Vice President Automation Intelligence

Motion is seeking a proven automation industry leader who has built and scaled a customer-facing industrial automation business—someone with deep market credibility, full P&L ownership, and experience integrating multiple businesses into a unified platform. Fully remote with approximately 50% travel to operating locations and key supplier/customer partners nationwide This senior leadership role reports into the VP of Motion’s Solutions Group and partners closely with Motion’s executive team, including Motion’s President. Direct reports: 2–4 senior leaders. Indirect reports: multiple division and functional leaders nationwide. CLIENT OVERVIEW Motion is a leading industrial distributor and a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Company (NYSE: GPC), a $23.5B global distribution leader known for its financial strength and long-term growth. GPC recently announced plans to separate its Automotive and Industrial businesses into two independent public companies by 2027, with Motion becoming the standalone Industrial platform. Motion Automation Intelligence (Motion Ai) is one of Motion’s fastest growing and most strategic platforms, focused on industrial and factory automation and advanced engineering solutions. Built through targeted acquisitions, the business is scaling into a national automation solutions platform in a highly fragmented market. Within this context, Motion Ai represents a key growth engine, with strong investment and leadership focus on building a differentiated, scaled automation business through organic growth and strategic acquisitions. POSITION IMPACT The Vice President of Motion Ai will effectively operate as the General Manager of Motion’s automation platform, responsible for the overall performance, growth, and strategic direction of a rapidly expanding national automation business. With full P&L ownership, this leader will integrate and scale multiple acquired automation companies into a unified, high-performing platform while establishing the operating model for sustained organic and acquisition-driven growth. Operating with significant visibility across Motion’s senior leadership team, this executive will accelerate market expansion, deepen strategic supplier partnerships, and build a repeatable playbook for scaling the business. This role offers the opportunity to build and lead one of the most significant automation platforms in the industrial distribution sector, shaping Motion’s long-term automation strategy and growth trajectory FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES The VP of Motion Ai will own full P&L responsibility for the Motion Automation Intelligence business, establishing and executing a multi-year strategy aligned with Motion enterprise objectives while driving operational discipline, performance management, and accountability across the platform’s divisions. This leader will define and implement the operating model required to scale Motion Ai into a cohesive national automation solutions platform. In partnership with sales leadership, they will lead the national go-to-market strategy, accelerating organic growth through pricing discipline, portfolio mix, supplier programs, and commercial excellence while strengthening relationships with strategic customers and national accounts. This executive will develop and lead senior-level relationships with global and regional automation suppliers, establishing joint business plans, supplier growth strategies, and national alignment models while representing Motion Ai within the broader automation ecosystem and key industry associations. The role also includes identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing acquisition targets aligned with long‑term strategy and leading post‑acquisition integration to ensure cultural, operational, and financial alignment while building repeatable integration and operating models. This person will recruit, develop, and mentor senior leaders across sales, operations, and engineering, building a leadership bench capable of scaling a national automation platform and fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and execution excellence. The role partners closely with Motion senior leadership to maintain strategic alignment, serves as a visible and hands‑on leader across locations nationwide, and drives effective change management and adoption of enterprise initiatives throughout the platform. PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS The successful candidate will be a proven senior business leader with 10+ years of experience in industrial automation, factory automation, or process automation, and a demonstrated track record of full P&L ownership and enterprise leadership. This executive must have experience leading a business of meaningful scale, with the ability to set strategy, lead senior leaders, and drive disciplined, profitable growth. Qualified candidates will bring strong exposure to industrial distribution and supplier ecosystems, either from the distribution side or from a supplier role with direct responsibility for distributor partnerships, go‑to‑market strategy, and joint business planning. Experience developing national supplier strategies and growth programs is essential. Demonstrated experience operating in an acquisition‑driven or multi‑entity platform environment, including post‑acquisition integration, is required, along with a proven ability to build, develop, and lead high‑performing leadership teams across sales, operations, and engineering. This leader will bring a proven track record as a platform builder, integrating multiple businesses into a cohesive, scaled national organization. The ideal leader is strategic yet execution‑oriented, commercially minded, and comfortable navigating complexity while building a scalable national platform. LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS The successful leader will bring the presence and judgment required to lead a complex, engineering‑driven business through its next phase of growth, balancing strategic direction with hands‑on execution while earning credibility across the organization. Strategic yet highly execution‑oriented, with the ability to translate vision into action Commercially minded with strong financial and business acumen Credible and effective with engineers, operators, suppliers, and senior executives Comfortable operating in ambiguity and building structure from complexity COMPENSATION Motion offers a competitive executive compensation package including a base salary, annual bonus, and long‑term incentive opportunities aligned with platform growth #J-18808-Ljbffr