Overview
US Repair Network Operations Director Jobs in Greater Chicago Area at Axitech
Title: US Repair Network Operations Director
Company: Axitech
Location: Greater Chicago Area
Axitech is pioneering the transformation of the $200 billion global collision repair industry. We give automotive OEMs the infrastructure to activate their embedded vehicle systems and proprietary data, own the repair pathways that matter most to their brand, and deliver a radically better experience to drivers after a crash, enabling closer collaboration between OEMs and auto insurers across the repair journey. Our platform orchestrates the collision ecosystem end to end, supported centrally by our human-led command centres. We're proven at scale in the UK and we are now launching across the US.
This role owns the OEM customer repair network that makes it work. If you want to shape an industry rather than watch it, this is the role.
About the role
The US Repair Network Operations Director is the steward of Axitech's partner and OEM repair-shop network in the United States. You own where and how repair work is provisioned across the network, manage the partner and OEM-certified shop relationships, and work directly with our OEM customers to deliver against their standards. You will identify, recruit, contract and onboard high-performing independent body shops and Multi-Shop Operators (MSOs), then manage their performance against clear standards on cycle time, quality, customer experience and program delivery.
You will be Axitech's most visible relationship-holder with the US repair community, and a credible voice with OEM, insurer and industry stakeholders. Your work is critical to making sure our fast-scaling, AI-native operation meets its ambitious performance and coverage goals over the coming years.
Responsibilities
- Lead and build out our US operations team, driving network performance, the customer journey, and the conversion of repair jobs into the OEM partner networks.
- Work with our OEM customers to define network coverage by metro, market and segment, then source, evaluate and recruit independent shops and larger shop groups into their programs; lead commercial negotiations through to signed agreement.
- Run shop onboarding against OEM requirements: credentialing, agentic AI and systems integration, training on Axitech's tools, and go-live readiness.
- Maintain a healthy pipeline and bench of partners to backfill capacity gaps and underperformers across the network.
- Track network performance against OEM-defined standards using Axitech's proprietary tools, covering cycle time, quality (re-work / NPS) and throughput.
- Run a recurring scorecard and business-review cadence with shop partners to build long-lasting, strategic relationships.
- Coach and educate shops on our connected programs, and handle strategic and commercial queries at owner, principal and executive level.
- Escalate, remediate or off-board partners that miss standards.
- Partner with claims handling teams and technical teams to remove friction in the referral-to-completion workflow.
- Own delivery outcomes for the OEM customer networks.
- Represent Axitech at OEM, collision-repair and insurance industry events, conferences and working groups.
- Build and maintain senior relationships across OEM certified-repair programs, carrier networks and major MSO groups.
- Bring market intelligence back into Axitech: competitive moves, OEM program changes and emerging tech.
- Act as a public-facing voice for the Axitech network proposition with shops, customers and press as needed.
Strong candidates will
- Have 10+ years in collision repair, auto claims, OEM certified-repair or adjacent industries, with material time. spent inside or alongside body shops and MSOs.
- Have a demonstrable track record of building or running a multi-state shop network, DRP program or certified-repair program.
- Have strong commercial instincts: comfortable structuring partner agreements and negotiating with sophisticated operators.
- Bring operating discipline: experience defining KPIs, running scorecards and driving measurable performance improvements at scale.
- Bring a demonstrable, live network of senior relationships across the US collision ecosystem, OEMs, carriers, MSOs and industry bodies, that you can activate from day one.
- Be an excellent communicator and a credible industry presence, equally comfortable on stage, on a shop floor and in a boardroom.
- Be fluent across modern operating tools, advanced Excel and data analytics, Notion, Google Workspace and similar, and comfortable working in a digital-first, systems-driven environment.
- Be an AI adopter and enthusiast who can show how you have already used emerging tools and automation in your work or personal projects, and can talk to and demonstrate it as we expand our AI stack.
- Be comfortable adopting and championing new technology, including agentic AI tools, automation platforms and AI-assisted workflows, and can drive tool adoption across a distributed partner network.
- Be willing and able to travel ~25–35% across the US, with hybrid presence in Chicagoland.
- Have prior P&L or commercial-ownership responsibility for a network, region or business unit.
- Experience integrating shops with claims, scheduling or estimating systems (e.g. CCC, Mitchell, Audatex).
