Ford Service Director So Cal

Large Southern California Ford Dealership

A large, established Ford dealership in Southern California is conducting a confidential search for an exceptional Service Director.

This is a major operation with a large service facility, substantial customer base, significant repair-order volume and tremendous opportunity for continued growth.

We are not looking for someone who manages from behind a desk, protects the status quo or waits for the month to happen.

We want a leader who walks the drive, knows the technicians, listens to customer calls, studies the numbers and attacks problems before they become excuses. Someone who can bring energy, discipline and accountability to a large department while creating a workplace where great employees want to stay.

If you know how to turn opportunity into repair orders, repair orders into hours and first-time customers into lifelong customers, we want to talk to you.

Your Mission

• Outstanding customer retention and owner loyalty
• Strong CSI without sacrificing legitimate sales opportunities
• Increased technician productivity and efficiency
• Higher hours per repair order
• Faster appointment availability and vehicle turnaround
• Effective warranty, recall and customer-pay penetration
• Consistent advisor performance and accountability
• Aggressive technician recruiting and development
• A clean, organized and professional operation
• Sustainable departmental growth and profitability

What You’ll Lead

• A large Ford service department, including the main shop and Quick Lane
• A substantial team of service advisors, technicians, dispatchers, warranty personnel and support staff
• Daily production meetings and performance tracking
• Advisor coaching, call monitoring and process improvement
• Technician recruiting, retention, training and career development
• Capacity planning, scheduling, dispatch and workflow
• Customer-pay, warranty, recall and internal repair-order performance
• Labor-rate strategy, effective labor rate and gross-profit management
• Customer recovery and escalation
• Coordination with Parts, Sales, BDC and executive leadership
• Ford programs, standards, reporting and compliance

Who We’re Looking For

• Proven leadership experience in a large, high-volume franchised dealership service department
• Ford experience strongly preferred
• A measurable history of increasing production, gross profit, CSI and customer retention
• Strong command of technician efficiency, advisor productivity, effective labor rate, hours per RO, unapplied time and expense control
• The ability to recruit, coach and retain top-performing technicians and advisors
• Excellent organizational, communication and problem-solving skills
• High personal standards, integrity and emotional maturity
• The confidence to hold people accountable—and the leadership ability to make them want to improve
• A genuine sense of urgency and complete ownership of results
• We are looking for a builder, coach and operator—not simply an experienced résumé.

The Opportunity

This position is with a privately owned, well-established Southern California dealership group. The Service Director will work directly with engaged executive leadership that believes in investing in people, technology, facilities and processes.

The right candidate will receive:

• Real authority to improve the operation
• Direct access to ownership
• A large and established Ford customer base
• A substantial service facility with considerable production capacity
• Modern technology and operational resources
• The opportunity to recruit and develop an elite team
• Significant performance-based earning potential
• A genuine long-term career opportunity
• Good ideas do not die in committees here. When something makes sense for our customers, employees and business, we move.

Compensation and Benefits

• Competitive base compensation: ($–$)
• Aggressive performance-based incentive plan
• Medical, dental and vision benefits
• Paid vacation
• 401(k), if applicable
• Relocation assistance may be considered for the right candidate
• Compensation will reflect experience, leadership ability and proven results. If you can produce at an elite level, we are prepared to compensate you accordingly.

All applications and conversations will be handled with complete confidentiality. Additional information about the dealership will be shared with qualified candidates during the interview process.