Head of Recruiting & HR

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 to strengthen the businesses and communities we serve.

The hickory is among the strongest trees in nature: resistant to decay, built to outlast. And a hickory is both one tree and a grove, the same way Hickory is many brands with a single purpose: to build an enduring company where employees set a new standard of excellence in the trades.

AI engineers, entrepreneurs, transformation leaders, operators, and masters of their trades. Management training and AI education run at every level of the organization, because everything here compounds, including your career.

they shape every decision we make, from who we hire to who we promote:

Put Employees First: By appreciating and recognizing our colleagues, we create a platform for people to do the most satisfying work of their careers. We judge ourselves on the health, development, and quality of our teams. We respect each other by building strong, constructive, and honest relationships. Delight Customers: Our clients support us to build up our company, our careers, and our families. Raise the Bar: We pursue long-term excellence, knowing it must always be earned by taking calculated risks, finding our gaps, elevating our peers, staying frugal and scrappy, learning continuously, and rejecting complacency. We are building a team of top performers who constantly raise the bar.

As People Director you'll be its second-in-command, running the engine day to day: recruiting, onboarding, HR operations, benefits, and the people side of every acquisition we close. When a new company joins the platform, your team is the one that turns forty strangers into forty teammates in their first month.

Reviews people trust, career ladders worth climbing, coaching that sticks, recognition that means something: all of it written into our Foundations system and running on Hickory OS. You'll bring the discipline that keeps it honest, with clear structure, real accountability, well-defined projects, sharp prioritization, and weekly Ten Star meetings that actually earn the name.

Employee NPS sits at 44 against an industry average of 14, and field tenure runs twice the industry norm. the department you help build is the answer. Notice what's missing: no "10+ years of X," no required degrees, no keyword bingo. We hire for who you are and what you can do. Emotional intelligence and empathy: For the People Director role:

Onboarding, reviews, payroll, benefits, compliance: you've run the machinery for hundreds of employees across multiple entities, and it held up.

You've recruited in volume while increasing the bar. From field technicians to senior leaders, you know how to build a pipeline, sell a vision, and close the right person.

It's working, and when you join us you'll help run it, sharpen it, and grow with it.

Master the best transformation practice in the trades. We bring new businesses onto the platform in under 30 days, then lift them with a proven system (Vision Blueprint, Living Playbook, Performance, Leadership, Drive) that has driven ~70% organic gross-profit growth across our portfolio.

Our AI does work that once took consulting teams: integrating acquisitions in days, coaching calls as they happen, turning company data into each day's priorities.

Coaching, training, and promote-from-within aren't perks here; People stay and grow because of it: field tenure runs twice the industry average, with near-zero regretted attrition.

Culture you feel the moment you walk in. You'll own real calls from day one, backed by management training and AI education at every level.