Market HR Manager

AutoNation • Towson, MD

7d • $135,000 - $143,000

About The Position

The Market HR Manager is AutoNation’s foundational field HR role, embedded in a lower-to-moderate-complexity market and serving as the daily HR presence for General Managers, Market Team members, and store associates across an assigned portfolio. The Grade 11 Manager executes the four HR business-partner pillars with accuracy and consistency, builds trust through visibility and presence, and partners appropriately with Centers of Excellence (COEs) and the Employee Relations (ER) Team. The role focuses on coaching leaders to handle their own people issues, routing work to the appropriate experts, and driving quality outcomes for associates and the business.

The role supports talent selection by promoting structured, evidence-based interviewing, participating in GM-level interviews, reviewing staffing needs, monitoring early turnover, and partnering with Talent Acquisition. It supports talent development by building knowledge of leaders’ strengths and succession readiness, coaching managers, promoting internal candidates, following up on feedback and development conversations, leveraging the Talent Development COE, and presenting quarterly talent reviews.

For listening strategy, the Market HR Manager reviews listening dashboards and pulse survey results, interprets findings, conducts individual debriefs with General Managers, identifies market-wide patterns, and coordinates with the ER Team on case trends. For business performance, the role builds an understanding of store revenue and P&L, connects people issues to business outcomes, quantifies the cost of associate turnover, and maintains a prepared, credible HR partnership with the Market President.

The HR Manager independently handles Green-tier ER cases and may handle lower-acuity Yellow-tier cases with appropriate judgment. Higher-acuity Yellow, Orange, and Red-tier matters are escalated to and managed by the centralized ER Team. For elevated-tier matters, the HRBP provides market context, maintains associate relationships, and ensures continuity, but does not conduct formal investigations.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 2–4 years of progressive HR experience in a generalist, coordinator, or HR assistant capacity.
• Proficiency with Workday or a comparable HRIS.
• Working knowledge of federal and state employment law and the ability to identify when legal escalation is warranted.

Nice To Haves

• aPHR or PHR certification preferred; SHRM-CP is a plus.
• Experience with HR reporting tools or dashboards.
• Retail, automotive, or high-volume multi-site experience.

Responsibilities

• Partner with General Managers and hiring managers to ensure consistent, evidence-based interviews for every open role.
• Promote structured behavioral interviews and challenge gut-feel hiring decisions with data and process discipline.
• Participate in interviews for General Manager-level candidates in the assigned market.
• Conduct monthly staffing reviews with General Managers at highest-need stores and track requisitions and time-to-fill.
• Monitor 0–90-day turnover to identify hiring-quality or onboarding issues.
• Serve as the field-level contact for Talent Acquisition and route requisition and sourcing needs through the Talent Acquisition COE.
• Build working knowledge of each General Manager and Department Manager, including strengths, development gaps, and succession readiness.
• Coach managers and General Managers to address their own people issues and build their capability.
• Advocate for internal promotions and encourage leaders to consider internal candidates before external posting.
• Follow up on 360 feedback and development conversations and connect leaders with appropriate development COE resources.
• Partner with and leverage the Talent Development COE rather than independently designing or delivering development solutions when a COE partner exists.
• Prepare and present quarterly basic talent reviews to the Market President and VP, Human Resources.
• Review market listening dashboards and pulse survey results, adding context and interpretation before sharing findings with store or market leadership.
• Route listening signals to the appropriate response, such as development, staffing, operational issues, or ER referral.
• Conduct individual pulse-survey debrief conversations with each General Manager and coach them on how to respond.
• Identify patterns across stores and escalate market-wide themes to the Market President and VP, Human Resources.
• Coordinate with the ER Team on ER case trends in the assigned market.
• Develop an understanding of how assigned stores generate revenue and participate in store-level P&L reviews.
• Connect people issues to business outcomes and translate turnover, absenteeism, and ER trends into store-level financial impact.
• Use available data to quantify the cost of losing key associates and provide financial context in retention and hiring discussions.
• Maintain a consistent and credible HR presence with the Market President and bring a prepared point of view to interactions.
• Handle Green-tier ER cases independently and, with appropriate judgment, lower-acuity Yellow-tier cases.
• For elevated-tier ER matters, partner with the centralized ER Team by providing market context, maintaining associate relationships, and ensuring continuity; do not conduct formal investigations.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation.
• 401(k) matching.
• Health, dental, and vision insurance plans.
• Maternity benefits.
• Associate purchase and discount programs for vehicles, services, parts, collision, accessories, and AutoGear.
• Access to discounts and deals through YouDecide.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level