Senior Director, Maintenance & Damage

Role purpose

Own and deliver the European Maintenance & Damage (M&D) agenda to maximise fleet availability, reduce repair cycle time, and control end-to-end M&D cost, while maintaining non-negotiable safety and quality standards across all European markets.

Accountable for converting strategy into measurable in-year delivery through standardised processes, strong supplier governance, and disciplined execution, including EV repair capability and end-of-life decisioning.

Location & travel

• Location: Europe
• Some travel across Europe required

Reporting line

• Reports to: SVP Operations, Europe
• Key matrix partners: Fleet, Procurement, Finance, Legal, Risk/Compliance, In-Country General Managers & Ops Leaders

Non-negotiables

• Full ownership of in-year M&D budget run-rate and variance recovery
• Safety and quality standards are non-negotiable
• Any trade-off between cost, safety, quality, or service must be explicitly documented and escalated to SVP Ops Europe (and relevant matrix owners) for approval

Core accountabilities

At a European level, accountable for:

• Improved fleet availability and reduced downtime
• Reduced mechanical and body repair cycle time with improved quality
• Delivery vs M&D budget and cost KPIs with no structural overruns
• Supplier performance against SLA, cost, quality, compliance, and capacity
• Consistent adoption of EU standards, tools, and governance
• Reduced fraud, waste, and leakage through controls and audits
• Material reduction in OEM turnback and reconditioning charges

Key responsibilities

1) Strategy & execution

• Define and own the European M&D strategy and annual operating plan aligned to EMEA objectives.
• Translate strategy into clear initiatives with owners, milestones, and EBITDA impact.
• Standardise KPIs, tools, processes, and policies and ensure adoption across markets.

2) Budget ownership & controls

• Own European M&D budget performance, forecasting, variance explanation, and recovery plans.
• Implement robust controls including approvals, audit trails, and anomaly detection.
• Enforce escalation where cost targets conflict with safety or quality.

3) Supplier ecosystem

• Own the European supplier framework across all M&D categories, including EV repair.
• Lead supplier scorecards, governance, remediation, and exits where required.
• Partner with Procurement on tenders, with M&D setting technical and performance standards.

4) Network design & capacity

• Continuously optimise outsource vs insource decisions based on cost, quality, and flexibility.
• Ensure adequate supplier coverage by geography, job type, and peak demand.
• Define and deliver the target network architecture and service levels.

5) Parts & repair inputs

• Define parts strategy with Procurement, balancing cost, availability, and compliance.
• Drive repair vs replace principles and lead-time reduction initiatives.
• Own KPIs for parts lead time, fill rate, and repair delays.

6) Lifecycle & end-of-life decisioning

• Own governance for repair decisioning across the vehicle lifecycle.
• Lead initiatives to reduce OEM turnback and reconditioning charges through better estimates, documentation, and negotiation.
• Ensure early-life repair decisions reduce end-of-life penalties.

7) Performance cadence & reporting

• Run a disciplined performance cadence (weekly pulse, monthly reviews, quarterly deep dives).
• Ensure dashboards, savings, and performance metrics are Finance-validated.

8) People leadership

• Lead and develop a multi-country M&D team across Europe in partnership with Country GMs.
• Build capability in technical standards, estimating, commercial discipline, and execution.
• Drive succession planning and consistent performance management.

Experience requirements

• 10+ years senior leadership in automotive, fleet, aftersales, repair networks, or multi-site operations.
• Proven delivery of cost control and availability improvements across multiple countries.
• Experience transforming supplier networks at scale.
• Strong lifecycle, estimating, and OEM turnback experience.

Skills & attributes

• Strong commercial and financial acumen with full budget ownership experience.
• Deep understanding of M&D ecosystems, including EV repair.
• Execution-focused, structured, and comfortable escalating trade-offs early.
• Influential leader with confidence in tough supplier and OEM discussions.