Commercial Manager

An established and successful Sheffield-based engineering and manufacturing business is looking to appoint a Commercial Manager to play a key role in its continued development and operational performance.

This is an opportunity to take ownership of a broad commercial function within a specialist engineering environment, combining customer relationship management, business development and commercial strategy with responsibility for the teams and processes that support the full order lifecycle.

Reporting directly to the Board of Directors, you will have significant exposure to the wider business, working closely with senior management and production teams to ensure commercial commitments are delivered effectively, profitably and in line with manufacturing capabilities.

A particularly interesting aspect of the position is the breadth of responsibility. Alongside developing customer relationships and identifying new business opportunities, you will lead the Pre-Production function, overseeing estimating, order entry and production planning to ensure enquiries, quotations and customer orders progress efficiently from initial enquiry through to production.

You will take responsibility for the day-to-day management and development of the commercial and pre-production functions, leading a team across estimating, order processing, planning and sales.

Key areas of responsibility will include:

• Leading and developing the Pre-Production team, providing direction across estimating, order entry, planning and sales.

• Managing the commercial process from initial customer enquiry and RFQ through quotation, order acceptance and production launch.

• Developing existing customer relationships while identifying and securing new business opportunities.

• Driving profitable growth through accurate estimating, pricing, material costing and margin management.

• Working closely with production and operational teams to ensure customer requirements, technical capabilities and manufacturing capacity are aligned.

• Improving internal processes, quotation turnaround times, order accuracy and overall departmental efficiency.

• Overseeing production planning and scheduling, balancing customer demand against available resources and manufacturing capacity.

• Working alongside the Board and wider management team to establish commercial targets, budgets and forecasts.

• Monitoring and reporting key commercial KPIs, providing visibility of performance, opportunities and areas requiring improvement.

This role would suit an ambitious Commercial Manager, Sales Manager or technically minded commercial professional who understands the demands of an engineering or manufacturing environment and enjoys operating across both the customer-facing and operational aspects of a business.

You will ideally bring:

• Previous experience in a commercial, technical sales or management position within engineering, manufacturing or metal fabrication.

• A good understanding of manufacturing processes, ideally including laser cutting, press braking, CNC machining, fabrication, surface treatment and mechanical assembly.

• Experience of technical estimating, quotation management and manufacturing planning, with an understanding of ERP/MRP systems.

• Strong commercial awareness, particularly around pricing, material costs, margins and contract profitability.

• The ability to interpret engineering drawings and make commercially sound decisions around costing and production requirements.

• Experience leading teams and managing workloads across multiple functions.

• A proactive approach to business development, customer relationship management and identifying opportunities for growth.

• Just as importantly, you will be someone who enjoys taking ownership, building relationships across…