Parts Associate

Veteran Hiring Solutions • Shreveport, LA

15d • $65,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Boat Shop is a family-owned marine sales and service dealership in Shreveport, Louisiana, and an authorized Vexus, Trifecta, SeaArk, and Caymas dealer. We started service-only in 2014 with a toolbox and two chairs, and we have grown into the premier marine service center in the Shreveport-Bossier area. We are a 10-person crew, the owners are on the floor every day, and every one of us is an avid boater. We do not just work on the water. We live on it. We are selling fun, and if we cannot have fun while we are doing it, how are we supposed to sell it?

The shop's long-tenured parts advisor is nearing the end of his career due to age and health. This is a succession hire for a central seat that touches sales, service, inventory, vendors, and the customer's very first impression of the company.

The Boat Shop runs lean. Ten people move a high volume of work through a single building, and the parts seat sits at the center of all of it. Every one of the 80 to 120 work orders open at any given time needs parts, and those parts come from as many as six different vendors for a single boat. The person retiring out of this seat has carried that complexity quietly for years. When Raymond says the role "encompasses a lot," he is being modest. This is the seat that keeps the floor fed, the customers happy, and the bills paid on time. Leave it empty and the whole operation feels it within a week.

This is not a desk that opens often. The Boat Shop hires people who stay. They are looking for the next person who will own this seat for the long run.

In the first twelve months, take full ownership of the parts operation and become the calm center of a busy shop. That means three things at once: keeping the parts and accessory inventory accurate, keeping every technician supplied so no job stalls, and being the friendly first voice every customer hears. Raymond calls the person in this seat "the manager of first impressions," and he means it. By around the six month mark, you and Service Manager Daniel should be moving together so smoothly that, in Raymond's words, "it should look like a waltz."
The job looks simple from the outside. Be good on the phone, order the right parts, get them out the door. Underneath that is real complexity. As Raymond put it, it is "an iceberg role." The customer sees the smiling face. You carry everything below the waterline.

Requirements

• Strong organizational and inventory-tracking ability
• Comfort with computer systems and vendor portals
• Customer-service and phone communication skill with a steady temperament
• Mechanical or technical literacy sufficient to learn parts schematics (12-volt and marine systems are trainable)
• Ability to coordinate with a service operation under volume

Nice To Haves

• If you ran a parts room, a PLL, a supply room, or a maintenance control section, you have already run a version of this seat.
• Logistics and supply backgrounds (92Y, 92A), watercraft and small-craft maintainers (88K, 88L), and wheeled-vehicle mechanics (91B) map directly onto this work.

Responsibilities

• Bring the parts and accessory inventory to verified accuracy through bin checks and cycle counts within the first 90 days.
• Keep all 80 to 120 open work orders supplied without stalling the floor, pre-pulling parts for the next day's jobs so no technician is left waiting.
• Reach a full working rhythm with Service Manager Daniel within six months, coordinating parts to the service schedule.
• Protect the "manager of first impressions" standard on every interaction, turning routine parts calls and do-it-yourself counter visits into retained relationships and referral sales.
• Master the Lightspeed dealer management system and the parts schematics for the shop's core brands, identifying and sourcing the correct part the first time and building cheat sheets for common parts within the first 90 days.
• Keep vendor invoicing accurate and timely so accounts payable can pay every bill on schedule, and keep obsolete inventory to a minimum.

Benefits

• Standard benefits package
• Base: $20 per hour, with total target earnings of $65,000 and up.
• Performance pay: 2.9% of parts gross profit, paid as a monthly performance component.
• Saturdays: Every second weekend during the summer season, paid at time and a half.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed