Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for After-Sales Manager

🎯 Role Definition

The After-Sales Manager owns the full lifecycle of post-sale support: warranty and claims management, service delivery (onsite and remote), spare parts planning and logistics, service contracts and renewals, escalation management and continuous improvement initiatives to maximize customer uptime, retention and aftermarket revenue. This role reports into Service Operations or Commercial Leadership and partners closely with Sales, Product, Engineering, Supply Chain and Finance.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Field Service Engineer / Technician with customer-facing experience
Service Coordinator / Warranty Administrator
Product Support Specialist / Technical Support Engineer

Advancement To:

Regional Service Manager / Head of After-Sales
Director of Service Operations / Service Delivery
VP Customer Success / VP After-Sales & Field Services

Lateral Moves:

Product Manager (after-sales-focused product/service lines)
Operations Manager / Supply Chain Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead and own the after-sales strategy and execution for assigned regions or product lines, delivering measurable improvements in customer satisfaction (CSAT), first-time fix rate and SLA attainment while growing aftermarket revenue and services margin.
Manage warranty administration and claims processing end-to-end, enforcing warranty policy compliance, reducing claim cycle times, recovering costs from vendors where applicable and maintaining accurate warranty reserves.
Oversee spare parts planning, inventory optimization and parts pricing strategy, ensuring parts availability meets target service levels (e.g., parts fill rate ≥ X%) while minimizing carrying costs and obsolescence.
Design, negotiate and manage service contracts, extended warranties and service level agreements (SLAs), including renewals, pricing, commercial terms and performance KPIs to maximize retention and recurring revenue.
Build, coach and lead a high-performing after-sales team (service coordinators, warranty analysts, parts planners, field service managers), setting clear objectives, conducting performance reviews and enabling career development.
Drive field service operations and field technician performance: scheduling, routing, certification tracking, tools & spares allocation and continuous improvement of on-site productivity and safety compliance.
Own escalation management and complex customer issues—serve as the primary escalation contact for critical incidents, lead cross-functional root cause analysis (RCA) and ensure timely corrective and preventive actions (CAPA).
Implement and govern key after-sales KPIs and dashboards (CSAT, NPS, FTF, MTTR, SLA adherence, service revenue, parts inventory turns, cost-to-serve) using BI tools and CRM/ERP/FSM data to inform decisions.
Partner with Supply Chain and Logistics to optimize spare parts distribution, returns handling, RMA and reverse logistics workflows to reduce lead times and logistic costs.
Manage third-party service partners, subcontractors and OEM vendors: select suppliers, negotiate SLAs, monitor performance and ensure contractual compliance and high-quality service delivery.
Own pricing and commercial models for after-sales offerings (break/fix, preventive maintenance, parts, remote diagnostics, service packs) and collaborate with Sales and Finance on go-to-market and margin targets.
Lead product reliability and continuous improvement programs, analyzing failure trends, driving corrective actions with Product and Engineering and feeding learnings into field service playbooks and training.
Create and maintain robust processes for spare parts returns, refurbishment, and end-of-life disposition to maximize recovery and minimize waste.
Oversee service quoting, proposal generation and contracting for non-standard service requests, ensuring profitability and alignment with company commercial policy.
Ensure compliance with statutory, safety and regulatory requirements for service activities across regions, including health & safety, export controls and environmental regulations for returned parts.
Drive digitalization of after-sales operations—implement/optimize CRM (Salesforce), ERP (SAP/Oracle), FSM (ServiceMax, ClickSoftware), and remote diagnostics/IoT tools to reduce manual work and improve responsiveness.
Collaborate with Sales and Customer Success to develop onboarding programs, technical training and knowledge transfer plans to accelerate customer adoption and reduce support volume.
Control after-sales P&L: monitor service revenue, cost-to-serve, warranty reserves and margin; prepare monthly/quarterly financial forecasts and business reviews with senior leadership.
Lead major installation, commissioning or upgrade projects when required—coordinate cross-functional teams, resource plans, test sign-offs and customer acceptance criteria.
Design, deliver and measure training programs for internal teams and partners to raise technical competency, service quality and consistency of customer interactions.
Drive data-driven decision-making through regular analysis of service tickets, warranty claims, parts consumption and technician performance to identify cost savings and efficiency projects.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory analysis for service metrics, partnering with BI teams to create actionable reports and self-service dashboards.
Contribute to the organization’s after-sales strategy and roadmap by identifying new service offerings, monetization opportunities and process automation initiatives.
Collaborate with Product Management and Engineering to translate field feedback into product improvements and serviceability enhancements.
Participate in cross-functional governance forums (Change Control, Product Release, Quality Escalation) to represent after-sales impact and requirements.
Lead or participate in continuous improvement projects (Lean, Six Sigma) to reduce cycle times, eliminate waste and improve service throughput.
Support marketing and sales enablement by providing service collateral, case studies and pricing inputs for aftermarket campaigns.
Assist in regional business continuity and disaster recovery planning for service operations to ensure sustained customer support during disruptions.
Mentor and support junior analysts to build capacity in data literacy and operational reporting within the after-sales team.
Maintain vendor scorecards and supplier development plans to improve partner quality, delivery lead times and cost competitiveness.
Drive customer-facing initiatives such as service reviews, health checks and account-level improvement plans to strengthen relationships and identify upsell opportunities.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proven experience with CRM and service management platforms (Salesforce Service Cloud, SAP Service, ServiceMax, Microsoft Dynamics or equivalent).
Experience with ERP systems for parts and finance (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite) and strong ability to navigate transactional modules.
Field Service Management (FSM) tools and workforce scheduling experience; familiarity with mobile technician apps and dispatch optimization.
Warranty and returns management expertise including RMA workflows, claim submissions and vendor recoveries.
Strong inventory and spare parts planning skills (MRP, demand forecasting, parts classification, lead-time management).
Data analysis and reporting proficiency (Excel advanced, Power BI, Tableau or similar) to build and interpret service KPIs and dashboards.
Technical troubleshooting knowledge relevant to the product portfolio (electromechanical, industrial equipment, IT hardware or SaaS/IoT diagnostics).
Commercial skills in service pricing, contract structuring, SLA definition and P&L ownership.
Root cause analysis (5 Whys, Fishbone), CAPA methodology and experience driving corrective actions with Engineering teams.
Supplier and partner management including contract negotiation, performance measurement and remediation.
Project management skills for installations, rollouts and major escalations (Prince2, PMP or equivalent experience preferred).
Familiarity with regulatory, safety and environmental compliance relevant to field operations and returns handling.

