Operations Manager

Fulkrum is a global leader in inspection, expediting, auditing, and technical staffing services, delivering exceptional solutions to the energy, engineering, and construction industries for over 14 years. Headquartered in the UK, we have established a strong presence across six continents, serving more than 300 clients worldwide.

Our commitment to excellence has been recognised with prestigious awards, including the King's Award for Enterprise in International Trade (2023), the People and Competency Award at the EIC Awards (2023), and the Scale-Up Award at the WESCA North America Awards (2024). Most recently, Fulkrum was named the 2025 winner in the People, Culture & Optimisation category at the EIC North & Central America Regional Awards.

Our Europe and Africa region is currently seeking a highly motivated and experienced Operations Manager to join our dynamic team. The role is based in our Milan Office.

This is a new role within the organisation, created to support continued growth across our Europe and Africa region to strengthen operational leadership as client and visit volumes increase. This role works closely with the Operations Manager based in our Aberdeen office, taking operational ownership of the following countries:
Italy and wider Southern Europe, North Africa, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Greece, Portugal, Poland, Morocco, Algeria and Egypt.

We are looking for a candidate with exceptional interpersonal skills, a keen attention to detail, and a comprehensive understanding of the oil and gas industry. The ideal candidate will be a strong team leader who consistently delivers the highest standards of service to clients. The role will be the senior operational point of contact in the Milan office and will report to the Regional Manager, the role will lead Italy-based coordination structure, including team leaders and coordinators and support the continued development and recruitment of the local team.

Main Responsibilities (include but are not limited to):

Lead operational delivery across the assigned region, ensuring high service standards, responsiveness, compliance, and achievement of KPIs.

Manage and develop Team Leaders, Coordinators, and the wider Milan team, including recruitment, onboarding, coaching, and performance management.

Act as a senior client contact, overseeing service reviews, issue resolution, client retention, and identifying opportunities for growth.

Support tenders, proposals, project mobilisation, and commercial activities in collaboration with the Regional Manager and Commercial team.

Monitor operational performance, including workload planning, resource utilisation, IRIS compliance, invoicing, profitability, and service delivery metrics.

Source candidates, prepare them for interviews, and coordinate their placement, handling contractual and performance-related concerns throughout their assignments.

Support recruitment, onboarding, training and performance management, conduct probation and development reviews for new employees.

Drive achievement of client SLAs and Fulkrum KPIs.

Strengthen local operational capability in Italy while partnering closely with the UK Operations Manager to drive consistency and best practice across the Europe & Africa region.

Qualifications and Skills

Minimum 10 years of industry experience, with 5 years in a leadership role.

Extensive knowledge of oil and gas projects, both onshore and offshore and third-party inspection.

Proficient in MS Office; CRM experience preferred.

Demonstrable experience managing client relationships and operational delivery across multiple countries.

Experience supporting tenders, bids, mobilisation and commercial discussions.

Fluent English is required. Italian language skills are highly desirable due to…