Vehicle Operations Manager Jobs in Naperville, IL

PWS is seeking a hands-on Operations Manager – Commercial Operations to lead our commercial field operations while overseeing fleet readiness, transportation compliance, and maintenance administration. This is a field-first leadership role responsible for driving technician performance, maintaining service quality, ensuring fleet reliability, and supporting the day-to-day administrative operations of our maintenance shop.

This is not a desk job. The majority of your time will be spent working alongside supervisors, technicians, mechanics, and customers to ensure our teams deliver exceptional service safely, efficiently, and consistently. Office time is dedicated to planning, reporting, compliance, and cross-functional coordination.

The ideal candidate is an experienced operations leader with a background in field services, transportation, logistics, or commercial fleet operations who enjoys developing people, improving systems, and solving operational challenges.

Primary Responsibilities

Field Operations Leadership

• Lead daily operations for commercial field service teams through direct management of Field Supervisors and coordination with Logistics.
• Hold supervisors accountable for technician attendance, productivity, safety, service quality, and professionalism.
• Coach, mentor, and develop supervisors and technicians through regular performance discussions and one-on-one meetings.
• Address employee performance issues through coaching, corrective action, documentation, and follow-up in accordance with company policy.
• Ensure a minimum of 95% of scheduled jobs are completed daily without customer escalation.
• Respond quickly to operational issues, customer concerns, and field emergencies.

Team Leadership & Meetings

• Conduct weekly one-on-one meetings with the Field Supervisor and Logistics Planner.
• Lead weekly Operations Alignment Meetings with Fleet, Logistics, Staging, and Field Services.
• Conduct technician safety and performance meetings every six weeks.
• Complete quarterly performance evaluations for direct reports.

Service Quality & Customer Experience

• Conduct regular site audits at commercial customer locations to verify service quality and cleanliness standards.
• Evaluate service delivery and identify opportunities for operational improvement.
• Investigate service deficiencies and determine root causes related to personnel, equipment, or processes.
• Audit job tickets, routes, inspections, and documentation to ensure compliance with company standards.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key commercial customers through regular site visits.

Fleet Operations & Transportation Compliance

• Oversee fleet readiness to ensure vehicles and equipment are safe, compliant, and available for daily operations.
• Partner closely with the Fleet Maintenance team to coordinate preventive maintenance schedules and repairs.
• Monitor vehicle availability and equipment readiness using fleet management systems and maintenance reports.
• Ensure compliance with all applicable FMCSA and DOT regulations governing commercial vehicle operations.
• Maintain driver qualification files, inspection records, maintenance documentation, and other required compliance records.
• Coordinate vehicle inspections, registrations, licensing, and regulatory documentation.
• Work with Fleet and Facilities to resolve equipment failures, breakdowns, and operational disruptions.

Maintenance Shop Administration

• Oversee the administrative functions of the maintenance shop.
• Coordinate work orders, repair tracking, preventive maintenance schedules, vendor communication, and maintenance documentation.
• Monitor maintenance costs and identify opportunities to improve fleet reliability while controlling expenses.
• Support mechanics by ensuring administrative processes remain organized, accurate, and efficient.

Fleet Maintenance Inventory Management

• Manage inventory for the fleet maintenance shop, including parts, tools, fluids, tires, filters, consumables, and critical spare components.
• Monitor inventory levels to minimize downtime while avoiding unnecessary overstock.
• Coordinate purchasing with approved vendors.
• Maintain accurate inventory records and conduct routine inventory audits.
• Establish inventory controls and reorder procedures that support efficient fleet operations.

Operational Excellence

• Ensure compliance with company Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), safety policies, and operational standards.
• Review Samsara, GPS, tablet activity, and field data daily to verify technician compliance.
• Conduct daily key and tablet accountability with zero discrepancies.
• Prepare scope-of-work documentation and visual job aids for new or specialized work.
• Identify opportunities to improve workflows, SOPs, and operational efficiency.

Reporting & Cost Management

• Prepare daily KPI reports covering production, route efficiency, fleet readiness, safety, customer concerns, and technician performance.
• Submit weekly operational summaries to senior leadership.
• Prepare and present monthly and quarterly reports covering productivity, staffing, fleet performance, maintenance costs, safety, compliance, customer satisfaction, and operational trends.
• Monitor overtime, labor utilization, staffing levels, production costs, and route efficiency.
• Review scheduling and technician utilization with the Logistics Planner to maximize efficiency.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner with Sales and Customer Service to resolve customer concerns.
• Collaborate with Human Resources on recruiting, onboarding, retention, and workforce development.
• Support recruiting and interviewing of field technicians and operational personnel.
• Manage keys and access control for assigned customer accounts.
• Ensure ERP records, operational documentation, maintenance records, and administrative forms remain accurate and current.

