacturing
• Strong exposure to CNC and conventional machining environments
• Experience with rotating equipment, refurbishment, or complex assemblies
• Proven ability to drive machine and workforce utilisation
• Solid understanding of production planning, costing, and scheduling
• Comfortable working with high-value, technically complex work scopes

Key Attributes:

• Highly organised and detail-driven
• Strong cost and delivery ownership mindset
• Confident working across production floors and with technical teams
• Calm under pressure with strong problem-solving instincts
• Clear communicator who flags risks early and drives solutions

• * Practical, hands-on, and execution-focused

Skills Required