Operations Integration Manager

Hickory; New York (NY); On-site; USD 160,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Paid time off 15 days

Job summary

Hickory seeks a Transformation Manager to partner with a family-run HVAC operations to integrate acquired businesses into Hickory. You will work with the founder, general manager, office teams, and frontline technicians to modernize operations while protecting reputation and craftsmanship.

You will lead the Hickory OS rollout, establish operating rhythms and scorecards, strengthen the leadership team, and turn proven practices into a repeatable playbook for future partnerships.

Qualifications

• Experience leading integration initiatives within operating companies.
• Ability to diagnose problems from people, culture, and processes.
• Understanding of P&L, labor costs, and operating economics.
• Experience in acquisition-integration or large-scale transformations.
• Leadership through influence rather than title.

Responsibilities

• Build trust with founders, managers, dispatchers, installers, technicians, and office teams.
• Assess culture, leadership, financial performance, workflows, and risks.
• Lead rollout and adoption of Hickory OS and operating playbook.
• Establish priorities, accountability, rhythms, and scorecards.
• Use financial data to identify problems and measure results.
• Identify leadership gaps and coach/develop needed talent.
• Coordinate across Operations, People, Finance, Technology, Marketing, and local leadership.
• Document lessons and improve the integration playbook.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Problem solving

Speed with follow-through

Emotional intelligence

Trades respect

Tools

Hickory OS

Vision Blueprint

Living Playbook

Job description

Hickory partners with the industry's leading home service operators and transforms them with Hickory OS, our proprietary AI operating system. That combination has grown revenue more than 11x since 2017, making Hickory one of the largest regional home service operators in the country. And we're just getting started.

Hickory is not private equity. We don't buy to flip, and we don't manage for the exit. We are owner-operators creating an enduring company designed to last for generations—one that invests deeply in people, operational excellence, and technology.

AI is the leverage; people are the moat. Roughly 350 strong, the Hickory family brings together AI engineers, entrepreneurs, transformation leaders, operators, and masters of their trades. We invest in our people deliberately, with management training and AI education at every level.

Five values guide how we hire, lead, and make decisions:

• Put Employees First
• Treat Everyone with Respect
• Raise the Bar
• Get Sh*t Done

These aren't words on a wall. They define how we build teams, solve problems, serve customers, and hold ourselves accountable.

About the Role

When a great family-run HVAC company joins Hickory, the Transformation Manager is the person in the room.

You'll work alongside the founder, general manager, office team, and frontline technicians to understand how the business operates, identify the risks holding it back, and lead its integration into Hickory. Your job is to modernize the engine underneath the company without damaging the reputation, relationships, and craftsmanship that made it successful.

This is approximately an 80% people and 20% operations role. Systems, processes, data, and financial performance matter—but they only improve when people trust the person leading the change.

In the first 30 days, you'll listen, learn, and build credibility. You'll understand the company's people, culture, customers, economics, workflows, and unwritten rules. From there, you'll lead the integration: introducing Hickory OS, establishing operating rhythms and scorecards, strengthening the leadership team, and turning what works into a repeatable playbook.

The transformation isn't finished when a checklist is complete or new software goes live. It's finished when the business is operating successfully within Hickory, employees understand where the company is going, leaders are raising the bar, and customers are receiving better service than before.

What You'll Own

• Build trust with founders, managers, dispatchers, installers, technicians, and office teams.
• Assess culture, leadership, financial performance, workflows, systems, and operating risks.
• Lead the rollout and adoption of Hickory OS and the Hickory operating playbook.
• Establish clear priorities, accountability, meeting rhythms, and performance scorecards.
• Use financial statements and operating data to identify problems and measure results.
• Identify leadership and capability gaps, then hire, coach, and develop the people needed to scale.
• Coordinate across Operations, People, Finance, Technology, Marketing, and local leadership.
• Document lessons and improve the integration playbook for future partnerships.
• Step into difficult situations, resolve problems, and get important work across the finish line.

Who We're Looking For

We care more about what you've built and how you operate than whether your career followed one perfect path. You might be a regional operator, general manager, founder, integration leader, transformation professional, or consultant who moved beyond recommendations and into execution.

You'll thrive here if you bring:

• Raw talent and grit: You figure things out and don't stop when the work gets difficult.
• 0-to-1 ability: You've built a company, team, system, or operating playbook from nothing.
• Quiet confidence: You're secure enough to be wrong and humble enough to learn from the people closest to the work.
• Leadership through influence: People follow you because they trust you, not simply because of your title.
• Emotional intelligence: You understand what change feels like from another person's perspective.
• Clear communication: You can run a working session, write a sharp memo, and present a recommendation to senior leadership.
• Speed with follow-through: You move quickly without missing the details that matter.
• Steadiness under pressure: You bring clarity and calm when plans break.
• Respect for the trades: You see an essential, AI-resilient industry filled with skilled people and untapped potential.

For This Role

You've improved a real operating business. You have personally diagnosed problems, implemented changes, and remained accountable for the results.

You understand financial and operational performance. You can interpret a P&L, follow revenue and gross-profit trends, understand labor and operating costs, and turn numbers into practical decisions.

You've led people through meaningful change. You know how to uncover resistance, recognize valuable frontline knowledge, and earn adoption without lowering standards.

You build systems that stick. Scorecards, SOPs, meeting rhythms, accountability, and technology adoption become habits—not documents left behind.

You build strong teams. You recognize talent, identify capability gaps, make difficult decisions, and develop managers who can lead without relying on you.

Direct acquisition-integration, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, facilities, home-services, or field-service experience is valuable, but it is not the only path to succeeding here.

Why Join Hickory

Hickory runs on a simple model: Partner, Integrate, Transform, Endure. When you join us, you'll help run it, sharpen it, and grow with it.

• Master transformation in the trades. Our system—Vision Blueprint, Living Playbook, Performance, Leadership, and Drive—has driven approximately 70% organic gross-profit growth across our portfolio.
• Use real AI leverage. Hickory OS helps integrate acquisitions, coach teams, and turn company data into daily priorities.
• Grow with the company. We push decisions down, not up. You'll own real calls from day one.
• Join a culture built to endure. Our Employee Net Promoter Score is 44 against an industry average of 14, with field tenure running twice the industry average.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage, including zero-deductible and HSA-eligible options
• 15 vacation days from day one
• 11 paid holidays, one floating holiday, and five annual sick days
• 401(k) enrollment after 90 days, with a 50% company match on contributions up to 7%
• Up to 12 weeks of paid family leave
• Management training, AI education, and company-paid development opportunities

How We Hire

We hire the way we run the business: structured, fast, and honest in both directions.

• Intro call: Thirty minutes with our People team to discuss the role, company, and compensation.
• Management deep dive: Your story, our plans, and whether the ambitions match.
• Interview day: Real business cases, tests of hard and soft skills, and time with the people you'd work alongside.
• References and offer: We call references late and make decisions quickly.

Start to finish, we move in weeks—not months—and you'll always know where you stand.

Hickory is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.