General Manager HVAC

RON SUNSHINE ASSOCIATES LLC; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Top Echelon LLC in San Diego seeks an Assistant General Manager/General Manager for the Residential Division to run day-to-day operations and drive growth across single-family and multi-family projects.

The role requires 8+ years in residential operations leadership with $20M+ P&L responsibility, strong builder relationships, and experience leading 50+ staff across field and office. This is an on-site, high-impact leadership role.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressive operations leadership in residential plumbing, HVAC, or combined mechanical contracting.
• P&L responsibility of $20M or larger with levered growth and margin.
• Strong builder account development with Southern California/San Diego exposure.
• Leadership of 50+ personnel across field and office.
• Sales orientation with proven book-of-business growth.
• Executive credibility with GM/COO and builder leadership.

Responsibilities

• Co-own divisional P&L performance with the GM.
• Drive on-time, on-budget execution across active communities.
• Hold a high standard on safety and incident response.
• Develop builder relationships and lead project pursuits.
• Represent the San Diego division to corporate leadership.

Skills

P&L management

Operations leadership

Builder relationships

Sales orientation

Team leadership (50+ personnel)

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in construction management, engineering, business, or related field

Job description

Assistant General Manager/General Manager — Residential Division . Location: San Diego, CA Reports To: General Manager, San Diego Division Scope: ~$30M P&L, 50–75 personnel Trade Focus: Single-family and multi-family plumbing and HVAC, new construction

Position Summary

The Assistant General Manager partners directly with the San Diego General Manager to run the day-to-day operation of the residential division and to grow it. This is a working leadership role with equal parts operator, builder, and seller. The right candidate has already done this work at a real scale: managed a P&L in the $20M–$50M range, led 50-plus tradespeople and office staff, and personally carried builder relationships that produced repeatable revenue. The AGM is the second seat in San Diego today and the visible successor track tomorrow.

Core Responsibilities

Operations

• Co-own divisional P&L performance alongside the GM, including revenue, gross margin, labor productivity, material spend, and overhead absorption.
• Drive on-time, on-budget execution across active single-family and multi-family communities — coordinating production schedules with builder superintendents, internal field leadership, and the service group where applicable.
• Hold the line on safety. No exceptions, no negotiation. Partner with the safety function to ensure jobsite compliance, training cadence, and incident response.
• Identify operational bottlenecks before they hit the schedule, labor allocation, material availability, change order processing, quality inspections, etc.

Sales and Builder Relationships

• Develop new builder relationships, deepen existing ones, and bring back lost ones.
• Lead project pursuits from qualification through award: scope review, estimating partnership, pricing strategy, contract negotiation, and handoff to operations.
• Represent 20/20 at the builder table.
• Track the San Diego builder market: who is starting communities, who is closing them, where the absorption is, where 20/20 should be planted next.

Team Leadership and Development

• Direct supervision of field leadership (superintendents, foremen) and office leadership (project managers, coordinators, estimators) roughly 50–75 personnel total across the division.
• Coach the bench. Build the next foreman, the next PM, the next superintendent. Performance conversations are direct, fair, and frequent.
• Hire, develop, and where necessary remove. Hold a high standard on accountability; see it, own it, solve it, do it.
• Carry the culture of integrity.

GM Partnership and Succession Readiness

• Run the division in the GM's absence. Be ready to step into the GM seat when the business calls for it.
• Participate in divisional strategy, annual planning, builder forecasting, and resource planning.
• Represent the San Diego office to corporate leadership, including operational reviews and strategic discussions with the COO.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressive operations leadership in residential plumbing, HVAC, or combined mechanical contracting. Single-family and/or multi-family new construction experience is required service-only backgrounds will not fit.
• Demonstrated P&L responsibility of $20M or larger. Candidate must be able to speak to the specific levers used to grow revenue and protect margin.
• Demonstrated success in builder account development. Production builder and/or multi-family GC relationships in Southern California are a strong preference; San Diego specifically is ideal.
• Leadership of teams of 50 or more across field and office. Track record of building and retaining a bench, not just managing through a roster.
• Sales orientation backed by results. The candidate has personally sold or significantly influenced book-of-business growth not simply executed work that was handed to them.
• Comfort and credibility at the executive level both internally with the GM and COO and externally at the builder VP/President level.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience inside a high-volume residential mechanical contractor running concurrent communities across multiple builders.
• Estimating background or strong estimating fluency. Able to pressure-test a number, not just receive one.
• Experience leading through a multi-office or regional structure.
• Bachelor's degree in construction management, engineering, business, or a related field or equivalent operating experience in lieu of degree.

Working Conditions

San Diego-based, on-site at the office and across active jobsites and builder partner offices. Some travel within Southern California. This is not a remote or hybrid position.