Manufacturer Relationship Account Manager

About The Role

Motability Operations are currently recruiting for aManufacturer Relationship Account Manager to join our team based in London on a full-time, permanent basis. Your role will be to coordinate the relationship between Motability Operations and an appointed portfolio of vehicle manufacturers through the development of effective working relationships across all levels within their organisation.

You will ensure that vehicle manufacturers have a good understanding of the business opportunity that Motability Operations represents and are provided with a strong business case to supply a wide choice of vehicles for Scheme customers at the best possible prices.

You will also have the opportunity to scope and understand the future distribution models and routes to market of the brands within your portfolio. To ensure a balanced offering of EV and ICE product as Motability Operations transitions to an electric fleet.

Responsibilities:

Pricing : You will work closely with the Asset Risk and Pricing teams to produce quarterly pricing proposals for each of your Vehicle Manufacturers. You will lead pricing negotiations with your group of Vehicle Manufacturers to ensure that prices achieved exceed KPI requirements and meet company objectives. You will also manage submission of price changes and 'one off' requests by your manufacturers within the current pricing guidelines.

Account Management : You will represent Motability Operations and the Motability Scheme to your portfolio of vehicle manufacturers at all points where the business model overlaps, e.g. pricing negotiations, marketing, vehicle remarketing, dealer management, finance, events. You will also represent the view of your manufacturers in internal discussions as well as provide market intelligence and forecasting for the manufacturers and will work with other MO teams to support this where required

Customer satisfaction : You will work with vehicle manufacturers and internal MO departments to provide resolutions to customer satisfaction issues that exceed their expectations.

Vehicle Choice: You will work with your portfolio of vehicle manufacturers to ensure that MO customers can choose from a wide range of cars and that new to market cars are available for Scheme customers.

New Vehicle Manufacturers: You will work with identified new market entrants to secure their participation in the Scheme including co-ordination of dealer sign up, pricing and meeting Motability Operations distribution and supply expectations.

About You

You will be commercially minded

• Understand the business and commercial objectives of both Motability Operations and our manufacturer partners.
• Broad knowledge of the automotive industry (including market trends, whole life cost drivers, the fleet sector, automotive regulation changes).
• Able to identify trends from quantitative and qualitative data and from that develop a cohesive strategy.
• Constructive negotiation approach which delivers workable proposals and solutions.
• Accountable for decision making with the ability to foresee the wider impact of decisions on other key stakeholders including customers, vehicle remarketing, dealer network and the Motability foundation.

You will possess strong relationship management skills

• Builds credible relationships that result in recognition by manufacturers of the benefits of Motability business and a willingness to work with Motability Operations.
• Utilises management information to support and develop the relationship at all levels, through programmed consultative review and action plans.
• Has a 'can do' outlook and willingness to resolve problems quickly and effectively.
• Has empathy and understanding towards manufacturer constraints and industry challenges.
• Demonstrates a mix of diplomacy and enthusiasm to support delivery of Motability Operations and manufacturer objectives.
• Comfortable working with all levels of manufacturer employees from global management through to pricing and accounts payable coordinators.
  

You will create impact and influence

• Willingness to take responsibility, and explain rationale, for actions.
• Excellent communications skills.
• Presence and confidence to use relationships to overcome objections, explain a position and achieve objectives.
• Ability to deliver a clear message and gain buy in from internal and external stakeholders.
• Shares ideas and best practice with others.

Minimum criteria:

• Experience of the UK automotive industry, preferably with knowledge of car manufacturers and fleet/contract hire organisations.
• Evidence of managing relationships with key suppliers to deliver strategic objectives.
• Demonstratable evidence of working across different functions internally and externally to achieve common goals for the benefit of customers.
• Excellent verbal, written, analytical and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels.

About The Company

Motability Operations is a unique organisation, virtually one of a kind. We combine a strong sense of purpose with a real commercial edge to ensure we provide the best possible worry-free mobility solutions to over 700,000 customers and their families across the UK. Customers exchange their higher rate mobility allowance to lease a range of affordable vehicles (cars, wheelchair accessible vehicles, scooters, and powered wheelchairs) with insurance, maintenance and breakdown assistance included. We are the largest car fleet operator in the UK (purchasing around 10% of all the new cars sold in the UK) and work with a network of around 5,000 car dealers and all the major manufacturers. We pride ourselves on delivering outstanding customer service, achieving an independently verified customer satisfaction rating of 9.8 out of 10.

Our values are at the heart of everything we do. They represent ambition, and we look for our people to live and breathe them every day:

• We find solutions
• We drive change
• We care

We operate hybrid working across the organisation where we split our time between working on-site at our offices, and at home, remotely within the UK. We believe hybrid working achieves a good work/life balance for our colleagues, allowing us to connect with each other, collaborate on important work, and perform together to deliver for our customers. It allows us to have the flexibility to work remotely up to 2-days per week whilst also using the great office spaces we have available.

As a Motability Operations team member, you can expect:

• An annual discretionary bonus
• 15% non-contributory pension (9% non-contributory pension during probation period)
• Life assurance at 4 times your basic salary to give you peace of mind that your loved ones will receive some financial help
• Employee Discount Scheme with a huge number of retailers and an app to save on the go
• Discounted Electric/Hybrid Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme
• Access to the Cycle to Work Scheme (we have showers, changing rooms and secure bike sheds on site)

As well as financial benefits, our staff's health and well-being are very important to us, so we also offer:

• 28 days annual leave with option to purchase and sell days
• Funded Private Medical Insurance cover
• Critical illness insurance
• Free access to healthcare apps, such as Peppy, Unmind, Aviva Digital GP
• Funded health screening for over 50s
• 1 day per year to volunteer – Staff can support a local charity or do a sponsored event whilst being paid for it
• Access to Prayer room and quiet spaces whilst working in the office

We also understand that not everyone is the same so offer several voluntary benefits that you can select outside the core package, these include;

• Dental Insurance
• Health and cancer screenings for you and your partner
• Discounted gym memberships
• Charitable giving

At Motability Operations, we believe in building a diverse workforce, where our people are empowered to attend work as their true selves, and we encourage people from all backgrounds to apply. We want to sustain a culture that nurtures, where employees are free to flourish and where they're rewarded equally, regardless of race, nationality or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, age, disability, or gender.

We pride ourselves on being an inclusive employer and as such, all our offices provide first rate disability access. With our hybrid working environment, we do our best to accommodate part-time and flexible working requests where possible, building on our culture of trust, empowerment, and flexibility.

Please note, Motability Operations reserves the right to bring forward the closing date of any of its job vacancies if we receive a suitable number of quality applications from which to make a shortlist. Therefore, we recommend that you apply as soon as possible rather than wait until the published closing date.