Senior Manager - Global Expansion Strategy

As a Senior Expansion Project Manager for Global Expansion at AUTO1 Group, you will drive the strategic growth of our branch network across Europe and beyond. You will take ownership of our go-to-market strategy for new countries and major cities, bringing together market intelligence, financial modeling, risk assessment, and cross-functional execution to unlock new business opportunities.

Reporting directly to the Head of Expansion & Real Estate, you will play a critical leadership role—identifying, evaluating, and shaping AUTO1’s future market footprint. You will work closely with executive leadership, providing strategic recommendations and ensuring robust frameworks for evaluating new markets and orchestrating market entry.

You will:

• Develop, own, and evolve AUTO1’s go-to-market strategy for global branch expansion, ensuring alignment with company vision, growth targets, and profitability expectations.

• Lead in-depth market analyses and multi-factor due diligences for potential new countries and cities, utilizing economic, competitive, consumer, and regulatory insights.

• Build comprehensive business cases—including TAM/SAM/SOM analyses, long-term forecast models, investment requirements, and risk profiles—to support executive decision-making.

• Establish standardized frameworks and playbooks for market prioritization, entry planning, and ramp-up, ensuring repeatable and scalable expansion processes.

• Lead cross-functional steering teams through all phases of country entry, from strategy and business case alignment to project planning, launch, and post-entry review.

• Partner with Product, Operations, Marketing, Real Estate, and other departments to ensure market-entry readiness and seamless execution.

• Develop and oversee expansion tracking tools, pipeline dashboards, and KPIs to monitor progress and provide actionable reporting to leadership.

• Advise senior leadership with strategic recommendations and post-launch learnings for continuous improvement.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Business, Economics, Strategy, Engineering, or a related field; MBA or consulting background is a distinct advantage.

• 5+ years’ experience in strategy, management consulting, expansion/business development, or corporate project leadership in fast-paced, international organizations.

• Demonstrated success in designing and executing go-to-market strategies, market entry projects, or global rollouts across multiple countries.

• Advanced analytical skills, with deep experience in business modeling, market analysis, and investment case preparation.

• Outstanding project management and cross-functional coordination capabilities.

• Exceptional communication, stakeholder management, and executive presentation skills.

• Data-driven, commercial mindset with strategic vision and operational agility.

• Fluent English required; other European languages are a plus.