Compliance Manager

We are a team of executive managers who provide leadership and management services to a collection of high performing, privately held retail automotive dealerships throughout Southern California, Texas and Florida. The organization maintains its primary management office in Newport Beach, CA. The organization is seeking an experienced compliance professional to fill the new role of Compliance Manager. The Compliance Manager will perform periodic audits of the organization’s compliance efforts across its various operational domains, provide summary reports of the outcome of those audits to executive leadership, and will study ongoing compliance efforts and recommend possible improvements to the compliance process. The position reports to the EVP of Strategic Development and offices in Newport Beach, CA.

The management group serves over 1,500 employees across 16 physical dealership operations as well as two auxiliary management offices and other sites and storage lots.

While the Compliance Manager has no direct reports, they will work closely with the organization’s executive leadership, dealership leadership and staff to understand and monitor existing compliance practices while also working to implement new or changed compliance processes as needed. They serve a critical role in auditing, reporting and improving on compliance procedures related to:

• New and used sales transactions, the sales desk and inventory management
• F&I and customer-related financial transactions, parts and the mechanical shop
• Marketing, digital advertising and FTC-mandates
• Technology, IT and vendor contract compliance

The ideal candidate will possess the following characteristics:

• Precise in following direction and monitoring the company’s compliance policies
• An empathetic understanding of the operating conditions and working environment in which compliance must occur; works to build and sustain a compliance process that “works” for the users
• Demonstrates a “learner’s mindset” to the team in support of the organization’s belief in Continuous Improvement
• Trustworthy, can be counted on to deliver work as promised, when promised

As part of its initial onboarding duties, the Compliance Manager will be expected to execute these specific projects in addition to numerous other routine and ad hoc responsibilities:

• Study the “Initial Customer Greeting” process at each individual location and recommend a standardized approach that is fully compliant and meets business and customer needs
• Develop an Auto Advisory report follow-up process and communicate and monitor this new process with the GMs at each location, including their internal follow-up process and the report-out process involving the COO
• Complete and implement compliant F&I menu project currently in process with Ethos and DealerBuilt
• Develop a new F&I compliance training course, enroll all existing F&I personnel for initial training and provide a plan for tracking and sustaining F&I compliance by enrolling new hires/newly promoted personnel and/or retraining personnel with compliance infractions over time
• Develop a plan for automating/digitizing the “Dead Deal Process” and eliminating the physical, on-site record-keeping need by merging the archive to the cloud
• Develop a schedule of weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual supporting compliance audit activities in conjunction with supervisor to establish a routine cadence to compliance management efforts
• Begin program of study in process design and user experience thinking to aid ongoing compliance improvement efforts

Along with the behavioral characteristics and personal values mentioned above, the ideal candidate will possess an educational and experiential background similar to the following:

• Extensive experience in retail automotive operating environments
• Extensive experience in a compliance-related role
• A portfolio of successfully implemented special projects demonstrating the candidate’s organizational methods and expertise in working with others
• Experience with the organization’s information management systems critical to the compliance effort across domains