Assistant Service Manager

For over 90 years, LECO has been a leader in the development and production of world class laboratory instruments delivering state of the art products nationwide and across the globe. Located in St. Joseph, Michigan, LECO continues to be a family-owned company that understands the value of shared interests, long-term stability, loyalty, and trust. Schedule: Full Time: 8:00am – 5:00pm, Monday – Friday Position Summary This position supports the National Service Manager in leading the National Field Service team. This position provides functional leadership and operational guidance to Field Service Engineers and Field Service Support personnel. The Assistant Manager serves as the primary management escalation point for customer concerns, and promotes customer satisfaction, service quality, employee development, and operational efficiency. The Assistant Service Manager maintains working proficiency in Service Scheduler and Service Operations Assistant functions to provide occasional backup coverage when needed, while maintaining primary focus on management responsibilities. Position Responsibilities Provide day-to-day leadership, coaching, mentoring, and operational support to Field Service Engineers and Field Service Support personnel. Participate in recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, training, employee development, and performance improvement activities. Promote accountability, teamwork, safety, customer focus, and continuous improvement while supporting company policies and procedures. Customer Escalation & Resolution Serve as the primary management escalation contact for customer complaints, service concerns, and complex service issues. Investigate concerns, identify contributing factors, coordinate corrective actions, and develop customer recovery plans when appropriate. Communicate customer commitments and monitor resolution through completion. Coordinate cross-functional support and elevate significant financial, contractual, legal, safety, or other matters beyond delegated authority. Service Quality, Performance & Continuous Improvement Provide guidance to Field Service Engineers on service reports and documentation to support accuracy, completeness, consistency, and compliance with company standards. Monitor service backlog, response performance, customer satisfaction, repeat service activity, workforce utilization, and other KPI/service performance metrics. Identify trends, operational risks, recurring deficiencies, and improvement opportunities; recommend corrective and preventive actions to management. Support the development and implementation of standard operating procedures, service best practices, training improvements, and initiatives that improve service quality and operational efficiency. Service Coordination & Cross-Functional Collaboration Assist Service Scheduler with prioritizing service requests, installations, preventive maintenance, upgrades, repairs, and customer requirements when assistance is required. Collaborate with Technical Support, Training, Product Specialists, Engineering, Parts, Manufacturing, Quality, Sales, and other departments to resolve issues and fulfill customer commitments. Review service-related billing disputes, expenses, credits, customer accommodations, maintenance agreement obligations, warranty matters, and related operational risks within delegated authority. Communicate field trends, customer needs, and operational challenges to the National Service Manager and appropriate department leaders. Compliance & Documentation Support compliance with company policies, safety and quality requirements, ISO procedures, and applicable documentation standards. Maintain appropriate records of customer complaints, service resolutions, corrective actions, and other activities within the role's responsibilities. Support audit readiness and assigned compliance activities; protect confidential customer, employee, technical, and company information. Business Continuity & Departmental Coverage Maintain working proficiency in Service Scheduler and Service Operations Assistant responsibilities through cross-training and periodic participation in applicable processes. Provide occasional, designated backup coverage for scheduling, maintenance agreement coordination, and related operational functions during absences, vacancies, staffing disruptions, or periods of unusually high workload. Follow established procedures, approval limits, and internal controls when providing backup coverage. Coordinate priorities with the National Service Manager when needed. Support departmental procedure documentation, cross-training, and continuity planning. Additional Responsibilities Maintain knowledge of company products, systems, procedures, and service practices. Perform other related duties as assigned by the National Service Manager. Decision-Making & Authority Exercise independent judgment within established company policies, and delegated authority. The position may provide functional direction, establish routine operational priorities, coordinate customer recovery efforts, and recommend operational or employee-development actions. Final authority for hiring, termination, compensation, promotion, formal discipline, organizational restructuring, material financial concessions, and other matters outside delegated authority remains with the National Service Manager or other authorized company representatives, unless formally delegated. Routine scheduling, dispatching, service-request processing, maintenance agreement administration, estimate preparation, expense processing, warranty administration, billing administration, and returned-goods processing remain with their established primary roles except during designated coverage periods. Position Requirements Associate’s degree in a technical, business, engineering, or related field, or an equivalent combination of relevant education, training, and experience. Experience in field service, technical support, analytical instrumentation, laboratory equipment support, customer service, or related service operations. Demonstrated leadership, coaching, mentoring, supervisory, project leadership, or workforce management experience. Experience resolving customer concerns and coordinating work across multiple departments. Understanding of technical service operations and customer service requirements for technical products or equipment. Strong communication, interpersonal, analytical, problem-solving, organizational, and decision-making skills. Ability to manage competing priorities, work effectively with geographically dispersed teams, and remain professional during challenging customer or employee interactions. Proficiency with Microsoft Office and related business applications, with the ability to learn company-specific software and systems. Commitment to customer service, safety, quality, accurate documentation, confidentiality, and continuous improvement. Preferred Qualifications Bachelor's Degree in Business, Engineering, Technical Management, or a related discipline. Experience with LECO analytical instrumentation, laboratory equipment, industrial equipment, or comparable technical products. Experience supporting a geographically dispersed or nationwide Field Service Team. Experience with ISO-regulated quality management systems, operational metrics, and process improvement initiatives. Previous supervisory or service management experience. Education/Certifications Associate’s degree in a technical, business, engineering, or related field, or an equivalent combination of relevant education, training, and experience. Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, Technical Management, or a related discipline preferred. EOE M/F/VET/Disability #J-18808-Ljbffr