Group Operations Executive

Location: Ray Chapman Motors Group - (York based)

Reporting to: Group Operations Director

Salary: £45,000–£50,000 per annum, dependent on experience

Hours: Full-time

Travel: Regular travel between Group locations required

About Ray Chapman Motors

Ray Chapman Motors is a growing family-owned automotive group representing Volvo and Chery across five dealership locations.

The Group operates across Sales, Service, Parts, Fleet, Used Cars, Marketing, HR and Finance, with a strong focus on customer experience, operational excellence and long-term relationships.

As the Group continues to grow, we are looking to appoint a Group Operations Executive to work closely with the Group Operations Director and wider management team.

This is a new role within the Group and represents an opportunity for an exceptionally organised, commercially minded and proactive individual to have a significant impact on how the business operates.

The Role

The Group Operations Executive will work closely with the Group Operations Director to ensure that the Group’s priorities, projects, standards and agreed actions are effectively coordinated, implemented and followed through.

The role is designed to increase the effectiveness of the management team, improve communication and accountability, and allow the Group Operations Director to focus more time on strategic priorities, leadership and business development.

This is not a traditional Personal Assistant role and is not a line-management position.

The successful candidate will act as a central point of coordination across the Group, helping ensure that when something is agreed, it gets done properly, on time and to the required standard.

Key Responsibilities

1. Group Action & Accountability

Own and maintain the Group’s central action tracker.

Record key actions and decisions from management meetings.

Ensure every significant action has a clear owner and deadline.

Monitor progress against agreed deadlines.

Follow up with managers where actions are approaching or exceeding deadlines.

Identify overdue or stalled actions.

Escalate significant issues to the Group Operations Director.

Maintain visibility of outstanding actions across the Group.

Ensure actions are not simply marked complete without appropriate evidence.

The objective is to create a culture where:

Own it. Fix it. Prove it. Keep it fixed.

2. Management Meeting Support

Work closely with the Group Operations Director to improve the effectiveness of management meetings.

Responsibilities include:

Gathering relevant information and reports.

Recording key decisions and actions.

Maintaining action logs.

Following up actions between meetings.

Preparing updates for subsequent meetings.

Highlighting recurring or unresolved issues.

3. Group Projects & Initiatives

Coordinate significant Group projects from initial agreement through to implementation.

This may include:

New systems and processes.

Manufacturer initiatives.

Customer experience projects.

Group-wide process changes.

Marketing initiatives.

Operational improvements.

Staff training programmes.

4. Operating Standards

Support the implementation and ongoing development of the Ray Chapman Motors Operating Standard.

Responsibilities include:

Maintaining Group operating standards.

Coordinating regular reviews and audits.

Monitoring compliance with agreed processes.

Identifying inconsistencies between sites.

Highlighting areas where standards are not being maintained.

Supporting managers in implementing improvements.

Tracking corrective actions.

5. Performance & Management Information

Work with Group departments and dealership management to bring together relevant operational information.

This may include:

Used car performance.

Fleet performance.

Marketing activity.

HR initiatives.

Group projects.

Operational KPIs.

The Operations Executive will help ensure that the Group Operations Director has clear, accurate and timely information to support decision-making.

6. Cross-Department Coordination

Act as a central coordination point where work involves multiple departments or dealerships.

For example:

Sales and Marketing.

Sales and Used Cars.

Sales and Fleet.

Service and Parts.

HR and operational management.

Finance and dealerships.

Manufacturer and Group initiatives.

7. Follow-Up & Communication

Maintain a high level of visibility across the Group.

The successful candidate will:

Follow up on agreed commitments.

Identify where deadlines are at risk.

Ensure information is communicated to the correct people.

Highlight potential problems early.

Maintain clear records.

Ensure the Group Operations Director is aware of significant issues requiring intervention.

This requires someone who is comfortable asking:

“Where are we with this?”

and:

“What is preventing this from being completed?”

without creating unnecessary conflict.

Relationship With Managers

The Group Operations Executive will work closely with Heads of Business, departmental managers and Group departmental managers.

However, the role does not replace or sit above these managers within the organisational structure.

