General Manager

General Manager – NEAT Gates

Lead a premium Irish manufacturing business into its next phase of growth

Location: Mulhuddart, Dublin 15. Candidates from our other Group Locations will be considered, Birmingham and Lisburn. Regular, planned time with the NEAT team at the Dublin office and manufacturing facility is essential.

Business: NEAT Gates \| Part of Electro Automation Group
Reporting to: Group CEO
Contract: Permanent \| Full-time

This is more than a General Manager role.

This is an opportunity to take ownership of a business with a premium product, an established manufacturing operation and genuine growth potential – and decide what comes next.

NEAT Gates is a Guaranteed Irish designer and manufacturer of premium, made-to-order aluminium gates and outdoor living solutions. We have built a strong product offering, a skilled team and an established customer base.

Now we are looking for an experienced General Manager to lead the business through its next stage – strengthening the Irish operation, growing the commercial platform and building a credible route into the UK and selected European markets.

You will have full commercial and operational responsibility, direct access to the Group CEO and the opportunity to influence strategy, investment, people and performance.

If you are the type of leader who sees an established business and thinks “I can make this significantly bigger and better”, we would like to hear from you.

About NEAT Gates

NEAT Gates combines design, engineering, specialist manufacturing and automation to create premium aluminium gates and outdoor living products.

Based at our Dublin design and manufacturing facility, we manufacture made-to-order solutions for residential, trade and commercial customers throughout Ireland.

Our portfolio includes:

• Automated and manual sliding, swing, pedestrian and cantilever gates
• Space-saving around-the-corner gate systems
• Aluminium fencing and railings
• Aluminium pergolas and outdoor living solutions
• Architectural wall cladding
• Integrated gate automation and access control
• Bespoke colours, finishes and customer solutions

NEAT Gates is part of Electro Automation Group, an established Irish business with more than 40 years of expertise in automation, access control and integrated security solutions.

The opportunity

We are looking for a commercially ambitious and operationally strong General Manager who can take NEAT Gates to the next level.

You will own the business plan and P\&L and will have responsibility across sales, operations, manufacturing, people, supply chain and profitability.

This is a hands-on leadership role. We are not looking for someone who wants to manage from a distance.

You will be equally comfortable:

Reviewing the P\&L in the morning.
Meeting a major customer in the afternoon.
Walking the factory floor to understand a production issue.
And challenging the business on what it needs to do differently tomorrow.

You will have the autonomy to make decisions, backed by the wider resources, expertise and infrastructure of Electro Automation Group.

What you will be responsible for

Lead the business

• Own the NEAT Gates business plan and full P\&L.
• Set clear commercial and operational priorities.
• Drive revenue, order intake, gross margin, profitability and cash performance.
• Report performance, opportunities, risks and investment requirements directly to the Group CEO and Board.

Drive growth

• Develop and deliver a focused growth strategy across Ireland, the UK and selected European markets.
• Strengthen existing sales channels and develop new routes to market.
• Build relationships across residential, trade, installer, architect/specifier, commercial, developer and distribution markets.
• Identify and develop new customers, partners, territories and commercial opportunities.
• Personally support significant opportunities and negotiations.

Improve commercial performance

• Strengthen pricing, costing and quotation disciplines.
• Improve forecasting, pipeline management and conversion.
• Protect and improve gross margins.
• Develop a clear understanding of which products, customers and markets create the greatest value.

Build a scalable manufacturing operation

• Align production capacity, labour, materials and planning with demand.
• Improve productivity, lead times, on-time delivery and quality.
• Reduce rework, waste and unnecessary cost.
• Develop the supply chain to support sustainable growth.
• Identify the systems, equipment, facilities and investment required to scale the operation.

Lead the team

• Develop and motivate the NEAT Gates team.
• Establish clear expectations, priorities and measurable KPIs.
• Build a culture of accountability, pace and continuous improvement.
• Ensure the business has the capability and structure required for its next stage of growth.

What are we looking for?

We are deliberately not looking for one particular career background.

You may currently be a:

• General Manager
• Managing Director
• Business Unit Director
• Commercial Director
• Operations Director
• Senior Manufacturing Manager
• Senior leader within an SME or product-led business

What matters is what you have delivered.

We are looking for someone who can demonstrate:

• A strong track record of delivering profitable commercial growth.
• Full or significant P\&L responsibility.
• Experience improving revenue, margin, profitability and working capital.
• Success developing new customers, channels, markets or territories.
• Experience leading a manufacturing, engineering, product-led or made-to-order operation.
• The ability to connect sales demand with operational capacity and deliver against both.
• Strong commercial judgement and financial understanding.
• Experience developing people and creating accountability through clear KPIs.
• The confidence to operate with senior leadership and influence at Board level.
• A practical, visible leadership style – someone who is comfortable on the factory floor as well as in the boardroom.
• Strong negotiation, analytical, communication and decision-making skills.

Your industry background

Experience in any of the following would be particularly relevant:

Aluminium \| Metal Fabrication \| Manufacturing \| Engineering \| Construction Products \| Architectural Products \| Gates \& Doors \| Fencing \| Access Control \| Automation \| Outdoor Living \| Design-to-Order Manufacturing

However, we are not restricting the search to these sectors.

If you have successfully grown and led a product-based or manufacturing business, we want to hear from you.

A qualification in business, engineering, manufacturing or a related discipline would be advantageous, but commercial achievement, leadership capability and results will matter more than any particular qualification.

What kind of leader will succeed here?

You will be commercially sharp, curious and practical.

You will be someone who:

• Looks for opportunities rather than waiting for them.
• Makes decisions and takes ownership of the outcome.
• Challenges assumptions constructively.
• Understands the numbers behind the business.
• Can move between strategy and execution without losing sight of either.
• Knows that growth without margin, cash and operational capability is not sustainable.
• Builds strong relationships with customers, suppliers and employees.
• Gets involved when something needs fixing rather than simply delegating it.
• Can bring people with them through change.

Most importantly, you will want to build something.

How will you measure success?

Your success will be visible.

We will measure performance through:

Revenue \& order growth \| Gross margin \| Profitability \| Cash conversion \| Sales pipeline \| Conversion \| Manufacturing productivity \| Lead times \| Quality \| Customer experience \| Team performance

The longer-term objective is ambitious:

Build a credible, scalable and consistently profitable business capable of growing to two or three times its current scale – without compromising margin, quality or customer experience.

Why NEAT Gates?

You will not be starting from zero.

You will inherit:

• A premium and differentiated product portfolio
• An established Dublin manufacturing facility
• Specialist design and manufacturing expertise
• An existing customer base
• A strong Irish brand proposition
• Integrated automation expertise through Electro Automation Group
• A skilled team
• The backing and resources of an established Group
• Direct access to the Group CEO and Board

The foundations are there.

Now we need the leader who can turn those foundations into the next stage of the business.

If you have the commercial drive, operational experience and ambition to lead a business through its next phase of growth, we want to hear from you. Email our Group Recruitment Business Partner [email protected]

Benefits:

• Bike to work scheme
• Company events
• Company pension
• Employee assistance program
• On-site parking
• Sick pay

Application question(s):

• What are your salary expectations?

Experience:

• General Manager: 4 years (preferred)
• Commercial and P\&L Responsibility: 4 years (preferred)

Work Location: In person