Mark Fern

Senior operational leader with full accountability for national service delivery across Vaillant Group UK’s heating and hot water service operations. Responsible for safe, compliant and high-performing field service delivery, leading large, multi-skilled workforce supporting domestic and commercial customers across the UK.

Scope & Accountability

• Full responsibility for end-to-end service delivery across national field service network
• Leadership of 260+ colleagues, including senior managers, regional leaders and frontline field service engineers
• Ownership of £25m budget including cost control, forecasting and margin improvement
• Accountable for service performance across productivity, first-time fix, customer satisfaction, safety and quality

Key Achievements & Responsibilities

• Delivered consistent service performance in a highly regulated gas and heating environment, ensuring full compliance with Gas Safe, H&S and regulatory standards
• Led transformation of service delivery models to improve efficiency, engineer utilisation and customer outcomes
• Drove a customer-centric culture, balancing premium brand expectations with commercial performance
• Implemented scalable workforce planning to support seasonal demand, product growth and new technology adoption
• Strengthened leadership capability through development, succession planning and performance management
• Built strong cross-functional partnerships with Product, Sales, Supply Chain and Finance to align service delivery with wider business strategy
• Provided executive-level reporting and insight on operational performance, risk and financial outcomes

Leadership & Impact

• Known for stabilising and scaling complex field operations
• Strong people leader with a focus on engagement, safety and capability building
• Commercially astute, with a track record of improving service margin while protecting customer experience

Executive leader with full accountability for Vaillant Group UK’s aftersales service strategy and delivery across heating and hot water products. Responsible for national field service operations, customer support, technical services and commercial aftersales performance, ensuring premium brand standards while delivering sustainable growth and profitability in a highly regulated environment.

Strategic & Commercial Accountability

• Overall ownership of UK aftersales service strategy, aligned to Vaillant Group’s premium brand positioning and long-term growth objectives
• Full P&L accountability (£50m+) across service, repairs, maintenance and support functions
• Development and execution of pricing, cost and margin strategies to drive profitable aftersales growth
• Executive ownership of service demand planning, investment cases and productivity improvement programmes

Operational Leadership

• Leadership of 450+ colleagues across national field service, regional management, technical support and central operations
• Accountability for end-to-end customer journeys, from call handling and diagnostics through to field repair and resolution
• Governance of safety, quality and compliance across all aftersales activity, including Gas Safe, H&S and regulatory standards
• Oversight of capacity planning, engineer capability, skills strategy and multiskilling to support evolving product technologies

Customer & Brand

• Champion of a customer-centric, premium aftersales experience
• Ownership of customer satisfaction metrics (NPS, complaints, repeat visits) and continuous improvement initiatives
• Protection and enhancement of brand reputation through consistent, high-quality service delivery
• Transformation & Future Readiness
• Led service transformation programmes to improve efficiency, scalability and resilience
• Prepared organisation for low-carbon technologies including heat pumps and hybrid systems
• Strong cross-functional collaboration with Product, Sales, Supply Chain, Digital and Finance

Leadership Style

• Values-led, people-focused director with a strong safety culture
• Builds high-performing leadership teams and succession pipelines
• Data-driven with a track record of sustainable performance improvement

Senior customer operations leader accountable for customer experience strategy and delivery, with responsibility for national contact centre operations. Led large-scale customer service teams, owning performance across call handling, demand management, service levels, complaints resolution and customer satisfaction.

• Senior interface between customers and technical service functions
• Focus on diagnostics, effective triage and right-first-time resolution
• Strong emphasis on quality, training and knowledge management
• Accountability for customer operations budgets and continuous improvement
• Close collaboration with Digital, Product, Service Delivery and Sales to improve customer journeys and reduce avoidable contact

Senior operational manager accountable for workload forecasting, capacity planning and resource optimisation across service operations.

• Ownership of short-, medium- and long-term demand planning
• Peak winter readiness and contingency planning
• Workforce planning and skills alignment
• Data-led performance insight and risk mitigation
• Improved driving time to customers by 10% by aligning workload demand accurately with technicians availability

Senior leader responsible for establishing the National Renewables Service function to support heat pumps and low-carbon technologies.

• Designed end-to-end service operating model
• Built national engineering capability
• Embedded safe, compliant and scalable service delivery
• Adhered to health and safety regulations.
• Implanted F Gas capabilities and compliance regulations
• Led team meetings to set performance goals and review progress regularly.
• Coordinated staff development training to improve overall service delivery.

Operational leader responsible for regional field service delivery, managing multi-skilled Gas Safe registered engineers. Accountable for safety, compliance, productivity and customer satisfaction.

• Ensured compliance with industry standards by conducting regular audits.
• Drove continuous improvement efforts for operational excellence.
• Identified areas of inefficiency in resource use, proposing solutions for improvement.
• Evaluated workforce needs, leading to proactive hiring strategies.
• Implemented training programmes to enhance technical skills.
• Achieved reduced downtime with meticulous maintenance scheduling.
• Coordinated field service activities to ensure timely response.

Led a team of Gas Technicians to deliver maintenance and repair services while ensuring compliance in a regulated sector.

• Managed recruitment processes and conducted skills training for team members.
• Monitored KPIs to align performance with business objectives.
• Addressed customer complaints promptly, boosting satisfaction rates.
• Oversaw health and safety measures to ensure regulatory compliance.
• Transformed senior management directives into actionable policies for front-line staff.

Carried out repair and maintenance on domestic gas boilers both under a manufacturer's warranty or for business partners

• Performed onsite installation, modification and maintenance of systems and equipment.
• Maintained a high level of health and safety on-site through diligent risk assessments.
• Ensured timely completion of projects with effective time management skills.
• Travelled extensively to various sites for hands-on problem-solving.