| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Engineering |
| Level | Manager |
| Reports to | General Manager Engineering |
| Direct reports | Field Service Engineer, Service Engineer, Spares Coordinator |
| Experience | 8 to 12 years in service with 3 years leading a team |
Service Manager job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: Service Manager
Department: Engineering
Reports to: General Manager Engineering
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A Service Manager leads after sales service for the company products or plants. They run the service team, plan preventive maintenance and breakdown response, manage spares and warranty, and keep customers running. The role owns service revenue, response time and customer satisfaction. A strong Service Manager cuts downtime for customers, closes complaints fast, keeps engineers productive across regions and turns service into a dependable profit stream.
Key responsibilities
- Run the service team and roster engineers across regions for installation, maintenance and breakdown calls.
- Plan preventive maintenance schedules and annual maintenance contracts for the installed base.
- Own breakdown response time and drive complaints to closure within the promised window.
- Manage the spares inventory, forecast demand and control stock across service locations.
- Handle warranty claims, decide goodwill and control warranty cost.
- Grow service revenue through contracts, spares and paid repairs.
- Track machine failures and feed patterns back to design and manufacturing.
- Train service engineers on new products and safe field practices.
- Report service metrics on uptime, response, revenue and open complaints.
Requirements
- Diploma or degree in mechanical or electrical engineering
- Experience in after sales service
- Customer handling skills
- 8 to 12 years in service with 3 years leading a team
KRAs and KPIs for a Service Manager
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Response time | Breakdown calls attended within the promised window 95 percent of the time |
| Uptime | Customer equipment uptime kept above the contracted level |
| Complaint closure | Service complaints closed within 7 days on average |
| Service revenue | Annual maintenance contract renewals at or above 85 percent |
| Spares availability | Critical spares in stock for 95 percent of calls |
| Warranty cost | Warranty spend held within the approved budget |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: Service management software, ERP spares module, Scheduling and ticketing tools, MS Excel, Diagnostic instruments.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: General Manager Engineering, Head of Service, Regional Service Head
Interview questions for a Service Manager
- How do you roster service engineers across regions to hit response times?
- How do you forecast and control spares stock for the installed base?
- A key customer has repeated breakdowns. How do you respond?
- How do you grow service revenue without hurting customer trust?
- How do you decide a warranty claim versus a paid repair?
- How do you feed field failures back to design and manufacturing?
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What does a Service Manager do?
A Service Manager leads after sales service. They roster field engineers, plan preventive maintenance and contracts, own breakdown response and complaint closure, manage spares and warranty, and grow service revenue. They also feed field failures back to design. The goal is high customer uptime, fast complaint closure and profitable service.
What is the difference between a Service Manager and a Service Engineer?
A Service Engineer attends calls: installs, services and repairs equipment at customer sites. A Service Manager runs the whole service operation: rostering engineers, planning maintenance, managing spares and warranty, owning response times and revenue. The engineer fixes machines; the manager runs the team and the numbers.
What qualifications does a Service Manager need?
A diploma or degree in mechanical or electrical engineering plus several years of field service experience. Employers value spares and warranty management, field team scheduling and strong customer handling. A record of meeting response times and growing contract renewals matters most.