General Manager - Operations

General Manager

Marick Mechanical, an Orion Services Group company | Location: St. Louis | On-site

Department: Operations | Reports To: President | FLSA: Exempt | Travel: As Needed

Position Summary

The General Manager is the senior operating leader for an assigned Marick Mechanical market and is accountable for the overall performance of the business, including growth, profitability, customer retention, operational execution, cash performance, safety, and team leadership. This role translates Marick's annual plan into disciplined market-level execution across service, construction/projects, maintenance, and sales activities.

Success in this role requires a hands-on business leader who can balance commercial growth with operational discipline, build strong customer relationships, develop leaders, and hold teams accountable to financial, safety, quality, and service expectations. The General Manager partners closely with the President and functional leaders across Marick to ensure the market consistently delivers on commitments to customers, employees, and the business.

Mission of the Role

Lead the assigned market as an owner-minded operator: grow the business responsibly, protect margin and cash, strengthen customer relationships, develop a high-performing leadership team, and ensure Marick consistently delivers work that reflects its standard - Built on Trust. Proven by the Work.

Key Responsibilities

Business & Financial Leadership

Own market performance against the annual operating plan, including bookings, revenue, gross profit, operating income, labor productivity, overhead, maintenance base, sales activity, and customer retention.

Develop and execute the annual market plan in partnership with the President, identifying growth priorities, resource needs, operating risks, and actions required to achieve financial commitments.

Review market financial performance regularly; identify variances, root causes, and corrective actions before issues materially affect results.

Maintain strong cash discipline by monitoring billing, accounts receivable, collections, purchasing, cost-to-complete, and other working-capital drivers.

Establish appropriate pricing, approval, and commercial discipline to protect margin while remaining competitive in the market.

Growth, Sales & Market Development

Drive sustainable growth across service, maintenance, construction/projects, and other applicable lines of business by identifying market opportunities and converting them into profitable work.

Lead and support sales leaders and sellers in building pipelines, developing account strategies, qualifying opportunities, preparing proposals, and closing business.

Review and approve significant project and maintenance bookings to ensure scope, pricing, risk, capacity, and margin expectations align with company standards.

Evaluate market share, geography, customer mix, service offerings, competitive dynamics, and emerging opportunities; establish practical plans for market penetration and expansion.

Maintain visibility with key customers and participate directly in strategic account development, major proposals, renewal efforts, and customer recovery plans when needed.

Operational Execution

Provide leadership across service, construction/projects, maintenance, and administrative operations to ensure customer commitments are met safely, on time, at the expected quality, and within financial targets.

Partner with operational leaders to manage labor planning, staffing, scheduling, materials, tools, subcontractors, and logistical support to maximize field productivity and control cost.

Monitor project and contract performance, including actual gross profit, cost-to-complete, schedule, change management, documentation, and closeout requirements.

Ensure proposals, job packages, schedules, reports, and operating documentation are complete, accurate, timely, and consistent with company expectations.

Regularly evaluate operating procedures, identify gaps or inefficiencies, and implement corrective actions and continuous-improvement practices.

Customer Experience & Retention

Build and maintain strong relationships with customers, vendors, contractors, and other external partners to resolve issues, protect relationships, and create opportunities for profitable growth.

Ensure customer concerns, contract questions, invoice disputes, service issues, and cancellation risks are addressed promptly, professionally, and with clear ownership.

Support maintenance-base growth and retention by ensuring teams consistently deliver on contractual obligations and communicate value to customers.

Use customer and market feedback to improve service delivery, strengthen account strategy, and identify opportunities to expand Marick's relationship with existing customers.

People Leadership & Organizational Capability

Lead, coach, and hold accountable the market leadership team, which may include Sales, Service, Construction/Projects, and other functional leaders based on the assigned location.

Set clear goals and performance expectations, review results consistently, and ensure leaders have the direction, resources, and accountability necessary to succeed.

Build organizational depth through disciplined hiring, onboarding, performance management, development, succession planning, and continuous recruiting for critical talent.

