Vice President of Operations

Recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in Chicago by Fortune Magazine and Great Place to Work, Sasser prides itself on supporting an employee-driven, opportunity-based culture that empowers, recognizes, and rewards its employees. From highly competitive benefits to exciting employee events to organic, grassroots philanthropy and volunteerism, Sasser is an awesome place to begin and grow your career. We are a transportation asset services and management company with roots dating to 1928. Sasser's subsidiary units are leaders in providing commercial- and industrial-focused rail, automotive, and containerized shipping solutions, including asset leasing, fleet administration management, asset repair and maintenance, and innovative technology services.

Sasser family of companies includes subsidiaries Chicago Freight Car Leasing, CF Rail Services, Moventum Fleet Management, Express 4x4 Truck Rental, and Falcon Lease. To learn more about what makes Sasser special, visit

This role supports our Moventum Fleet Management team.

Built on more than 70 years of experience, Moventum Fleet Management delivers customized fleet leasing and management solutions backed by deep industry expertise, innovative technology, financial strategy, and highly personalized customer service. Our long-standing client relationships and full-lifecycle approach allow us to serve organizations across the country as a trusted fleet management partner.

The Vice President of Operations is responsible for leading all aspects of Moventum 's operations and drives the momentum of operational performance, product innovation, and vendor partnerships. This leader brings urgency, precision, and a results-focused mindset to the organization, steering the end-to-end lifecycle of our fleet management solutions. By elevating service delivery, optimizing efficiency, and unlocking new value opportunities, this role ensures our customers experience best-in-class performance at every touchpoint.

This leader will define the strategic vision and roadmap for operational excellence, ensuring each operating department functions with maximum efficiency, agility, and alignment to enterprise priorities. They will champion innovation across products and services-delivering cost-saving solutions, optimized processes, and differentiated value for customers. By elevating the organization's analytics capabilities, they will drive industry-leading insights that empower smarter decisions and stronger outcomes. Through relentless focus on performance, service quality, and continuous improvement, this leader will enhance departmental KPIs, strengthen customer satisfaction, and unlock sustainable growth.

As a key member of the Moventum Leadership Team (LT), the Vice President of Operations will play a central role in shaping organizational strategy and growth. This individual will be expected to elevate talent within the operations team, instill a culture of urgency and accountability, and ensure Union Leasing continues to deliver industry-leading service and value to customers.

Responsibilities

Operational Excellence

• Provide overall leadership and direction for all Operating departments, including Procurement, Remarketing, Maintenance & Fuel, and Licensing, Compliance & Safety.
• Establish and enhance performance metrics to ensure data driven, efficient day to day operations.
• Drive continuous improvement in operational processes, delivering measurable gains in efficiency, service quality, and cost performance.
• Define system and automation requirements; partner with IT and senior leadership to recommend and implement technology investments that improve service delivery and customer experience.
• Lead the development and enhancement of revenue generating products and services, including innovation, optimization, and execution of new product opportunities.
• Strengthen vendor partnerships where strategically and financially beneficial, ensuring Moventum's interests are protected and aligned with profitability targets.
• Oversee vendor negotiations to secure favorable terms, operational support, and financial value

Strategy & Business Transformation

• Serve as the strategic leader for Operations, ensuring the organization has a clear, actionable strategy and that progress is made against it.
• Develop and execute strategies to enhance profitability, operational efficiency, and alignment with the company's broader business objectives.
• Act as the lead executor of enterprise-wide strategic initiatives, working collaboratively with executive leadership to shape and implement organizational direction.
• Identify opportunities to improve products and services through partnerships, investments, or M&A activities.
• Lead initiatives to automate and streamline processes in partnership with Information Technology.
• Provide oversight and leadership for business transformation efforts, ensuring successful execution and alignment with strategic priorities.

