Managing Director - London & South East

Date Posted: 2026-09-11T00:00:00

Location: Newbury, Wiltshire, GB, BA12 7, Any

Application Deadline: 2026-10-10T15:17:39.923

Norman Broadbent PLC, a leader in executive search, interim management and leadership consulting, is delighted to be partnering with The Coach Travel Group, one of the UK's fastest-growing coach travel businesses, to appoint a Managing Director - London & South East. The Coach Travel Group, formed in 2024, brings together a growing network of respected regional coach operators across the UK. Each business retains its local heritage and customer relationships while benefiting from the scale, shared standards and capabilities of the wider Group.

As the business continues to grow through acquisition, the focus is increasingly on creating a more integrated, commercially focused and scalable organisation, supported by stronger systems, consistent processes and more data-led decision-making.

Managing Director - London & South East

The Managing Director will take leadership of one of The Coach Travel Group's most strategically important regions, with responsibility for bringing together commercial performance, operational delivery, people leadership and customer focus across a multi-site, asset-led business.

Working closely with the CEO and wider Group leadership team, this individual will strengthen the regional operating model, improve asset utilisation and commercial performance, and build a more consistent, accountable and scalable regional business.

Key responsibilities include:

Take ownership of regional performance and P&L delivery

Lead a multi-site business across operating locations, fleet and engineering capability

Develop and deliver a clear regional sales and growth plan

Improve revenue, margin, customer retention and account development

Drive stronger fleet and driver utilisation, planning and resource allocation

Create greater consistency across regional businesses, systems and ways of working

Use data to identify opportunities for growth, efficiency and margin improvement

Build stronger alignment between sales, operations and customer demand

Lead, coach and develop the regional management team

Establish clear accountability, decision-making and performance rhythms

Build strong relationships with key customers and senior stakeholders

The successful candidate is:

Commercially sharp with strong operational judgement

A visible, practical and hands-on leader

Comfortable bringing structure and pace to a changing business

Able to balance customer service, utilisation, cost and profitability

Confident challenging existing ways of working while bringing people with them

Data-led and comfortable making pragmatic, timely decisions

An effective people leader who creates accountability rather than unnecessary escalation

Comfortable operating with and influencing CEO / Executive-level stakeholders

Essential experience:

Proven leadership of a regional or multi-site business

Meaningful P&L ownership and commercial responsibility

Experience within an asset-led, operationally intensive environment

Strong track record of improving business or regional performance

Experience leading across both commercial and operational delivery

Strong people leadership and change management capability

Experience improving utilisation, cost control, margin and/or customer performance

Ability to operate effectively within a growing and evolving organisation

Based within approximately one hour of Newbury, with the flexibility to maintain a visible presence across the London & South East region

Direct coach or passenger transport experience is not essential. Relevant backgrounds could include passenger transport, logistics, fleet, vehicle rental, plant or equipment hire, waste, specialist vehicles or other multi-site, asset-led service businesses. This is an exciting opportunity to take genuine ownership of a significant region, work closely with the senior leadership team and play an important role in shaping the next stage of The Coach Travel Group's growth and development.

#s1-Gen

Norman Broadbent PLC, a leader in executive search, interim management and leadership consulting, is delighted to be partnering with The Coach Travel Group, one of the UK's fastest-growing coach travel businesses, to appoint a Managing Director - London & South East. The Coach Travel GroupFormed in 2024, The Coach Travel Group brings together a growing network of respected regional coach operators across the UK. Each business retains its local heritage and customer relationships while benefiting from the scale, shared standards and capabilities of the wider Group.As the business continues to grow through acquisition, the focus is increasingly on creating a more integrated, commercially focused and scalable organisation, supported by stronger systems, consistent processes and more data-led decision-making. Managing Director - London & South EastThe Managing Director will take leadership of one of The Coach Travel Group's most strategically important regions, with responsibility for
bringing together commercial performance, operational delivery, people leadership and customer focus across a multi-site, asset-led business.Working closely with the CEO and wider Group leadership team, this individual will strengthen the regional operating model, improve asset utilisation and commercial performance, and build a more consistent, accountable and scalable regional business. Key responsibilities include:Take ownership of regional performance and P&L deliveryLead a multi-site business across operating locations, fleet and engineering capabilityDevelop and deliver a clear regional sales and growth planImprove revenue, margin, customer retention and account developmentDrive stronger fleet and driver utilisation, planning and resource allocationCreate greater consistency across regional businesses, systems and ways of workingUse data to identify opportunities for growth, efficiency and margin improvementBuild stronger alignment between sales, operations and customer
demandLead, coach and develop the regional management teamEstablish clear accountability, decision-making and performance rhythmsBuild strong relationships with key customers and senior stakeholders The successful candidate is:Commercially sharp with strong operational judgementA visible, practical and hands-on leaderComfortable bringing structure and pace to a changing businessAble to balance customer service, utilisation, cost and profitabilityConfident challenging existing ways of working while bringing people with themData-led and comfortable making pragmatic, timely decisionsAn effective people leader who creates accountability rather than unnecessary escalationComfortable operating with and influencing CEO / Executive-level stakeholders Essential experience:Proven leadership of a regional or multi-site businessMeaningful P&L ownership and commercial responsibilityExperience within an asset-led, operationally intensive environmentStrong track record of improving business or regional
performanceExperience leading across both commercial and operational deliveryStrong people leadership and change management capabilityExperience improving utilisation, cost control, margin and/or customer performanceAbility to operate effectively within a growing and evolving organisationBased within approximately one hour of Newbury, with the flexibility to maintain a visible presence across the London & South East region Direct coach or passenger transport experience is not essential. Relevant backgrounds could include passenger transport, logistics, fleet, vehicle rental, plant or equipment hire, waste, specialist vehicles or other multi-site, asset-led service businesses. This is an exciting opportunity to take genuine ownership of a significant region, work closely with the senior leadership team and play an important role in shaping the next stage of The Coach Travel Group's growth and development.

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