Technical Operations Manager

About the Company A sustainability-driven water technology company transforming the way people access and consume drinking water. We design and build smart water purification systems that combine advanced filtration, thoughtfully engineered hardware, connected technology, and modern design to deliver clean, mineralised drinking water directly to homes and businesses. Our products are designed to make high-quality hydration more convenient while reducing reliance on single-use plastic bottles. As we continue to grow, we are building a team of practical, hands-on people who enjoy solving real-world problems, improving how things work, and taking ownership from start to finish. This is an opportunity to join a growing technology company where the work you do directly impacts the quality, reliability, and performance of products used by our customers every day. About the Role This is a hands-on technical operations role — not a position where you simply manage from behind a desk. You’ll spend a significant part of your time working directly with our refurbishment technicians to build, troubleshoot, test, and get machines ready for deployment, while also managing quality, throughput, suppliers, stock, processes, and costs. Responsibilities: Hands-On Technical Work • Work directly on machines on a daily basis, including disassembly, cleaning, testing, component replacement, troubleshooting, and final assembly. • Diagnose and resolve technical faults that cannot be addressed by the technician team, ensuring machines meet required functionality standards. • Assess incoming returns and determine the appropriate route: refurbish, strip for spare parts, or scrap, based on technical condition and repair viability. • Accurately capture and verify serial numbers and MAC IDs at the appropriate stage of the refurbishment process. Quality and Final Sign-Off • Conduct the final quality and functionality inspection of every refurbished machine and approve it for customer deployment. No machine leaves the refurbishment process without a completed QC checklist. • Investigate machines that experience issues after delivery, identify the root cause, and implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence. • Monitor recurring faults and communicate identified patterns to R&D and suppliers, ensuring issues are addressed at source. Team and Daily Operations • Plan daily and weekly refurbishment activities in line with demand and production targets, ensuring technicians, tools, and workstations are effectively utilized. • Supervise and coordinate the technician team, including daily allocation, attendance, performance, and workload management, and lead a short daily team huddle. • Train technicians across all product lines and take ownership of refurbishment SOPs, keeping documentation accurate and up to date as processes evolve. • Enforce safe handling and use of machines, tools, chemicals, and CO₂ canisters, while maintaining a clean, organized, and audit-ready working environment. Suppliers and Inventory • Manage painting, plastics, spare parts, and consumables suppliers, ensuring required quality and lead-time standards are met; proactively follow up on delays and reject sub-standard work where necessary. • Coordinate machine and material pickups and deliveries with the 3PL partner, while identifying and proposing new suppliers that can improve turnaround time, quality, or cost. • Maintain accurate spare-parts records in Zoho Inventory, ensuring all movements are recorded on the same day; conduct regular stock counts, investigate discrepancies, and proactively flag low-stock items. • Maintain accurate records of technician attendance and daily refurbishment output. Throughput, Cost and Reporting • Monitor refurbishment throughput and technician productivity against established targets, identify bottlenecks, and implement practical improvements. • Track the cost per refurbished machine, including parts, labour, painting, consumables, and freight, and bring at least one costed improvement initiative to the monthly operations review. • Identify opportunities to reduce parts consumption, scrap, and rework, while maximizing the recovery and reuse of viable components from scrapped machines. • Provide a weekly report to the Operations Manager covering output, quality, backlog, key issues, and improvement initiatives. Escalate critical blockers as they arise rather than waiting for the weekly review. Operational Decision-Making • Exercise the discretion to reject machines or supplier deliveries that do not meet established quality standards. • Approve individual machine scrap decisions within the agreed financial threshold. • Adjust daily technician allocation and work sequencing based on operational priorities, workload, and production requirements. Qualifications: • 3–5 years of strong hands-on technical experience in refurbishment, repair, assembly, or light manufacturing, with 1–2 years of experience leading and supervising a small technical team. Required Skills • Strong hands-on technical expertise with appliances, water systems, and electrical or mechanical assemblies, with the ability to independently disassemble, troubleshoot, repair, and rebuild machines to a high standard. • Proficient in inventory management systems such as Zoho or similar platforms, with strong working knowledge of Excel and Google Sheets; able to interpret operational data, identify issues, and translate insights into practical, actionable solutions. • Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; proficiency in Arabic is considered an advantage. • Organized and thrives in a hands-on technical environment rather than being desk-bound. Preferred Skills • Preferred: Experience in water purification, HVAC, or refrigeration, with exposure to Lean or 5S methodologies and experience coordinating with 3PL providers and international suppliers. Show more Show less

3–5 years of strong hands-on technical experience in refurbishment, repair, assembly, or light manufacturing, with 1–2 years of experience leading and supervising a small technical team.

Hands-On Technical Work: Disassemble, clean, test, replace components, troubleshoot, and final assemble machines; diagnose and resolve faults; assess incoming returns for refurbishment, parts, or scrap; verify serial numbers and MAC IDs. Quality and Final Sign-Off: Conduct final QC inspection and approve for deployment; investigate post-delivery issues and implement corrective actions; monitor recurring faults and communicate patterns to R&D and suppliers. Team and Daily Operations: Plan refurbishment activities, allocate work to technicians, supervise and coordinate team, train technicians, maintain refurbishment SOPs and documentation, enforce safety and maintain a clean, audit-ready environment. Suppliers and Inventory: Manage painting, plastics, spare parts, and consumables suppliers; coordinate pickups/deliveries with 3PL; maintain Zoho Inventory records; conduct stock counts and flag discrepancies. Throughput, Cost and Reporting: Monitor throughput and productivity; track cost per refurbished machine; propose costed improvements; identify opportunities to reduce waste and maximize reuse; provide weekly operational reports. Operational Decision-Making: Reject non-conforming machines or deliveries; approve machine scrap within financial thresholds; adjust technician allocation based on priorities.