Vehicle Operations Specialist

Octopus Electric Vehicles Limited; Greater London; Remote; GBP 38,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Octopus Electric Vehicles Limited is seeking a Vehicle Operations Specialist to join the Downtime team in London. You will oversee hire vehicle performance, track costs, and drive data-driven improvements across reporting and processes.

The role involves collaborating with internal teams and external partners to ensure efficient operations and accountability. The position is full-time and remote, with a focus on commercial management and continuous process improvement in a fast-growing fleet

Qualifications

• Experience using data to drive operational decisions.
• Ability to identify trends, risks and improvement opportunities.
• Comfort with challenging others constructively when performance or processes fall short.

Responsibilities

• Maintain oversight of hire vehicles across active cases with visibility of duration, cost and next actions.
• Track recovery opportunities and administer follow-up to ensure money is chased.
• Create, maintain and improve trackers, reports and dashboards.
• Provide constructive feedback to teammates to improve performance and accountability.
• Collaborate with partners to understand delays and blockers affecting hire duration.

Skills

Analytical skills

Commercial awareness

Data-driven decisions

Stakeholder communication

Tools

Excel

Google Sheets

AI tools (ChatGPT)

Job description

London (GB)

Octopus Electric Vehicles – Operations - fixed /

Full-time

Remote

What we do.

Electric Car Leasing

Why we do it.

Greener. Fairer. Future.

The Role

We are looking for a Vehicle Operations Specialist to join our growing Vehicle Operations team as our fleet continues to scale.

Based within our Downtime team, this role will focus on the performance and commercial management of our hire vehicle portfolio, while also supporting wider operational reporting and process improvement across Vehicle Operations.

You will work closely with Vehicle Operations Specialists, Team Leads and external partners to ensure hire vehicles are managed effectively, recovery opportunities are followed through and agreed processes are being followed.

This role requires someone who is commercially minded, organised, confident working with data and comfortable challenging others constructively when performance or processes are not where they need to be.

You will also play an important role in helping us improve how we work, using data, technology and new ideas to build more effective and scalable processes.

What You’ll Do...

Manage Hire Vehicle Performance

Maintain oversight of hire vehicles across active cases, ensuring we have clear visibility of hire duration, cost, extensions, expected repair timelines and next actions.

Identify aged, high-cost or unusual cases and work with the team to reduce avoidable spend while ensuring drivers remain appropriately supported.

Support Cost Recovery

Track recovery opportunities and outstanding contributions from manufacturers, dealerships and partners.

Vehicle Operations Specialists will remain responsible for leading commercial conversations, while you will provide the administration, tracking and follow-up needed to ensure agreed processes are completed and money is actively chased.

You will help maintain clear visibility of amounts requested, agreed, received and outstanding.

Analyse Operational Performance

Use operational data to identify trends, risks and improvement opportunities across Downtime and the wider Operations department.

This may include reviewing hire costs, aged cases, recovery performance, supplier performance, process compliance and operational workloads.

Turn data into clear insights and actions rather than simply maintaining reports.

Build and Maintain Reporting

Create, maintain and improve trackers, reports and dashboards using tools such as Excel and Google Sheets.

Ensure data is accurate, accessible and useful, and look for opportunities to simplify or automate manual reporting wherever possible.

Provide Feedback and Create Accountability

Identify where actions, processes or expectations have not been followed and provide constructive feedback to Vehicle Operations Specialists.

You will need to be confident holding people accountable for agreed actions while maintaining strong and positive working relationships.

The aim is always to improve performance and consistency, not simply identify mistakes.

Improve Processes

Look for opportunities to improve the way we work.

You should be able to take an existing process or project, understand where it could be stronger and help develop it into something more efficient, scalable and innovative.

This may involve improving controls, redesigning workflows, introducing better reporting or using new technology to reduce manual work.

Use Technology and AI Effectively

Be confident using technology and learning new systems.

Experience using AI or automation tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot or similar would be advantageous, particularly where they have been used to improve reporting, analysis or productivity.

You do not need to be an AI expert, but you should be curious about how technology can improve operational performance.

Support Repair Progress Where Required

Repair chasing will not be the primary focus of the role, but there will be occasions where you need to contact dealerships, manufacturers, repairers or other partners to understand delays or resolve blockers affecting hire duration.

You should therefore have a basic understanding of how automotive repair and service processes operate.

What You’ll Need...

Commercial Awareness

You understand how operational decisions can impact cost and are comfortable questioning whether spend remains necessary, sustainable and appropriately recovered.

Strong Analytical Skills

You are confident working with data, spotting trends and identifying where

About Us

The electric revolution has arrived - and from 2035 you’ll no longer be able to buy a new petrol or diesel car in the UK.

We’re building a whole new way for drivers to join the electric charge and not only learn about and shop for their EV online, but experience a 'lease for life' through an industry changing customer experience. This is the chance to join one of the UK’s most exciting start-ups – making it easy for individuals and businesses to go electric by getting their car, charger and energy all in one cracking deal.

Octopus Electric Vehicles launched in 2018 to make it seamless to switch to cleaner, greener driving. Our mission is to drive sustainable change, decarbonise the planet and provide our customers with fair pricing and a fantastic experience.

We’re an Octopus Energy company— an innovative new energy supplier. We are part of the Octopus Energy Group, which seeks to improve the lives of millions of people by transforming the industries we operate in. The Octopus Group incorporates Octopus Energy, Octopus Healthcare, Octopus Investments, Octopus Property, Octopus Ventures and Octopus Labs.

Please note we use AI to help us assess applications fairly and objectively.

Are you ready for a career with us? We want to ensure you have all the tools and environment you need to unleash your potential.

Need any specific accommodations? Whether you require specific accommodations or have a unique preference, let us know, and we’ll do what we can to customise your interview process for comfort and maximum magic!

Studies have shown that some groups of people, like women, are less likely to apply to a role unless they meet 100% of the job requirements. Whoever you are, if you like one of our jobs, we encourage you to apply as you might just be the candidate we hire. Across Octopus, we’re looking for genuinely decent people who are honest and empathetic. Our people are our strongest asset and the unique skills and perspectives people bring to the team are the driving force of our success.

As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute. Our commitment is to provide equal opportunities, an inclusive work environment, and fairness for everyone.

Where necessary, we sometimes use AI tools to help with parts of our hiring process, like reviewing applications or assessing responses. We’re lucky to receive a huge amount of interest, so these tools help our recruiters manage that volume, not replace them. Ultimately, every hiring decision (for example, whether to progress your application or not) is always made by a real person in our Talent team. If you’d like to know more about how we use your data, you can reach out to us via email at [email protected]. We’re happy to help!