Vice President, Operations

Description

***Must reside in FL, AZ or TX***

Vice President, Operations - Pool Exempt

Purpose

Provide transformational executive leadership for Certus’s Pool Division by integrating acquisitions, building high-performing leaders, standardizing branch execution, and driving operational and financial excellence across the swimming pool service, repair, renovation, and construction business. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, this role will create a scalable operating platform that delivers profitable organic growth, stronger customer retention, reliable service, improved route economics, operational consistency, and sustainable value within a private equity-backed, high-growth organization.

The successful Vice President, Operations - Pool Division will transform Certus’s pool business into a disciplined, scalable, high-performing operating platform with sustained organic growth, stronger retention, reliable service, better route economics, expanding margins, capable field leadership, successful acquisition integration, and consistent execution across every branch.

Key Contributions

• Own the operating strategy and execution roadmap for the Pool Division, translating enterprise growth objectives into branch-level priorities, service standards, operating cadence, and measurable performance improvement.
• Lead performance across a distributed, multi-location network with accountability for EBITDA, revenue, gross margin, branch profitability, customer experience, and operational results.
• Partner with Sales and branch leadership to ensure organic growth is serviceable, retained, and profitable by aligning sales volume, technician capacity, scheduling, customer onboarding, pricing, and field execution.
• Improve customer retention and lifetime value by addressing churn, strengthening service recovery and escalation discipline, and delivering a consistent experience from onboarding through recurring service.
• Drive process improvement across scheduling, dispatch, route planning, service completion, quality control, first-time fix, callback prevention, repair turnaround, warranty expense, and time-to-resolution.
• Improve margin through pricing discipline, labor utilization, route density, chemical and parts controls, inventory accuracy, purchasing, vendor management, fleet performance, and branch cost management.
• Lead integration of acquired companies by implementing Certus standards, systems, reporting routines, talent practices, service expectations, and performance management while protecting employee engagement and customer retention.
• Build a high-performance leadership culture by recruiting, coaching, developing, and holding Regional Directors, Branch Managers, and operational leaders accountable through scorecards, succession planning, and continuous development.
• Drive adoption of field service, routing, scheduling, telematics, CRM, business intelligence, inventory, and mobile technologies to improve visibility, productivity, and decision-making.
• Establish a safety-first, compliant operating environment and lead cross-functional rhythms with Sales, Marketing, Finance, HR, IT, and branch leadership.

Requirements

Success Metrics

Financial Performance

• Meet or exceed annual EBITDA, revenue growth, gross margin, branch profitability, operating expense, and working capital targets.
• Improve revenue per technician, revenue per route, revenue per route day, labor efficiency, and route profitability.
• Deliver budget and forecast commitments while supporting sustainable growth and capital discipline.

Growth, Retention & Customer Experience

• Achieve sustained positive net adds and improve sold-to-retained yield at 30, 60, and 90 days.
• Improve customer retention and churn by cohort, including lower early-cancel rates and stronger customer lifetime value.
• Maintain customer satisfaction, NPS, online reputation, response time, and service recovery results at or above company goals.

Operational Excellence

• Achieve targets for technician utilization, route efficiency and density, service completion, schedule adherence, first-time fix, repair turnaround, callback reduction, warranty expense, and time-to-resolution.
• Reduce missed or late services, repeat visits, escalations, and branch variability through consistent standard work and accountability.
• Improve inventory accuracy and chemical and parts controls while reducing shrinkage, obsolete inventory, and avoidable cost variance.

Leadership, Integration & Safety

• Improve employee engagement, reduce voluntary turnover, strengthen 90-day retention, increase internal promotions, and build leadership bench strength.
• Integrate acquisitions on schedule and stabilize newly acquired branches while maintaining service, retention, engagement, and financial performance.
• Maintain at least 98% compliance with regulatory, licensing, safety, and company standards; reduce preventable incidents and workers’ compensation claims year over year.

Growth Impact

• Drives profitable organic growth through operational excellence and customer retention.
• Creates scalable operating standards that support acquisitions and geographic expansion.
• Improves operational efficiency through standardized processes, technology adoption, and leadership development.
• Strengthens Certus Home Services' competitive position by delivering a consistent, high-quality customer experience.

Capabilities & Strengths 

• Executive leadership with the ability to influence, coach, and develop high-performing teams across multiple markets.
• Strategic, hands-on, metrics-driven operator with strong financial acumen, field credibility, and a bias for measurable results.
• Strong command of P&L management, route economics, labor productivity, branch scorecards, cohort retention, service metrics, and operating dashboards.
• Proven change leader who can standardize fragmented operations, reduce variability, scale best practices, and lead acquisition integration.
• Collaborative communicator who builds trust cross-functionally while maintaining clear operational ownership and accountability.

Required Qualifications 

• 10+ years of progressive operations leadership, including at least 5 years leading multi-state, multi-location, route-based or distributed field service operations with full P&L responsibility.
• Demonstrated success in recurring service businesses such as pool services, home services, pest control, HVAC, plumbing, construction, landscape, or similar field service industries.
• Proven record of improving customer retention, service reliability, technician productivity, labor efficiency, margin performance, team capability, and branch accountability.
• Experience leading operational transformations, organizational change, acquisition integrations, and standardization across geographically dispersed organizations.
• Strong financial management experience, including budgeting, forecasting, labor management, margin improvement, working capital, and EBITDA accountability.
• Experience developing Regional Directors, Branch Managers, field leaders, technicians, and distributed teams through goals, scorecards, coaching, and performance management.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Operations Management, Engineering, Construction Management, Finance, or a related field; equivalent executive experience considered.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading a private equity-backed, founder-led, or high-growth multi-site organization.
• Experience implementing field service technology, routing, scheduling, telematics, CRM, inventory, or technician productivity tools.
• CPO, OSHA 30, RAIL, Lean Six Sigma, Project Management, or equivalent certification; advanced degree or formal continuous improvement training is a plus.