Fleet Operations Manager

**Company description** Role: Fleet Operations Manager

Location: Remote + 2 day's a week in our Cardiff office

**Salary**: Up to £47,000 DOE + Benefits

Contract: Full Time/Permanent

The Fleet Operations team are at the heart of the Driving Schools business. As the leader of this small high-performing team, you will manage a fleet of thousands of tuition vehicles for the AA Driving School and BSM across the UK.

As we exit our 'transformation’ stage, your role will be critical in the next stage of our journey as we strive to refine our operations and deliver 'best-in-class’ service to enable rapid business growth. You will fully understand the needs of our DrivingInstructors and will be able to turn your hand to anything - from finance queries, to managing suppliers, to reviewing VOR vehicles (and plenty of variety in between)

**This is the job** We’re seeking somebody who can demonstrate a customer-obsessed approach to their work, has a real eye for detail and has previous experience in a fast-paced fleet operations role. Somebody that can work well under pressure and is equally comfortable workingon their own or as part of a team. Every day, you’ll help us to deliver a great customer experience to our franchised Driving Instructors.

We’re all about going above and beyond and so as part of our team you will take ownership of the day to day fleet operations. We’re particularly interested in talking to individuals who have OEM or technical experience to help us improve our VOR performanceand cost management. There will be some routine tasks in this role traditionally associated with fleet administration, but you’ll also be key to solving problems and working extensively with your peers and suppliers. If you’re keen to get stuck in and makea real difference with an eye for detail, we want to hear from you

This role is offered on a permanent, full time employment contract. This is a dynamic role - you’ll typically spend 2 days out of 5 working from our recently-refurbished office in Cardiff city centre, and the remaining 3 days out of 5 working from home ortravelling to suppliers. This role will require occasional national travel to our suppliers; however we will provide a hire car and accommodation if this is required.

**What will I be doing?** Fleet Operational Management

- Overall responsibility for vehicle supply and defleet management, ensuring that we have a supply of new vehicles from OEMs and overseeing our defleet and sales processes for our tuition vehicles at the end of their life (we dispose of around 1,500 carsper year)
- Overall daily account management of all fleet suppliers, both externally (where goods and services are provided by external suppliers) and internally (where goods and services are provided by other AA Group businesses)
- Overall responsibility for optimising fleet utilisation and delivering maximum profit on re-sale
- Continue to establish a fleet operating model, to document fleet processes in accordance with Financial Conduct Authority guidelines
- Working with our Group Procurement team to ensure that our contracts are fit-for-purpose and commercially competitive.
- Working with Group Procurement to tender and award new supply contracts and review current contract performance
- Ensuring that fleet processes are legally compliant, to allow the safe and legal operation of our fleet
- Ownership of all fleet policies and fleet literature provided to driving instructors
- Owning and refining administrative processes (such as mileage charges, parking fines etc.)
- Ensuring that vehicle collisions are reviewed on a weekly basis and concerns are escalated to the Head of Driver Training
**What do I need?** Capability, Knowledge and Experience:

- Minimum 5 years’ experience as a fleet manager of 500+ vehicles, with a particular focus on fleet improvement and efficiency (Essential)
- Experience with operational management of vehicle downtime (VOR) (Essential)
- Experience managing suppliers (or clients) and contracts (Essential)
- Experience of landing change, building relationships and driving profitability (Essential)
- Willing to work and thrive in a fast paced, high achieving and changing environment; our business is growing, and you’ll be required to grow with it (Essential)
- An exceptional communicator in both written and verbal language (Essential)
- Highly organised with strong administrative skills (Essential)
- A proven track record of working accurately with data (Essential)

Education and Qualifications:

- Holder of a Category B driving licence (Essential)
- Transport Manager or industry qualification (Highly Desirable)

Personal Characteristics:

- Thrives on ambiguity and a fast-paced environment - we’re just exiting the turnaround stage of our business, but there is still lots more work to be done We’re keen to find somebody who thrives on defining ambiguity and enjoys working in a fast-paced environment
- Highly developed communication and interpersonal skills - you’ll be working with internal colleagues and external customers alike. An excellent negotiator, you’ll focus on building relationships to achieve the best results.
- Ability to work well on your own or as part of a small team - you’ll be equally at ease getting your head down individually, or working alongside your peers to deliver the best results
- A customer-centric mindset - you’ll see that everything we do is completed with the customer in mind and we need you to think the same way as us
- Good attention to detail - you’ll need to be able to ensure that you can work quickly and accurately as this role will include providing accurate information to our suppliers across several different IT systems
- Flexible and adaptive to change - we are growing, and you’ll need to grow with us. You will need to feel comfortable contributing to and shaping our processes as and when they are implemented
- Assertive with a positive and resilient attitude - you will need to be resilient, positive, and professional when dealing with queries