SVP of Operations, Commercial MEP Contractor; Retained Search

$300000 - $340000 per year | Indianapolis, IN | Remote | Permanent

We're a private equity-backed mechanical, plumbing, and electrical contracting platform. We operate multiple companies across Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. Most of our work is commercial and multifamily. We're growing commercial service, replacement work, owner-direct relationships, and projects. Each company keeps its local brand and the people who built it. We grow through acquisitions and organic growth, guided by an intentional plan.

We are at the beginning of our scale and looking to hire an operations leader to help put operational infrastructure in place as we look to scale.

• Build operations for the whole platform: workforce planning, estimating and project management standards across every company
• Report to the CEO as the platform’s first dedicated operations executive
• Equity that rewards a successful exit
• Work shoulder to shoulder with experienced operators who know their markets
• Title can be shaped for the right person

MUST HAVE VP OR ABOVE LEVEL EXPERIENCE WITHIN AN MEP CONTRACTOR/CONSTRUCTION FIRM

This is the senior operations leader for the entire platform. You'll be the operations expert who goes into each company and works alongside the operators. You'll figure out what's working and where the opportunities are, then make practical recommendations and help put processes in place. Your first priorities are clear. You'll build the system that matches bookings and backlog to technician capacity at every company.

You'll upgrade estimating and raise project management to a consistent standard. You'll also step into workforce planning work already underway with outside consultants. You'll lead one direct report, a VP of Operations, and partner closely with the operators who run each company.

• Spend time in the field at every company, working side by side with operators to see how work moves and where it can run better
• Diagnose operational issues, get to root cause and recommend practical fixes the operators can own
• Build and own a workforce planning system that maps bookings, backlog and pursued work against technician capacity at every company
• Upgrade estimating and set a consistent standard for project management across the platform
• Review WIP and job margin, and coach PMs and estimators directly
• Develop PMs, estimators and techs into the next generation of leaders
• Lead the improvement of companies with the most room to grow margin
• Build the KPI scorecard and operating cadence
• Create a repeatable way to bring newly acquired companies onto the platform
• Spend most of the week in markets across MI, OH and IN

• A career inside commercial MEP contracting, with job-level fluency in HVAC and plumbing
• Grew up in operations through the trades, field supervision, project management or operations leadership
• Currently leads operations across multiple business units or sites at a contractor of roughly $150M or more, as an SVP, EVP, COO or group president, or as a VP of Operations ready for the step up
• A business you grew or turned around, with the levers you pulled and the numbers that moved
• Hands-on command of estimating, WIP, forecasting and margin
• A track record of walking into a business, spotting what to improve and earning the trust of the people running it
• Based in or willing to relocate to the Detroit, Cincinnati, Columbus or Indianapolis area; relocation support available (not required but highly preferred)
• Nice to have: PE-backed or platform experience, acquisition integration, commercial service or…