Senior Director - F&I Dealer Operations

** This is a remote position; however, candidates located within 25 miles of the Atlanta office will come in 3 days/wk. Candidates located in Atlanta preferred. **

• Provide executive leadership and own the P&L for the Dealer Solutions F&I dealer business and Express Aftermarket, holding day-to-day accountability for delivering the revenue budget, operational effectiveness, and alignment with Dealer Solutions strategic objectives.

• Develop and execute the business strategy to grow F&I market share and dealer penetration, including dealer acquisition, retention, and cross-sell strategies across Cox Automotive solutions.

• Develop and lead cross-collaboration strategies with CAI matrix partners, fostering a high-performance culture and creating opportunities to build the dealer customer base and drive product revenue.

• Contribute to the development and enforcement of operational policies and procedures, ensuring alignment with corporate standards and applicable regulatory requirements governing dealer/lender financing operations.

• Ensure efforts are in place to streamline and optimize business service processes – including administrative, transactional, contract administration, and vendor management support – leading to greater effectiveness and efficiency across F&I operations.

• Monitor dealer business performance metrics – including revenue, market share, dealer retention, and dealer satisfaction – ensuring high-quality service delivery and ongoing adaptation in response to evolving F&I business and operational needs.

• Represent the F&I dealer business from an executive perspective, engaging with internal clients, boundary partners, dealers, lenders, and third-party service providers to ensure mutual and shared understanding of departmental objectives, practices, and delivery expectations.

• Identify potential risks associated with business service delivery – operational, financial, compliance, and fraud-related – developing and overseeing implementation of mitigation strategies.

• Develop and manage revenue and operating budgets for the F&I dealer business, ensuring operational and resource efficiency.

• Work closely with Finance and F&I business management, ensuring effective dealer business contribution from a bottom-line perspective.

• Serve as the voice of the dealer for the F&I business, establishing structured feedback loops (e.g., dealer advisory input, surveys, CSAT/NPS, support and attrition insights) and translating dealer needs into prioritized requirements for Product & Technology.

• Maintain a close understanding of evolving dealer trends, F&I market dynamics, and competitor offerings; advise executive leadership on market opportunities, threats, and Cox performance versus the competition.

• Manage key dealer relationships, resolve service delivery challenges, ensure consistent delivery of the desired dealer experience, and connect dealers with other areas of Cox Automotive to address cross-product issues.

• Develop business cases for strategic F&I initiatives, including ROI projections, resource requirements, and prioritization of activities according to strategic value.

• Translate F&I dealer business strategy into actionable, well-sequenced improvement plans, providing project management oversight and accountability for key initiatives.

• Set clear metrics for improvement initiatives and implement a process to measure progress, ensure accountability, and recognize success.

• Lead change management for dealer-impacting initiatives, identifying requirements, enabling change readiness, and removing barriers to adoption.

• Recommend changes to capability requirements and capital investments, leveraging deep market expertise to support business case development.

• Own the Express Aftermarket business and its revenue, setting strategy and annual plans to grow dealer adoption and transaction volume of aftermarket products through Express.

• Partner with Sales, Marketing, and Product & Technology to drive dealer awareness, adoption, and usage of Express, using dealer and provider feedback to improve the experience.

• Recruit and onboard new aftermarket providers and products to the Express network, prioritizing additions that increase value and usage for dealers.

• Negotiate and manage commercial terms, pricing, renewals, and agreements with aftermarket providers, ensuring contract compliance and mitigating risk.

• Build and maintain executive-level relationships with aftermarket providers, leading business reviews, resolving issues, and monitoring provider performance and satisfaction.

• Lead and develop the Express Aftermarket provider relationship manager responsible for day-to-day provider account management.

• Oversee administrative and transactional support underlying F&I product delivery, including credit application processing, digital contracting operations, contract/document preparation, approval, and distribution, and dealer and lender billing and invoicing.

