General Manager

Job Description

General Manager — Bell Mechanical

Mahopac, New York (On-site) · Full-time · Director level

About Hickory

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.

Hickory is not private equity. We don't buy to flip, and we don't manage for the exit. We're owner-operators building a company designed to last for generations. AI is the leverage; people are the moat. Roughly 350 strong, we invest in our people the way we invest in the business: deliberately.

Five values are the standard we hold each other to — they shape who we hire and who we promote: Put Employees First. Treat Everyone with Respect. Delight Customers. Raise the Bar. Get Sh*t Done.

About Bell Mechanical

Bell Mechanical has been the Hudson Valley's heating and cooling contractor since 1980 — heating, air conditioning, heat pumps, ductless, geothermal, indoor air quality, and Aeroseal duct sealing for homes across Putnam and Westchester counties, the central Hudson Valley, and Fairfield County, CT.

About the Role

As General Manager you own Bell Mechanical: P&L, crews, dispatch, install and service, customer experience, and the reputation a 45-year brand has earned house by house across Putnam and Westchester. On-site in Mahopac, in the business, with the team.

This isn't a caretaker role. You'll install the Hickory operating rhythm — Vision Blueprint, Living Playbook, Performance, Leadership, Drive — that's driven ~70% organic gross-profit growth across our portfolio, and put Hickory OS to work on the parts of this business still running on institutional memory. Be sharp enough to earn credibility fast with a tenured crew, and open enough to change your mind when the market tells you something your playbook didn't.

The Hudson Valley is electrifying, and Bell is already the heat-pump and geothermal name in it. You're inheriting a loyal residential base, a Diamond Elite bench, and a market where utility incentives and homeowner demand are pulling in the same direction. The job is to protect what makes it good and take the ceiling off what it can do. Do that well and, as the platform grows, so does what we look to you for — we push decisions down, not up, and we promote from within.

Who We're Looking For

No "10+ years of X," no required degrees, no keyword bingo. We hire for who you are and what you can do. Failed founders and people who've tried something hard and come up short are welcome here; so are leaders who never had the title.

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• Raw talent and grit. You're the one who figures it out, and you don't stop when it gets hard.
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• 0-to-1 ability. You've built something from nothing. Success optional; scar tissue valued.
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• Quiet confidence, no ego. Secure enough to be wrong, humble enough to do the unglamorous work.
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• Leadership, formal or informal. You get people to want to do what must be done through trust, not org-chart authority.
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• Emotional intelligence, and communication that's clear on the page and in the room. You listen more than you talk.
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• Fast learner who changes their mind. You seek facts and update when the evidence says so.
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• Detail and follow-through at speed. "Mostly done" isn't done. Fast doesn't mean you missed the key detail.
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• Willing to disagree, steady under pressure. You push back when it matters, and you calm rooms rather than heat them up.
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• You see what we see in the trades. An essential, AI-resilient industry full of skilled people and untapped potential.
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For this role specifically:

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• You've run a trades or field-service business, not just a piece of one. Full day-to-day ownership — P&L, crews, dispatch, customer experience — and you know what good looks like on a truck and on a spreadsheet.
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• You can run a service-and-install engine through both seasons. Bell lives on the summer AC surge, the winter no-heat call, and the replacement and heat-pump work in between. You've kept a board full, a crew productive, and a customer answered when the phones don't stop.
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• Independent enough to run point, adaptable enough to earn it. You operate without a playbook written for you, but you can bend to a system, a market, and a culture that's new to you.
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• You want to keep climbing. This is a proving ground, not a landing spot.
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Why Join Hickory

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• Master the best transformation practice in the trades. New businesses onto the platform in under 30 days, then lifted by a proven system.
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• Use AI leverage most operators only talk about. Integrating acquisitions in days, coaching calls as they happen, turning company data into each day's priorities.
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• Level up, and level others up. Field tenure runs twice the industry average, with near-zero regretted attrition.
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• Culture you feel walking in. Employee NPS of 44 against an industry average of 14.
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• Own real calls from day one, backed by management training and AI education at every level.
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Compensation

$150,000 – $165,000 base, plus a 25% discretionary bonus. Final offer depends on experience and scope.

Benefits

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• Health & Wellness: Medical, dental, and vision with a choice of plans. Hickory covers up to 95% of premiums on base plans; zero-deductible and HSA-eligible options available, including medical concierge services.
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• Vacation: 15 days from day one, up to 5 unused days carried over each year.
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• Holidays & Sick Days: 11 paid holidays including a floating day, plus 5 sick days annually that roll over (up to 10 usable in any year).
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• 401(k): Automatic enrollment after 90 days; we match 50% of your contributions up to 7%.
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• Paid Family Leave: Up to 12 weeks to bond with a new child or care for a family member.
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• Growth & Development: Management training, AI education, and company-paid classes and seminars.
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How We Hire

Structured, fast, and honest in both directions.

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1. Intro call — 30 minutes with our People team. Straight answers about the role, comp, and company.
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2. Deep dive with management — your story, our plans, whether the ambitions match. Bring hard questions.
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3. Interview day — an intensive on-site session: real cases from the business, hard and soft skill tests, time with people you'd work with.
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4. References, then an offer — we call references late and make offers fast.
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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.