Digital Product Manager (European Technologies)

Alliance Automotive Group (AAG) is a subsidiary of Genuine Parts Group, a US listed company and the world’s largest distributor of aftermarket spare parts for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The group has global revenues of US$19Billion with operations in North America, Europe, and Australasia. The UK Group has annualised sales of c.£900m.

The UK & Ireland Group is a dynamic business growing both organically and by acquisition, operating from over 300 locations and employing over 5,000 staff in the UK. The AAG network supplies 30,000 repairers, auto centres, fast fitters, transport operators, and body shops every single day. With over 250 million cars and 70 million commercial vehicles on Europe’s roads, our sophisticated supply chain and logistics infrastructure ensures the efficient delivery of spare parts to repairers in our markets.

To support the growth and Digital transformation, our UK & Ireland IT Services function is recruiting a new Digital Product Manager, European Technologies to lead the adoption of pan-European B2B platforms in our UK and Ireland markets.

Role Overview

Digital sits at the heart of Alliance Automotive Group’s growth strategy across Europe. With the transformation work well underway, we are looking for an experienced Digital Product Manager to join our team to oversee, localise and manage the UK & Ireland adoption of several Pan European B2B Platforms. If you thrive in a cross-functional environment, have a successful track record in digital product management and are a strong advocate for all things digital, then this could be the perfect role for you.

The Digital Product Manager of European Technologies leads an onshore team that is responsible for the product management and service delivery of our standardised European B2B eCommerce & CRM product portfolio. The candidate is the primary UK&IE representative for governing change management and ensuring local market requirements are considered in group solution delivery. You and your team will be responsible for co-ordinating projects, leading R&D discussion, discovering requirements and supporting stakeholders through change delivery.

This is a varied role, giving you the opportunity to develop and use different skills across a variety of platforms. You will work with colleagues across the company, identifying opportunities for digital adoption and working with our operation teams to embed these systems in our day-to-day life. In parallel to executing the projects, you will be required to provide progress update reports and manage a transformation roadmap that involves the rationalisation of similar platforms gained through our acquisition activity.

Some experience in the Automotive Aftermarket would be beneficial however not necessary if the candidate is a quick learner and pro-actively invests themselves with the challenges and behaviours of day-to-day parts identification within our industry. You must be willing to become familiar with the problem statements, as you are accountable for the final product output that must meet the requirements of the staff and customers collectively.

The day-to-day will mostly focus on leading discussion, co-ordinating resources, creating specification documents and troubleshooting problems. You would benefit from having a background in other IT roles to enable more hands-on management; however, the necessary skills can be trained quickly providing you have a base knowledge of eCommerce to build from.

The Digital Product Manager of European Technologies is pivotal for digital transformation; therefore, the candidate is required to work in a Hybrid agreement, spending time with colleagues and team members in one of our IT offices (Manchester, Bradford, or Rotherham). The role also requires occasional travel to our Netherlands & Madrid technology centres, and to other office locations in the UK & Ireland.

Due to the travel requirements of the role, the suitable candidate would ideally have a full UK driving license, to enable them to travel to client sites.

Core Responsibilities Include

• Platform Localisation: Lead the input of UK & Ireland local requirements to our European B2B eCommerce & CRM product portfolio and oversee adoption through our business.
• Collaboration: Working closely with counterparts in Europe to ensure alignment and knowledge sharing for successful platform adoptions.
• Team Leadership: Manage a team of two digital analysts, providing guidance and support to achieve shared objectives.
• Strategic Planning: Along with the Digital Programme Manager, develop and execute a strategic roadmap for the adoption of the European Digital Platforms, keeping abreast of industry trends and competitors.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate with various internal teams to ensure smooth integration of new technologies and platforms.
  
  

What We Are Looking For

Candidates must meet at least two of following criteria to be considered:

• Experience working in the Automotive Aftermarket in a role familiar with parts identification.
• 2+ years’ experience in a Digital Product Manager position, either eCommerce (B2B or B2C) or CRM.
• 2+ years’ experience in a Technical Manager position working with cross-functional implementations and team management.
  
  

Required Skills

• Prior experience of delivering projects through Agile and SCRUM.
• Proven analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong commercial acumen.
• Delivery focused with excellent attention to detail and strong drive to resolve issues.
• Proven influencing skills across all levels of business (including board level).
• Exceptional collaboration skills - able to work effectively with a variety of different people.
• While not essential, experience in SQL query writing would be beneficial.