Soft Skills

Customer obsession: ability to empathize with customers and prioritize actions that enhance uptime and satisfaction.
Leadership and people development: proven capacity to hire, coach and motivate cross-functional teams and partners.
Excellent verbal and written communication for executive reporting, customer escalations and cross-functional collaboration.
Strategic thinking with a commercial mindset—ability to balance service quality with profitability.
Strong stakeholder management across Sales, Product, Supply Chain and Finance.
Problem solving and decisiveness under pressure with a structured, data-driven approach.
Negotiation and influencing skills to secure favorable vendor terms and internal alignment.
Adaptability and resilience in dynamic, customer-facing environments.
Time management and prioritization to juggle reactive escalations with strategic improvement work.
Cultural sensitivity and ability to work across regions, languages and time zones.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Logistics, or a related technical/business field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree (MBA or MSc in Engineering/Operations) or relevant professional certifications (ITIL, PMP, Lean Six Sigma).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Mechanical, Electrical or Industrial Engineering
Supply Chain / Logistics / Operations Management
Business Administration / Commerce
Information Systems / Data Analytics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 5–10+ years in after-sales, service operations, field service, warranty or spare parts management.

Preferred:

8+ years with at least 3 years in a people-leadership role managing multi-disciplinary after-sales teams.
Experience in the relevant industry (industrial equipment, manufacturing, medical devices, telecoms, IT hardware or SaaS with hardware components).
Demonstrable track record of improving CSAT, first-time-fix and parts availability while increasing aftermarket revenue and service margins.