Vice President of Operations

Build the Next National Automotive Service Platform

Location: Remote within the United States, with national travel

Compensation: Executive compensation package, including base salary, performance incentives, and potential long-term incentive opportunities

Build Something That Does Not Come Around Very Often

Most executive automotive roles ask you to maintain an existing operation. This one asks you to build one. Our client is a well-established national wheel and tire retailer with more than 100 locations across the United States. After decades of success in its core business, the company is making a significant investment to expand into general automotive service. The vision is straightforward: Take an established national retail footprint and transform it into a premier undercar and general service organization. The company has already begun testing the model at an initial location and plans to roll general service capabilities out across its existing store network in phases. Our client is looking for the executive leader who will help build that future.

This Is More Than an Operations Role

This position is equal parts strategist, builder, operator, and leader. The Vice President of Operations will help create the blueprint that defines how a national automotive service organization operates for years to come.

Who This Is Really For

This role is for a hands-on automotive operations leader who has built or scaled a service platform before, not simply maintained one. The right person has been close enough to the field to understand store-level execution, but senior enough to design the systems, people structure, and rollout plan needed across a national footprint. The company is looking for someone with real automotive operating depth, growth experience, high energy, and the communication ability to bring store teams, field leaders, and ownership along with them. The right candidate will not speak only in generalities. They should be able to clearly explain how they evaluate store readiness, launch new service capabilities, build field accountability, measure performance, and make practical decisions when conditions are imperfect.

This leader will work directly with executive ownership to develop:

• Operational playbooks
• Service rollout strategy
• Field leadership structure
• Technician recruiting strategy
• Training and onboarding programs
• Performance metrics
• Quality standards
• Customer experience expectations
• Organizational design
• Long-term growth initiatives

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the phased rollout of general automotive service across more than 100 existing retail locations.
• Develop standardized operating procedures that can scale across multiple markets.
• Determine store readiness and prioritize locations for each phase of implementation.
• Build, coach, and mentor regional and field leadership teams.
• Establish KPIs, reporting systems, and accountability standards across the organization.
• Improve operational execution, technician productivity, sales performance, profitability, and customer satisfaction.
• Partner with recruiting and training teams to build a strong service workforce.
• Develop processes for inspections, workflow, estimating, production, and quality control.
• Evaluate equipment, staffing, training, and facility needs for each rollout location.
• Travel regularly to support launches, assess field execution, and coach leadership teams.
• Serve as a strategic partner to executive leadership on growth, organizational development, and future expansion.

This Role Is Demanding

This is not a maintenance role. The first phase will require heavy travel, long hours, direct field involvement, fast decision-making, and the willingness to build structure where it does not yet exist. Candidates should be energized by that challenge, not merely comfortable with the title. The work will be measurable and objective. The right leader will bring a clear game plan, confidence under pressure, and the ability to turn strategy into execution across stores, markets, people, and numbers.

Leadership and Culture Fit

The successful leader must be able to walk into a store, earn trust quickly, communicate with frontline teams, and lead through influence as much as authority. This organization values practical operators, direct communication, humility, urgency, and people who can build relationships while still driving measurable performance. This is a culture where many strong leaders have grown through the business, know the customer, and value practical execution. The Vice President of Operations must be able to relate to those teams, inspire them, and help them scale without losing what already works.

The Ideal Candidate

Our client is seeking an accomplished automotive operations leader who has:

• Senior leadership experience within multi-location automotive service, tire and service, franchise, MSO, regional platform, or national retail operations.
• Successfully helped scale a service business, launch new markets, integrate new capabilities, or roll out a repeatable operating model across multiple locations.
• Frontline operating credibility combined with executive-level strategic discipline.
• A clear, practical point of view on rollout sequencing, staffing, training, KPIs, profitability, and field accountability.
• The ability to communicate with clarity, energy, and specificity.
• The confidence to make decisions, explain the reasoning behind them, and adjust quickly when the field reality changes.
• A strong understanding of automotive service operations, including undercar, maintenance, tire, and light repair categories.
• Proven success recruiting, developing, and retaining high-performing leaders.
• The ability to earn trust with store operators, district leaders, technicians, executive leadership, and ownership.
• The drive to own the pressure and opportunity of building a new business line inside an established 100+ location company.
• Experience within independent multi-shop groups, private equity-backed automotive platforms, national tire and service organizations, franchise systems, or regional automotive service companies is highly valued.

What Makes This Opportunity Different

Most executives inherit a mature business and an established operating model. This role offers the opportunity to help define one. The successful candidate will have the entrepreneurial influence of building something new while benefiting from the customer base, infrastructure, footprint, and financial stability of an established national company. For the right person, this role has meaningful long-term upside. The company is looking for someone who can not only stand up the automotive service platform, but potentially grow into broader enterprise leadership as the business scales. Few executive roles offer this combination of:

• National scale
• Executive autonomy
• Greenfield development
• Strategic influence
• Direct access to ownership
• Long-term organizational impact
• A chance to build something that can become a defining career chapter

Travel

This position requires regular national travel to support store launches, field leadership, operational development, and strategic initiatives. Candidates may work remotely from within the United States, provided they have the flexibility and willingness to travel extensively.

Why Consider This Opportunity?

• Established national footprint with more than 100 locations
• Significant investment in a new automotive service platform
• Direct influence over strategy, structure, culture, and execution
• Executive leadership committed to finding the best person for the role
• Opportunity to build scalable systems from the ground up
• Potential to create substantial long-term enterprise value
• A possible path into broader company leadership for the right high-performing leader

Your Legacy Starts Here

Our client is looking for an executive who enjoys building organizations, developing leaders, creating scalable systems, and leaving businesses stronger than they found them. This is a confidential search. Qualified candidates are encouraged to begin a private conversation to learn more about the company, its leadership team, and the long-term vision for the role.