What Success Looks Like

Within Your First 90 Days

• Build strong working relationships with supervisors, technicians, mechanics, and support departments.
• Complete operational audits of all major commercial accounts.
• Evaluate fleet operations and maintenance processes.
• Identify the highest-priority operational improvement opportunities.
• Establish a visible leadership presence in the field.

Within 6 Months

• Performance management processes are consistent and well documented.
• Operational meeting cadence is fully established.
• Fleet maintenance administration is organized and operating efficiently.
• Preventive maintenance schedules are consistently followed.
• FMCSA and DOT compliance documentation is accurate and audit-ready.
• Maintenance inventory is organized, accurate, and properly controlled.

Within 12 Months

• Field operations consistently perform with minimal executive intervention.
• Reporting is timely, accurate, and actionable.
• Fleet reliability and operational efficiency continue to improve.
• Customer satisfaction, technician accountability, safety performance, and service quality trend upward.
• Maintenance inventory supports efficient operations with minimal downtime.

Who We're Looking For

We're looking for a hands-on leader who enjoys being where the work happens.

The ideal candidate has successfully managed hourly field employees in a service, transportation, logistics, or operations environment. They understand that operational excellence depends on strong leadership, accountability, disciplined execution, and a well-maintained fleet.

You're comfortable coaching supervisors, addressing difficult performance issues, making decisions under pressure, and solving problems in the field. You understand the importance of transportation compliance, work effectively alongside mechanics, maintain organized maintenance operations, and ensure vehicles remain safe, compliant, and ready to serve customers every day.

Qualifications

Required

• Minimum three years of experience managing hourly field employees in a service, logistics, transportation, fleet, or operations environment.
• Experience managing supervisors and multiple field teams.
• Proven experience coaching employees, issuing corrective action, managing performance improvement, and participating in employee discipline and termination processes.
• Working knowledge of FMCSA and DOT regulations governing commercial vehicle operations.
• Experience supporting transportation compliance and fleet operations.
• Experience managing maintenance administration, including preventive maintenance scheduling, repair tracking, work orders, and vendor coordination.
• Experience managing fleet maintenance inventory and parts control.
• Experience preparing operational reports, KPI dashboards, and leadership summaries.
• Experience using fleet management, GPS, ERP, or field service software such as Samsara, WhipAround, NetSuite, or similar platforms.
• Strong organizational, leadership, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Valid driver's license with the ability to travel regularly to customer locations.

Preferred

• Background in transportation, trucking, commercial fleet operations, commercial cleaning, pressure washing, facilities services, landscaping, pest control, waste management, or other multi-route field service operations.
• Experience supervising or supporting a fleet maintenance shop.
• Experience with computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS).
• Experience improving underperforming operations or rebuilding teams.
• Bilingual in English and Spanish.

Core Competencies

• Leadership and accountability
• Coaching and performance management
• Operational planning and execution
• Fleet and transportation management
• FMCSA and DOT compliance
• Inventory and asset management
• Process improvement
• Organization and attention to detail
• Customer service
• Communication and relationship building
• Sound judgment and problem-solving

Physical Requirements

This role regularly works in office, warehouse, maintenance shop, and outdoor commercial service environments.

Candidates must be able to:

• Stand, walk, climb, and work outdoors for extended periods.
• Lift up to 50 pounds.
• Travel frequently between customer locations.

Schedule: Full-time, Monday through Friday, with occasional evenings or weekends based on operational needs.

Pressure Washing Systems Environmental, Inc. is the largest most diversified full-service pressure washing company in the Midwest offering a wide range of services to the Chicago Metropolitan area, Southern Wisconsin, Northwest Indiana, and Los Angeles California regions.

With over 20 years of experience in the pressure washing business, we have the knowledge and experience to handle any clean-up job successfully. With a fleet of over 40 totally self contained trucks PWS Environmental, Inc. has the ability to complete any cleaning project on time and within budget while always keeping the environment in mind.

We look forward to becoming a part of your team PWS Environmental, Inc. provides unparalleled service, competitive pricing, and unique comprehensive solutions for your cleaning needs. Through teamwork we can execute a variety of work, no matter the size of the job. PWS Environmental, Inc. is poised to help you develop an effective and cost-efficient solution to your cleaning needs; with our conscientious and professional staff, we will roll up our sleeves and do whatever it takes to get the job done.

We manage everything from the routine maintenance cleanings of national chains with thousands of locations, to the delicate restoration of a single historic landmark structure. At PWS, we realize that our company’s success depends on our customers’ satisfaction. We strive to exceed your expectations with our professionalism, pricing and the quality of our work.