Data, Analytics & Insights

• Advance Moventum's analytics capabilities across customer, operational, and financial domains to support a fully data driven organization.
• Strengthen reporting, analytics adoption, and insights delivery to improve decision making at all levels.
• Harness telematics and real time data to enhance fleet visibility, utilization, safety, performance, and cost control.
• Leverage customer behavior analytics-including mileage, driver behavior, maintenance activity, alerts, and cost trends-to provide actionable recommendations.
• Implement predictive analytics to anticipate maintenance needs, optimize lifecycle costs, and improve customer outcomes.
• Monitor and manage operating KPIs, ensuring performance insights translate into targeted action plans.
• Analyze pricing trends to ensure competitive vehicle pricing and maximize auction proceeds.
• Evaluate auction throughput and efficiency, recommending strategic adjustments as needed.

Team Leadership & Organizational Development

• Continually assess and upgrade talent across the Operations organization to ensure the right people are in the right roles.
• Develop deep organizational expertise regarding Union Leasing's products, customer needs, and industry trends.
• Foster a culture of urgency, accountability, respect, process discipline, continuous improvement, and data driven decision making.
• Set clear expectations for performance and hold team members accountable through consistent leadership and feedback.
• Mentor and develop staff to build the next generation of operational leadership.
• Remain current on industry developments and emerging trends to inform strategy and operational best practices.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with Customer Experience and Sales to align operational capabilities, service features, and product innovation with customer needs.
• Work with Finance to support budgeting, cost control and profitability.
• Collaborate with Express 4x4 leadership to leverage vendor synergies, operational efficiencies, and shared best practices.
• Work closely with the VP of Operations at Express 4x4 to maximize the value of combined scale and operational alignment.

Note: Responsibilities include the expectation to always act to support the interests of the department and organization and to perform other duties as assigned to ensure the successful achievement of departmental and company objectives.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in business administration, operations management, engineering, or other related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of leadership experience in fleet management, rental, automotive, or asset-intensive operations with a strong understanding of process improvement.
• Background in technology leadership, successful technology projects
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams in a matrixed environment.

Skills

• Results driven, able to focus on organizational growth and financial performance.
• Strong attention to detail, highly analytical, capable of turning insights into action plans.
• A strong sense of urgency and a willingness to do what it takes to support customer needs.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (specifically Excel and Word).
• Outstanding communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Excellent analytical skills, process improvement mindset, experience analyzing large volumes of data.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with a roll up your sleeves attitude, not afraid to dig into the details.
• Ability, credibility and experience to autonomously direct and lead negotiations, influencing outcomes with vendors and suppliers.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and inspire through persuasion, negotiation, and relationship building.
• A high level of personal skill and experience making formal, persuasive presentations, effectively supporting and articulating the strategic positioning of the business, with the ability to work effectively with people at all levels of the organization or industry.
• Ability to independently drive projects to completion, while also functioning effectively in a team environment.

Work Environment & Physical Requirements

• This job operates in a professional environment and routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, copy machines, filing cabinets, printers and fax machines.
• Travel requirements up to 25% for vendor, customers, conference.

Compensation

The hiring range for this role is: $170,000.00 - $220,000.00 annual. This role is classified as exempt for purposes of all applicable wage and hour laws, which means that the individual hired is paid for the job and not by the hour, and will not be eligible for, and will not receive, overtime pay if working more than 40 hours in a workweek. This role will be paid on a semi-monthly basis.

Sasser is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. Pay ranges are assigned to a job based on market data according to 3rd party salary benchmarking surveys. Actual base salary is dependent upon factors such as knowledge, skill level, and experience.

This role is also eligible for benefits. Sasser employees enjoy a competitive benefits program that:

• Includes comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance plans, including HSA and FSA accounts with employer contributions toward HSA
• Includes a 100% Company-paid disability and life insurance plans
• Includes a 401K plan with company match PLUS additional end-of-year funding
• Provides paid vacation time (tiered based on tenure), as well as personal time, sick days and summer half days for certain roles
• Provides 10 paid holidays annually
• Provides paid parental leave for new parents, as well as a monetary gift towards a 529 education account
• Provides a confidential Employee Assistance Program
• Provides training and tuition reimbursement
• Provides community service opportunities, charity match opportunities, employee recognition programs, and many celebrations!

Note: Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

#UL

The Company provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.