Partner with Human Resources on workforce planning, compensation, employee relations, performance concerns, corrective action, and other people decisions.

Create an environment of high accountability, strong communication, professional conduct, and continuous development while reinforcing Marick's standards and values.

Safety, Risk & Compliance

Model and reinforce a safety-first operating culture and ensure leaders and employees comply with company safety expectations, jobsite requirements, and applicable regulations.

Identify operational, customer, contractual, credit, staffing, and execution risks early and escalate or resolve them appropriately.

Ensure the market follows company policies, approval requirements, financial controls, documentation standards, and applicable legal or regulatory requirements.

Partner with functional leaders to address significant incidents, claims, customer escalations, employee matters, and other business risks in a timely and well-documented manner.

Operating Cadence & Leadership Reporting

Maintain a disciplined operating cadence that includes regular review of sales activity, service operations, project performance, financial results, staffing, safety, customer issues, and key performance indicators.

Prepare accurate forecasts and business updates for the President and other executive or functional leaders as required.

Monitor performance against plan throughout the year and take timely action to address deficiencies, changing market conditions, or emerging opportunities.

Support special projects and enterprise initiatives assigned by the President that advance Marick's growth, operational effectiveness, or organizational priorities.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal General Manager is a commercially minded operator who is equally comfortable reviewing financial performance, coaching leaders, working through a customer issue, and challenging an operating plan. This leader brings strong judgment, urgency, financial discipline, and a practical understanding of how field-based mechanical businesses win and execute.

Owner-minded and accountable; treats market performance as a complete business responsibility rather than a collection of separate functions.

Visible, approachable leader who builds credibility with field employees, office teams, customers, and senior leadership.

Comfortable making decisions with imperfect information while knowing when to escalate material risk.

Strong coach who develops leaders, delegates effectively, and addresses performance or behavior issues directly and consistently.

Data-driven and financially literate, with the ability to turn operating and financial information into clear priorities and actions.

Required Experience

Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, construction management, operations, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience.

Ten or more years of progressively responsible experience in mechanical contracting, HVAC, refrigeration, plumbing, construction, facilities services, or a comparable field-based service business.

Demonstrated leadership experience with accountability for business-unit or market performance, including revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, profitability, and cash performance.

Experience leading managers and cross-functional teams in sales, service, operations, projects/construction, or related disciplines.

Strong working knowledge of forecasting, budgeting, project economics, pricing, contracts, billing, collections, and operational performance metrics.

Ability to understand mechanical systems sufficiently to assess customer needs, operating risk, service opportunities, and project or maintenance solutions.

Valid driver's license and ability to travel as required for the assigned market and business needs.

Preferred Experience

Experience leading a union or multi-trade mechanical contracting operation.

Experience managing both recurring service/maintenance revenue and project or construction work.

Demonstrated success growing a market or business unit while improving profitability, customer retention, and operational discipline.

Experience in a multi-location, private-equity-backed, or growth-oriented operating environment.

Leadership Attributes

High integrity and sound business judgment.

Strong business acumen with a consistent focus on profitable growth and cash performance.

Clear, direct, and respectful communicator who creates alignment and follows through.

Strategic thinker who can translate long-term priorities into near-term operating actions.

Low ego, high accountability, and willingness to engage directly when the business needs support.

Customer-focused while maintaining appropriate commercial, operational, and risk discipline.

Committed to developing people and building a strong leadership bench.

Reporting Relationship

This role reports directly to the President. The General Manager leads the assigned market and directly supervises market leadership roles as designated by the organization, which may include Sales, Service, Construction/Projects, and other operational or administrative functions. The role partners closely with Finance, Human Resources, Safety, and other Marick and Orion functional leaders.

Location & Travel

Location: St. Louis. This is an on-site leadership position based in the applicable Marick operating market. Regular local travel to customer locations, jobsites, branch facilities, and industry or business meetings is expected, with additional travel as business needs require. The role must be able to safely access active jobsite environments and comply with applicable PPE and site requirements.

This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed. It is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, or qualifications, and responsibilities may change based on business needs.

Compensation

$135-$160K + performance-based bonus