M&A Manager in Kettering

At Kindred Education, we're passionate about creating outstanding early years environments where children can thrive, families feel supported and our teams can build rewarding careers.

As we continue to grow, we're looking for an ambitious and commercially minded M&A Manager to join our team and play a key role in shaping the future of our organisation.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone with strong mergers and acquisitions experience to work across the full transaction lifecycle, from identifying and evaluating new opportunities through to due diligence, completion, integration and value creation.

The role

Working closely with our M&A Director and senior leadership team, you'll help identify and deliver acquisition opportunities that support Kindred's wider growth strategy.

You'll take a hands-on role in developing and managing our acquisition pipeline, assessing potential opportunities, building robust investment cases and coordinating complex transactions across multiple internal and external stakeholders.

No two days will be the same. You could be researching new market opportunities one day, preparing an investment paper for senior stakeholders the next, and coordinating due diligence or integration activity across a newly acquired business.

You'll be a key point of connection throughout the transaction process, helping to ensure projects remain on track, risks are understood and managed, and opportunities for value creation are delivered.

What you'll be doing

You’ll play a central role across our M&A activity, including:

• Identifying, researching and developing potential acquisition opportunities
• Building and maintaining a strong acquisition target pipeline
• Assessing opportunities against our corporate strategy, investment criteria and growth ambitions
• Supporting the development of financial models, valuations, investment cases and return analyses
• Preparing clear, commercially focused papers and presentations for senior leadership and Board-level approval
• Coordinating financial, commercial, operational, legal, tax and HR due diligence workstreams
• Project managing transactions from initial opportunity through to signing and completion
• Working closely with sellers, advisers and our internal cross-functional teams to keep transactions moving forward
• Identifying and managing transaction risks, dependencies and critical milestones
• Supporting transaction structuring and documentation alongside internal and external advisers
• Coordinating post-acquisition integration activity and the transition into business as usual
• Tracking synergies, efficiencies and value-creation opportunities against agreed investment cases
• Monitoring post-completion performance and supporting actions where required
• Helping to develop scalable M&A processes, tools, governance and best practice across the Group

We're looking for someone who combines strong commercial and financial expertise with excellent project management and relationship-building skills.

You’ll be comfortable working in a fast-paced environment, managing multiple priorities and bringing structure and clarity to complex projects.

Ideally, you'll have:

• A degree, or equivalent qualification, in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business or a related discipline
• At least 3 years' relevant experience in M&A, corporate finance, transaction services, investment banking, private equity or a similar commercial environment
• Experience managing transactions across the M&A lifecycle, from target identification and due diligence through to completion and integration
• Strong financial modelling, valuation and investment appraisal skills
• Experience preparing investment papers and recommendations for senior leadership and/or Board-level stakeholders
• A strong understanding of financial, commercial, operational, legal and people-related due diligence
• Excellent project management skills and experience coordinating complex, cross-functional workstreams
• Experience supporting or delivering post-acquisition integration
• The ability to identify, quantify and track synergies and value-creation opportunities
• Strong commercial judgement and the confidence to assess risk, opportunity and strategic fit
• Experience within a corporate development team, private equity-backed business, acquisitive organisation or buy-and-build environment would be particularly valuable.
• Professional qualifications such as ACA, ACCA, CIMA or CFA are desirable, as is experience working in a multi-site operating environment.

Why Kindred?

This is a fantastic opportunity to join a growing organisation at an exciting point in its journey.

You’ll have the opportunity to make a genuine impact on Kindred's growth strategy, working closely with senior leaders and playing a key role in transactions that will shape the future of our business.

We're looking for someone who is curious, driven and collaborative, someone who enjoys solving complex problems, building strong relationships and seeing projects through from idea to delivery.

In return, you'll join a supportive team where your expertise will be valued, your ideas will be heard and your work will make a real difference.