Workshop Manager  

Be part of our legacy that blends tradition, innovation and excellence at Laings.

A long-standing symbol of quality, trust and timeless design, Laings has continued to invest in its future. With seven showrooms, we are proudly one of the largest independent family-owned fine jewellers and purveyors of luxury watches in the UK. We carry forward a tradition of excellence in craftsmanship, outstanding customer care and a deep-rooted heritage that anchors our Laings story.
We are a family, a legacy and a community of passionate professionals that collaborate and contribute to each of our positions a wide range of skills and experience to everything we do. We offer supportive and inspiring environments, where expertise and personal connections flourish.
We are looking for an experienced, highly motived people manager to step into our key position of Workshop Manager. We welcome applications from leadership professionals with prior experience obtained from within the professional fields or warehousing, logistics, operations or retail operations.
 
Our position is conveniently located within our new and state-of-the art Glasgow centre-based Watchmaking Workshop. A multi-accredited workshop, our position will lead a dedicated team of watchmakers, technicians and polishers. Collaborating with our Services Director, our Workshop Manager is primarily responsible for ensuring the smooth and efficient running of all aspects of the workshop including line management and development of our workshop team colleagues. You will continuously strive to seek out opportunities to uphold Laings brand standards, as well as elevate the day-to-day operations of the workshop. Operating hours, 37.5 hours per week Monday to Friday.
 
Responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Line management of our Watchmaking team including, Senior Watchmaker, Watchmakers including our colleagues in our smaller satellite workshops, Watch Technicians and Polishers.  
• Implement and communicate business objectives to team colleagues ensuring proactive contribution to overall company and department goals.   
• Build a culture of horological passion celebrating the skills and history and giving our team the opportunity to learn and develop.  
• Manage individual performance development plans and regularly conduct one to one meetings along with annual appraisals.  
• Collaborate with our Services Director in developing further training programmes for our technical team within the watchmaking workshop.  
• Oversee the team rota and associated tasks including absence recording and holiday planners along with audits.  
• Partner closely with our Production and Materials management teams to ensure smooth workflows across workshop production.  
• Ensure quality and production targets are met by our dedicated team.  
• Running and maintaining business reporting for the watchmaking workshops, communicating targets and achievements to the team and identifying new opportunities which will positively contribute to objectives.  
• Build key business relationships with clients, business partners and suppliers acting as a company ambassador and seeking opportunities to promote the business and the watchmaking skills within.  
• Accountable for managing productivity in the workshop, ensuring lead times and quality targets are met.  
• Encourages continuous improvement within team and generates change to reduce downtime and benefit the business and work towards company objectives.  
• Lead process reviews within team and department understanding influence across the business, using evidence and data to plan and make changes.  
• Maintain the workshop and machinery to a high standard, ensuring a tidy and organised environment. 

  
Person Specification

• Strong demonstratable people and project management experience.
• Confident in implementing new systems along with prior experience of managing workflows and looking for efficiencies.  
• Highly motivated and hold the ability to adopt an innovative approach to process development and problem solving.  
• Supportive and open management style with a teamwork focus.
• Ability to multi-task, maintain and monitor patterns and trends.    
• Excellent knowledge of MS Office software.  

 
Why join us at Laings?
We offer you an attractive package commensurate with experience. From unrivalled employee discounts and service recognition awards, Laings has built our approach to benefits around the requirements of our colleagues. Our benefits have been created to ensure happiness and wellbeing across each person’s professional and personal life. We offer flexible benefits, where you can choose to match your individual needs through our bespoke benefits platform.
Laings are committed to fostering diversity, inclusion, equity and wellbeing. While our journey is ongoing, our shared commitment is to our culture of belonging and to the equality of opportunity, we follow practices which are free from discrimination. Please inform us confidentially if you may require any special accommodation or clarification concerning our recruitment process.   
 
How to Apply
 Applicants are encouraged to please forward your cover letter and resume to: Careers@laingsuk.com alternatively you can apply through our website: https://www.laingsuk.com/