Dealer Principal - Trucks - Pretoria

Bonafide Human Capital Pty (Ltd); Pretoria; On-site; ZAR 800 000 - 1 200 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading commercial vehicle dealership in Pretoria seeks a Dealer Principal to drive profitability and operational excellence. The candidate will implement strategies for growth across sales and service departments while ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. A focus on customer relationships and market trends is essential. Candidates should have 7+ years in the commercial vehicle industry and at least 3 years in a senior management role. Strong leadership, financial acumen, and market knowledge are key to success in this role.

Qualifications

• Strong knowledge of commercial vehicle operations.
• Advanced customer-orientation and relationship-building skills.
• 5+ years’ experience in used trucks sales management or operations.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement dealership strategies for revenue growth.
• Manage daily operations across Sales, Service, and Parts.
• Oversee customer experience throughout the vehicle sales process.

Skills

Leadership skills

Customer relationship skills

Financial management

Operational management

People management

Market intelligence

Job description

Overview

Our heavy Truck dealership in Pretoria currently holds a vacancy for a Dealer Principal reporting to the Commercial Division Franchise Executive. This role requires a decisive and commercially astute leader with strong operational understanding of the heavy-duty truck market, aftersales performance drivers, and customer expectations. The ideal candidate is passionate about building people, delivering growth, and driving excellence across all dealership functions.

Main purpose

To develop and execute tactical strategies that ensure sustainable profitability, operational excellence, and market share growth within a commercial trucks dealership environment, while maintaining alignment with Distributor and OEM brand standards.

Key Outputs

• Strategic & Financial Leadership: Develop and implement dealership strategies to drive new trucks, used trucks, service, and parts revenue, ensuring growth in all commercial segments.
• Deliver and exceed financial performance targets across whole goods, aftersales, absorption rate, and cashflow management.
• Conduct continuous market intelligence to understand fleet trends, competitor activity, TCO expectations, and customer operational requirements.
• Operational Management: Optimally manage daily operations across Sales, Service, Parts, Admin, and Used Trucks, ensuring cross-functional integration and efficiency.
• Ensure dealership processes comply with all regulatory requirements, company\'s governance frameworks, and OEM operational standards.
• Oversee management of dealership assets including stock, debtor control, creditor management, cashflow, workshop productivity, parts obsolescence, and used-truck retail readiness.
• People Leadership: Provide strong leadership to all department managers, acting as an effective “manager of managers”. Build and retain high-calibre teams with the right technical, sales, and customer-experience capabilities suited for commercial vehicle operations.
• Drive a culture of accountability, performance, and high morale across all departments.
• Customer & Market Focus: Champion customer acquisition and retention, particularly across fleet operators, logistics companies, small-business owners, and vocational customers.
• Oversee customer experience throughout the vehicle sales, service, breakdown support, and warranty process, ensuring quick turnaround times and strong CSI.
• Promote the brand and dealership professionally within the commercial trucking sector.
• Performance Monitoring & Growth Execution: Monitor dealer KPIs including sales funnel health, workshop efficiency, recovery rates, parts turnover, warranty performance, absorption, and used-truck stock days. Identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency and profitability. Create and maintain a positive, engaged work climate aligned to company’s values.
• Position Knowledge Requirements: Strong knowledge of commercial vehicle operations, including trucks, fleet management, uptime requirements, and aftersales economics. Understanding of labour legislation, regulatory requirements, and industry compliance. Financial management expertise relevant to dealership operations. Solid grasp of sales & service processes, parts supply-chain dynamics, and commercial truck lifecycle management. Brand management knowledge within an OEM-aligned dealership environment.
• Position-Related Skills: Advanced customer-orientation and relationship-building skills, especially with fleet customers. Strong people-management and coaching skills. High-level financial acumen. Proficiency in dealership and OEM systems, reporting tools, and general computer literacy.
• Position Experience: 7+ years in the Commercial vehicle industry. Minimum 5 years’ experience in used trucks sales management or operations. At least 3 years’ Dealer Principal or Senior Management experience in a commercial dealership. Broad exposure to sales, aftersales, service operations, and parts management. Strong marketing and business-development experience within the commercial vehicle sector.