M&A Integration - Deal Lead (Financial Services)

About the Company

Our client is a fast-growing, private equity-backed financial services group undergoing a buy-and-build strategy across the UK and Europe. With a strong pipeline of acquisitions and an ambitious growth trajectory, the business is now seeking an experienced Integration Deal Lead to drive the end-to-end integration of newly acquired businesses.

The Role

Working closely with the M&A teams the Integration Deal Lead will take full ownership of post-merger integration (PMI) across multiple acquisitions. This is a high-impact, visible role responsible for ensuring that value creation targets are achieved through seamless operational, cultural, and financial integration.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead full-cycle post-merger integration for acquired entities, from pre-deal due diligence input through to day-one planning and full operational integration.
• Develop and execute integration strategies and playbooks, aligned with the company’s value creation and growth objectives.
• Partner with functional leads (Finance, HR, IT, Operations, Risk, Legal) to design and implement integration roadmaps.
• Oversee synergy identification and realization, tracking KPIs and ensuring delivery against deal theses.
• Act as the primary point of contact between acquired management teams and group leadership, ensuring alignment on priorities and culture.
• Support the PMO and transaction teams in standardising integration processes across future acquisitions.
• Provide insight and feedback to the deal team on integration readiness and risks during diligence.
• Drive communication and change management to ensure smooth adoption of group systems, processes, and values.

Candidate Profile

• Proven experience leading end-to-end post-merger integrations, ideally in a PE-backed or high-growth environment within financial services, fintech, or related regulated sectors.
• Strong understanding of M&A processes, due diligence, and value creation levers.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple integrations simultaneously in a fast-paced, acquisitive setting.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills; capable of influencing at C-suite and investor level.
• Highly analytical, commercially minded, and able to translate strategy into executable plans.
• Strong project leadership and PMO skills, with the ability to manage cross-functional teams.