An established commercial vehicle dealership is seeking a General Manager to take full operational and commercial ownership of the business. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can balance strategic thinking with day-to-day involvement on the ground someone equally comfortable reviewing margin performance as they are walking the workshop floor or sitting down with a key customer.
The successful candidate will be responsible for driving profitability, tightening up operational processes, and building on the company’s reputation for strong customer relationships.
Reports ToManaging Director / Owner
Key Responsibilities
Business & Industry Understanding
- Maintain a strong grasp of the commercial vehicle sector, including market trends, competitor activity, and supplier/franchise relationships.
- Ensure the business remains compliant with relevant industry, health & safety, and regulatory requirements.
- Bring commercial judgement to decisions on pricing, stock, staffing, and capital investment.
Customer & Relationship Management
- Act as a senior point of contact for key accounts and long-standing customers, maintaining and growing those relationships personally.
- Ensure consistently high standards of customer service are delivered across sales, parts, and service/workshop functions.
- Handle escalated customer issues directly, using them as opportunities to strengthen loyalty rather than just resolve complaints.
- Represent the business at industry events, with suppliers, and within the local business community.
Hands-On Operational Leadership
- Be visibly present across the business on the floor, in the workshop, on the sales floor not just in the office.
- Lead, motivate, and hold accountable department heads and their teams (sales, service, parts, admin).
- Step in directly where needed to resolve operational bottlenecks or support the team during busy periods.
- Recruit, develop, and manage performance of direct reports.
Process & Efficiency
- Review current operational processes across departments and identify where they are inconsistent, outdated, or being worked around.
- Design and implement clear, documented processes for core operations (job workflows, stock control, invoicing, reporting) to improve consistency and reduce errors.
- Introduce better use of systems/data to track performance in real time rather than relying on informal or ad hoc reporting.
- Build a culture of continuous improvement, with staff empowered to flag inefficiencies.
Person Specification
Essential
- Proven experience as a General Manager, Operations Manager, or senior department head within a commercial/automotive/vehicle dealership/mechanical environment (or a closely comparable sector).
- Track record of building and maintaining strong customer relationships at a senior level.
- A genuinely hands-on leadership style comfortable being on-site and visible, not purely desk-based.
- Demonstrated experience improving or building operational processes in a previous role.
- Strong people management skills, with experience managing managers/supervisors.
Contact
Nicky Strutt
WHJS1_NI
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