• Manage contract administration and negotiation support for F&I-related vendor, lender, and service-provider agreements, ensuring compliance with contract specifications and regulatory requirements.

• Support operational execution of F&I transformation initiatives, including migration from paper-based to digital contracting and simplification/rationalization of F&I product and billing structures.

• Ensure business service systems are in place to support fraud prevention, compliance monitoring, and risk-mitigation workflows relevant to F&I operations.

• Direct the efforts of subordinate managers and professional staff within the F&I Dealer Operations organization, fostering a high-performance culture.

• Build and maintain executive-level relationships with key dealers and dealer groups, aftermarket providers, internal customers, vendors, lenders, and stakeholders, addressing concerns and ensuring delivery of high-quality, value-adding services.

• Lead efforts to leverage technology to streamline processes, address concerns, and further enhance service delivery.

• Bachelor’s degree in a related discipline and 12 years’ experience of progressive experience in business operations, general management, or dealer-facing operations leadership, ideally within automotive software, dealer finance, or F&I environments.
  • The right candidate could also have a different combination, such as a master's degree and 10 years’ experience; a Ph.D. and 7 years or 16 years’ experience of progressive experience in business operations, general management, or dealer-facing operations leadership, ideally within automotive software, dealer finance, or F&I environments.
• 7+ years experience in which the individual assigned and prioritized others’ work, reviewed and approved final deliverables, and provided *performance input, including feedback and coaching. Below are examples of qualifying leadership experience:
  • Formal lead or team lead role
  • Oversight of contract, contingent workers, interns, suppliers, or vendors 
  • Matrix or dotted-line leadership; Formal mentorship of junior team

• Demonstrated P&L ownership, including developing and managing revenue and operating budgets, vendor, lender, and provider contracts, and business processes at an enterprise or major business-unit level.

• MBA preferred.
• Experience supporting regulatory, compliance, or risk-mitigation requirements within a financial services or dealer/lender-facing operating environment preferred.
• Experience in businesses based on technology, software, or digital solutions for the automotive or related industry preferred.

• Accuracy and Attention to Detail – Mastery: processes information with high accuracy; develops tools and checklists to ensure error-free output; accurately gauges impact and cost of errors and applies lessons learned.

• Business Acumen – Mastery: applies deep knowledge of economic, financial, market, and industry trends to shape F&I dealer business strategy, grow market share, and limit risk.

• Budgeting – Mastery: creates accurate, realistic budgets; monitors and adjusts budgets to reflect business change; identifies, explains, and reports on planned versus actual discrepancies.

• Contracts Management and Administration – Mastery: manages and administers contractual agreements; ensures vendor/lender data and files are created, stored, and managed as required; reviews contracts for compliance.

• Customer Focus – Mastery: understands dealer, lender, and internal customer needs; sets priorities and takes action to prevent service issues; tracks experience, captures voice-of-the-dealer feedback, and drives improvement.

• Internal Controls – Mastery: creates, implements, and enhances processes for effective internal control; ensures compliance with company standards and legal/regulatory obligations.

• Builds Positive Relationships – Mastery

• Communicates with Consideration – Mastery

• Focuses on Execution – Mastery

• Guides Team Success – Mastery

• Makes SMART Decisions – Advanced/Mastery

• Deep knowledge of dealer F&I operations, automotive industry trends, dealer behaviors, and enabling technology; working knowledge of lender operations, including digital contracting, credit application processing, and fraud-prevention workflows preferred.

• Demonstrated track record of growing revenue and market share in a B2B software or services business.

• Knowledge of the F&I aftermarket (e.g., vehicle service contracts, GAP, and ancillary products) and the provider/administrator landscape preferred.

• Advanced people-leadership skills; demonstrated experience directing the efforts of subordinate managers and professional staff.

• Strong vendor and contract negotiation, renewal, and risk-mitigation experience.

• Excellent verbal, written, and executive-level presentation skills; ability to advise and influence senior leadership.

• High level of proficiency in MS Office applications, including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.