Assistant Manager in Maidstone

Drive your career forward with a role that genuinely rewards your skills. Working as an Assistant Manager means leading high-performing teams, developing future leaders, and driving operational excellence across our Shared Services function. You'll support colleagues through coaching and guidance, champion continuous improvement, and help deliver outstanding service to our internal stakeholders while maintaining the highest standards of accuracy, control and professionalism.

What we can offer you:

• Enjoy 33 days of annual leave (including bank holidays) to rest and recharge
• Save money every day with our exclusive retail discounts
• Drive a great deal with discounts on new and used cars, plus servicing offers
• Plan for the years ahead with our company pension scheme
• Balance home and work with our industry-leading family-friendly policies designed to help you spend more time with the people that matter
• Commute for less with our cycle-to-work scheme
• Prioritise your wellbeing with dedicated support for you and your family
• 24/7 access to healthcare professionals, ensuring you get the expert advice you need quickly and easily
• Make a difference with a paid day to volunteer in your community
• Invest in your future with our company share purchase plan
• Earn financial rewards when you refer a friend to join the team
• Keep learning and growing with our training and development opportunities for everyone
• Life assurance with the option to increase cover
• We're open to flexible working options - just ask

What you'll do day to day:

• Support the Head of Department in the day-to-day leadership and management of the function, acting as deputy when required to ensure continuity of operations.
• Lead, coach and develop Team Leaders and processing colleagues, driving engagement, performance and a culture of continuous improvement.
• Deliver departmental KPIs, service level agreements and operational objectives, ensuring activities are completed accurately, efficiently and in line with company policies and controls.
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders and accounting teams, using feedback, performance reviews and management information to drive improvements.
• Identify and implement process improvements, supporting digital transformation initiatives and standardising ways of working across the department.
• Take ownership of performance management, resource planning and workload prioritisation to ensure effective service delivery.
• Utilise KPIs, metrics and reporting insights to monitor performance, support decision-making and identify opportunities for operational excellence.
• Represent the department at management meetings, maintaining high levels of professionalism, confidentiality and stakeholder confidence.
• Ensure all processes, controls and governance requirements are consistently applied and maintained across the function.

Helpful skills and qualifications:

• Proven leadership experience within a Shared Services, Finance, Administration or operational environment, with the ability to develop and motivate high-performing teams.
• Strong people management, coaching and mentoring skills, with experience supporting Team Leaders and driving colleague development.
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to prioritise workloads, manage competing demands and deliver results in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, using performance data, KPIs and insights to identify opportunities and drive continuous improvement.
• Confident stakeholder manager with excellent communication skills and the ability to build effective relationships and influence at all levels.
• Experience delivering operational KPIs and service levels while maintaining strong controls, accuracy and governance standards.
• A proactive approach to change, continuous improvement and business transformation initiatives.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office and business systems, with strong attention to detail and a commitment to operational excellence.

We value diversity and believe it strengthens our team. If you don't meet every requirement listed but are enthusiastic about this role and eager to learn, we encourage you to apply.

Be part of something big. Group 1 Automotive is on an exciting growth journey. We are home to over 7000 colleagues dedicated to providing exceptional customer service, with 114 dealerships in the UK, representing 21 brands at the forefront of automotive retail.

But you don't need to love cars to work with us - just need to share our mission to create outstanding and trusted experiences for our customers, our partners, and our people.

Our Values: At Group 1 Automotive we pride ourselves on our five core values that are incorporated in all we that do. Respect - Integrity - Transparency - Teamwork - Professionalism. These are the principles that every member of our team lives by, whether that be business functions, customer interactions, how we interact with the local community and even how we view each other in the team.