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Head of Special Projects
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Head of Special Projects
£65,000 – £85,000 + Bonus
Hybrid – Tangmere, West Sussex
Are you the person people turn to when something difficult simply needs sorting?
We are looking for an exceptional Head of Special Projects to work closely with our Directors, taking ownership of complex projects, business challenges and new initiatives across our rapidly growing UK and US operations.
This is not a conventional project management role. We aren't looking for someone whose strength is simply managing timelines, producing project plans and coordinating meetings. We want a commercially astute, highly capable problem-solver who can be given an objective or unfamiliar problem, work out what needs to happen and drive it through to completion.
One project might involve researching a legal or regulatory issue. Another could involve negotiating a commercial agreement, finding a new supplier, implementing a system, resolving an insurance issue, improving a customer process or supporting our US expansion.
You won't always be given the answer – and sometimes you won't even be given a particularly detailed brief.
Your job will be to work it out and make it happen.
About Us
We are the clear market leader in our sector and one of the fastest-growing car buying companies in the world. In the UK, we generate around 150,000 customer enquiries each month and book around 14,000 vehicles through our high-traffic websites and nationwide operations.
We have also launched across the United States, with multiple states already live and ambitious plans for nationwide expansion.
We have been established for over 15 years, are highly profitable and have achieved our scale without external funding. We combine the security of an established, successful business with the pace, energy and ambition of an entrepreneurial company.
Our aim is bold: to build a billion-dollar valuation within the next five years. We also want our growth to make a positive difference and have already donated over £1 million to various charities.
The Role
Reporting directly to the Directors, you'll take ownership of important projects and problems that require dedicated attention and don't necessarily sit neatly within an existing department. Alongside special projects, you will have ongoing responsibility for improving procurement and supplier value across the business.
You'll be expected to understand the objective, establish the facts, identify the commercial, operational or legal considerations, find the right solution and take responsibility for delivering it.
Your projects could include:
- Leading complex or business-critical projects from initial idea or problem through to implementation.
- Investigating commercial or operational problems and identifying practical solutions.
- Researching unfamiliar areas and quickly developing enough knowledge to make informed recommendations.
- Reviewing commercial arrangements, contracts and agreements and identifying potential risks or issues.
- Managing relationships with external risk, legal, compliance and other professional advisers, ensuring their advice is proportionate, practical and implemented effectively.
- Recognising material commercial, regulatory, insurance and operational risks, obtaining specialist external advice where required and taking ownership of the resulting actions.
- Reviewing significant expenditure and supplier arrangements to identify savings, improve commercial terms and ensure the business is receiving appropriate value.
- Leading significant supplier selections, tenders, negotiations and contract renewals, and improving how supplier performance is measured and managed.
- Supporting projects connected with our continued US expansion.
- Resolving unusual or sensitive issues requiring discretion, persistence and sound judgement.
- Working across departments to remove obstacles and ensure projects keep moving.
- Supporting the Directors with selected projects relating to their wider business and property interests.
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The scope is intentionally broad. You could find yourself working across commercial, legal, technology, property, insurance, procurement, risk, customer experience, suppliers, new markets or entirely new business initiatives.
You won't be expected to personally be the expert in everything.
You will be expected to know how to find the answer, identify the right expertise when required, make a sound recommendation and turn it into action.
What We're Looking For
We're open-minded about your professional background. You may currently work in special projects, commercial management, business transformation, consulting, project leadership or another role where you've developed a reputation for solving difficult problems and getting things done.
We're much more interested in how you think and what you can deliver than whether you've followed a conventional career path.
You'll need:
- A strong track record of taking ownership and delivering complex projects or solutions.
- Exceptional problem-solving ability and commercial judgement.
- The ability to take an ambiguous problem and bring structure and clarity to it.
- Strong commercial and financial awareness.
- A good practical understanding of contracts, legal considerations and business risk.
- The judgement to recognise material business risks, know when specialist external advice is required and ensure that advice is translated into action.
- The ability to balance appropriate governance and risk management with commercial reality and pace.
- Excellent research skills and the ability to get up to speed quickly in unfamiliar areas.
- Strong negotiation skills, supported by evidence of improving supplier terms, reducing costs or delivering better commercial outcomes.
- Confidence dealing with senior stakeholders, professional advisers, suppliers and external organisations.
- Excellent organisation and the ability to manage several very different priorities simultaneously.
- Persistence, discretion and sound judgement.
- The confidence to challenge existing thinking and recommend a better approach.
- A genuinely hands-on approach.
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Above all, we want someone whose natural response to a new challenge is:
"Leave it with me. I'll work it out."
What This Role Isn't
This isn't a traditional compliance or risk role. Specialist support will be provided by external advisers where required, but you will be responsible for identifying issues, coordinating that advice and ensuring appropriate actions are implemented. Procurement and supplier improvement will form a meaningful and ongoing part of the role alongside wider special projects.
It also isn't a conventional project management position where your responsibility ends with coordinating other people's actions and reporting on progress.
We want someone who takes personal ownership of the outcome.
You'll need to be comfortable operating in an entrepreneurial environment where decisions are made quickly and where good commercial judgement is just as important as process.
We believe in appropriate governance and doing things properly, but we don't believe in unnecessary bureaucracy. You'll need the judgement to recognise genuine legal or commercial risks, use external expertise appropriately and distinguish these from issues that can be sensibly and proportionately managed.
Why Join Us?
Few senior roles offer this degree of variety.
You'll work directly with our Directors and have exposure to projects across virtually every part of the organisation, as well as our rapidly expanding US business.
You'll be given significant autonomy and the opportunity to make a visible impact on how problems are solved and new initiatives are delivered.
For someone who enjoys responsibility, variety and the satisfaction of getting difficult things done, this is an opportunity to become a highly trusted and influential person within our business.
Benefits & Perks
- Competitive salary of £65,000 – £85,000 + performance related annual bonus
- Company pension package
- Comprehensive wellbeing and employee support programme
- Access to discounted gym memberships and an on-demand GP service
- Retail and leisure discounts across leading brands
- Opportunities for professional development and funded training
- Regular team meet-ups and company events
- Annual summer and Christmas celebrations
- Free Food Fridays and fresh fruit for staff working on site
- Free on-site parking
- Discounted garage services for vehicle owners
- Counselling and financial assistance helplines
- Monday to Friday, 8.00am – 5.00pm
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