General Manager

About Aries Rail

Aries Rail is a fast growing leader in the design, engineering, manufacturing, and hire of road-rail vehicles (RRVs), as well as the design and manufacture of custom truck bodies. Serving all major rail operators, infrastructure, mining and government clients, Aries Rail offers complete road-rail solutions from custom-built vehicles to full aftersales and national hire support, with operations in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, and Port Hedland.

Aries Rail’s Brisbane facility is a body building workshop providing custom utility vehicle and truck bodies for customers across Queensland. To support our continued growth, we are seeking an accomplished General Manager to lead the facility and drive its ongoing success.

Job Description

The General Manager – Brisbane holds end-to-end responsibility for the performance and success of Aries Rail’s Brisbane facility. The facility is a body building workshop that designs and builds custom utility vehicle and truck bodies for government and commercial customers across Queensland.

Reporting to the Executive General Manager – Production, you will oversee the facility, ensuring vehicle bodies are built and delivered on time, on budget, and to quality and safety standards. You will manage production scheduling and workflows, track and manage the facility’s overall profit and the gross profit of each vehicle produced, and work closely with the sales, engineering and finance functions to align the facility’s production program with customer demand and company objectives.

A key focus of the role will be the commercial success and growth of the Brisbane facility. This will be achieved by managing and deepening customer relationships across Queensland, identifying and converting new opportunities for growth, and running an efficient and well-scheduled workshop. This role suits an experienced general manager or senior operations leader with a proven record of running a vehicle body building or custom manufacturing workshop and/or business with full commercial accountability. There is significant opportunity for the successful candidate to grow the Brisbane facility as part of Aries Rail’s continued national growth.

Key Responsibilities

1. Facility Leadership & People Management

• Provide day-to-day leadership of the Brisbane facility, with overall accountability for its operational and financial success.
• Lead, support and develop the workshop team, ensuring clear accountabilities and the delivery of vehicle bodies on time and on budget.
• Manage the facility’s budget, production and labour resource planning and workshop capacity.

2. Scheduling & Workflow Management

• Own the facility’s production schedule and workshop workflows, balancing customer commitments with workshop capacity and labour availability.

• Continuously evaluate and improve workshop processes and layout flows to reduce build times, improve quality and lift efficiency.

• Provide accurate lead times and clear visibility of job status to customers and the executive team.

3. Commercial & Financial Performance

• Track and manage the overall profit of the facility and the gross profit of each vehicle produced, identifying and acting on variances.
• Support pricing, estimating and quoting for vehicle body builds with accurate cost and lead-time inputs.
• Manage cost controls, budgets and capital expenditure in conjunction with finance.

4. Customer Relationships & Growth

• Own and manage customer relationships for the Brisbane facility, ensuring high levels of service, communication and repeat business.
• Identify, develop and convert new opportunities to grow the facility’s custom utility vehicle and truck body sales across Queensland.

5. Safety, Quality & Compliance

• Ensure prioritisation of workshop safety, championing a strict zero-harm culture across the facility.
• Ensure compliance with all WHS, regulatory, and contractual obligations, and adherence to Aries Rail’s quality and management systems.

Key Selection Criteria (Experience and Qualifications)

• Operational Leadership: Proven track record in general management or senior operations leadership roles within workshop-based manufacturing or vehicle body building environments.
• Education: Trade, engineering or relevant tertiary qualifications are preferable, supported by demonstrated hands-on manufacturing or workshop experience.
• Industry Background: Strong technical understanding of vehicle body building, custom utility vehicle and truck bodies, heavy transport, or similar engineered mechanical/structural products.
• Commercial & Financial Acumen: Strong experience managing a P&L, tracking job-level profitability and gross margins, budgets, and cost controls.
• Customer & Business Development Skills: Experience managing B2B customer relationships and winning new business.
• People Leadership & Management: Demonstrated success leading and managing workshop teams.

Work Environment & Travel

Based in Brendale, Queensland, at Aries Rail’s Brendale body building facility, with travel to customers across Queensland and occasional travel to Aries Rail’s other facilities as required.