The successful candidate will have:

No direct line-management responsibility for dealership or departmental managers.

No authority to override Heads of Business or departmental managers.

No responsibility for formal performance management or disciplinary action.

Instead, they will coordinate agreed actions, provide support, identify delays and elevate issues where appropriate.

The role is intended to make the management team more effective, better organised and more accountable, not to create another layer of management.

Executive Support to the Group Operations Director

The role will also provide high-level executive support to the Group Operations Director.

This may include:

Diary and meeting coordination.

Preparation for senior meetings.

Presentation preparation.

Research and information gathering.

Preparation of briefing documents.

Organising site visits.

Tracking personal and Group priorities.

Coordinating follow-up from meetings.

Managing confidential information.

This element of the role is designed to protect the Group Operations Director’s time and ensure that important priorities receive appropriate attention.

What We Are Looking For

We are looking for an individual who is:

Highly organised - You naturally keep track of multiple priorities, deadlines and projects without becoming overwhelmed.

Proactive - You don’t wait to be told that something needs chasing.

Assertive - You are comfortable communicating with senior managers and asking for updates professionally.

Commercially minded - You understand that operational decisions ultimately affect customers, employees and financial performance.

Detail-oriented - You notice when something doesn’t add up and don’t accept “nearly there” when the agreed standard has not been achieved.

Resilient - You will be working in a fast-moving environment with multiple competing priorities.

Discreet - You will have access to commercially sensitive and confidential information.

Emotionally intelligent - You can challenge people without creating unnecessary friction.

Solutions-focused - You don’t simply identify problems. You help coordinate the solution.

Comfortable with senior leadership - You will work closely with senior leadership and need the confidence to communicate professionally at all levels of the organisation.

Experience

Previous automotive experience is desirable but not essential.

We would consider candidates from a range of backgrounds, particularly those with experience in:

Business operations.

Project management.

Executive support.

Multi-site businesses.

Retail.

Automotive.

Manufacturing.

Hospitality.

Professional services.

Logistics.

Experience working directly with senior leadership would be advantageous.

More important than industry experience is evidence that you can organise people, manage priorities, coordinate projects and ensure things actually get done.

Qualifications & Skills

We are looking for strong capability rather than a particular qualification.

Experience working with KPIs and management information.

Strong organisational skills.

Ability to manage multiple deadlines.

Ability to prepare professional reports and presentations.

What Success Looks Like

After 12 months, the successful candidate should have helped create a Group where:

Management actions are clearly recorded.

Deadlines are consistently visible.

Fewer actions require repeated chasing.

Problems are identified earlier.

Projects are delivered more consistently.

Group standards are clearly understood.

Management meetings are more productive.

Information reaches the right people faster.

Cross-department projects run more smoothly.

The Group Operations Director spends significantly less time on administration, coordination and follow-up.

Most importantly:

The business becomes less dependent on the Group Operations Director personally making sure everything happens.

The Person We Want

This role would suit someone who looks at a busy organisation and naturally thinks:

“I can make this work better.”

You should enjoy taking something that is unclear or disorganised and turning it into:

You don’t need to know everything about car dealerships.

You do need to be someone who gets things done.

Our Values

The successful candidate will be expected to operate in line with the Ray Chapman Motors principles:

Customer - Would this decision improve the customer experience?

OEM - Does this support our manufacturer relationships and requirements?

Media - Would we be comfortable with this being publicly visible?

Management - Does this support our people, standards and business objectives?

Authority - Is this the right thing to do, and is it compliant?

The Opportunity

This is a newly created position with significant scope to develop.

For the right individual, the role could evolve as the Group grows, potentially developing into a broader Group Business Operations / Chief of Staff-style position with increased responsibility for Group projects, performance and strategic execution.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work directly with senior leadership and gain broad exposure to every area of a growing automotive group.

Ray Chapman Motors

Ray Chapman Motors

Own it. Fix it. Prove it. Keep it fixed.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: £45,000.00-£50,000.00 per year

• Company events
• Company pension
• Free parking
• Life insurance
• On-site parking
• Private medical insurance

Experience:

Operations management: 2 years (preferred)