WHAT DOES AN ENGINEERING OPERATIONS MANAGER DO?
Updated: Jun 02, 2025 - The Engineering Operations Manager takes ownership of the communications plan, and oversees training and development within the Engineering department. Ensures cost-effective use of budgets and hours for training, conducts key functional meetings, and facilitates both internal and external visits. Executes production of Engineering reports on time, and manages the assembly and tracking of the cost-base budget.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Engineering Operations Manager
1. Engineering Operations Manager Duties
- Asset Management: Provide asset management, engineering, and maintenance support to O&M projects as needed during the contract terms.
- Oversight: Oversee the preparation of estimates, submission of tenders and recommendations regarding asset management, engineering, and maintenance in a larger bid team or O&M.
- Reliability Development: Develop reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) targets with SMEs and designers for greenfield projects considering performance requirements, and set requirements for design & construction to be included in an interface deed.
- Transition Management: Develop and manage the transition of O&M contracts to JH entities with respect to asset management scope, including assessing different approaches, recruiting key staff, and implementing processes.
- Subcontractor Liaison: Liaise with, develop contract frameworks, and manage subcontractors at all tiers in the delivery of asset management and maintenance services.
- Coordination: Coordinate the activities of external asset management, engineering, and maintenance consultants.
- Strategy Development: Develop strategies to improve the management of assets of the rail network, with an aim to provide best practice.
- Client Liaison: Liaise with clients, consultants, and subcontractors with respect to asset management activities or bids to align delivery and expectations.
- Compliance Assurance: Ensure procedures and frameworks for asset activities on the rail network comply with legislative and regulatory requirements.
- Resourcing Assistance: Assist with resourcing to ensure projects and bids have the capability to achieve targets.
- Team Management: Manage and coach engineers and foster a high-performance working environment.
- Plan Development: Develop asset management plans for bid and O&M contracts.
2. Engineering Operations Manager Details
- Equipment Understanding: Understand the company's existing capital equipment, evaluate performance and lifespan, and develop KPIs to monitor ongoing performance.
- Team Development: Manage and develop the team of technicians supporting the maintenance of the capital equipment.
- KPI Development: Develop CapEx KPIs for regular reporting to the leadership team.
- Metric Development: Develop supplier performance metrics for reporting and establishing accountability.
- Vendor Partnership: Partner with vendors to develop maintenance programs to maximize CapEx lifespan and performance.
- Relationship Cultivation: Cultivate relationships with existing and new vendors by serving as a point of contact.
- Technology Evaluation: Provide expertise to develop criteria for evaluating new technologies.
- Implementation Support: Support technology implementation planning efforts by managing the timeline and working with stakeholders.
- Equipment Planning: Develop an implementation plan for new equipment and execute the plan by partnering with stakeholders.
- Safety Assurance: Ensure that a safe and healthy work environment exists by adhering to company health, safety, and environment policies, and ensure full compliance with relevant legislation.
- Risk Management: Generate Risk Assessments & Method Statements for the tasks undertaken by the engineers under their control & ensure that all staff undertake their duties in compliance with company policies and procedures at all times.
- Resource Allocation: Ensure that the necessary resources are allocated to meet Departmental requirements in order to provide excellent levels of customer service at all times.
- Continuous Improvement: Recommend and deliver continuous improvement changes to the Operations Director in all aspects relating to engineering.
3. Engineering Operations Manager Responsibilities
- Safety Collaboration: Work closely with site Health, Safety, and Environment advisor on the site-wide safety improvement plan ensuring complete buy-in from the engineering team.
- Policy Delivery: Deliver all the requirements of Company policies in particular those designed to improve People's Performance and Engagement.
- Solution Management: Ensure that cost-effective and value-added solutions are in place to meet business needs.
- Commissioning Management: Manage the timely execution of pre-commissioning, cold and hot commissioning, and complete start-up work of Anaerobic Digestion (AD) and other Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) commercial plants and systems in accordance with vendor specifications.
- Testing and Improvement: Perform equipment testing, develop action plans and schedules to maximize plant performance, and document business cases for improvements.
- Report Supervision: Manage and supervise the preparation of commissioning reports.
- Documentation: Document commissioning reports including as-built drawings, final reports, and certificates.
- HSE Integration: Ensure that all relevant HSE requirements are incorporated into commissioning in consultation with site management, HSE, and third-party commissioning teams and that HSE hazards are eliminated or mitigated to the extent practical.
- Strategic Support: Participate and support the creation of strategic operations personnel plans.
- Performance Coaching: Provide employees with honest and timely feedback and coaching on performance.
- Plan Monitoring: Monitor plan performance to ensure adherence to Company and Industry standards and compliance with state and federal laws, regulations, and guidelines.
4. Engineering Operations Manager Accountabilities
- Communications Ownership: Take ownership and execute the communications plan for Engineering.
- Training Management: Be responsible for the training and development plan for Engineering.
- Cost Management: Ensure cost-effective use of the hours and budgets for training.
- Meeting Conduct: Conduct functional meetings, and internal and external visits.
- Report Execution: Execute the timely production of Engineering reports.
- Budget Tracking: Be responsible for assembly and tracking of cost-base budget.
- Lifecycle Oversight: Take responsibility for the timeliness of life cycle management design reviews (planning, execution, actions) and maintenance of good design review performance as reported in the Process Effectiveness Review Board (PERB) metrics.
- Framework Updating: Ensure the Engineering framework is kept up-to-date and in line with governance requirements.
- Authority Management: Ensure that delegations of authority for Technical Authorities are correctly and promptly managed
5. Engineering Operations Manager Functions
- Operations Oversight: Responsible for ensuring day-to-day Engineering Operations & Regulatory tasks are managed.
- Plan Maintenance: Build, maintain, and manage a detailed operational plan with tasks, responsibilities and timelines and provide a clear status to management.
- Knowledge Base Updating: Maintain an updated version of the engineering knowledge base allowing a clear understanding of status at any given moment.
- Team Alignment: Align team needs to deliver and ensure that issues get reported and resolved as they arise.
- Resolution Facilitation: Connect with work-stream owners to ensure timely resolution and delivery of operational tasks.
- Progress Supervision: Constantly supervise progress and achievements and make sure to communicate to relevant partners in a concise manner and at the appropriate level of detail.
- Team Coordination: Manage and coordinate the efforts of various teams across the Group and its providers to ensure delivery of engineering operational support on time and to scope.
- Task Facilitation: Facilitate whatever is required to move tasks forward.
- Proactive Engagement: Proactively engage with relevant teams to solve bottlenecks and issues.
- Support Provision: Work closely with the Technology and Product Delivery teams to support them, so can execute a rollout plan for the delivery of platform work.
- Performance Monitoring: Management and monitoring of Key Performance Indicators.
- Direct Reporting: Directly report on Bulgaria Engineering Operational Management to the Stars Group CTO