Manager - People in M&A (Deal Execution)

The Deal Execution team is part of KPMG’s rapidly expanding Strategy Group, which delivers value for clients by challenging conventional thinking, bringing deep industry and functional insights and executing with investor-grade rigour. We are a diverse team of over 105 practitioners, working collaboratively with and orchestrating KPMG’s broad set of capabilities within our Advisory business, and are focused on continually enhancing value for clients across the deal and economic cycle. Our teams comprise specialists capable of helping clients right through from conceptual thinking of buying a business to turning their business around in times of difficulty.

The People in M&A Centre of Excellence deals with all aspects of the employee journey in M&A, as well as leveraging our experience to enact transformational change outside of a deal context. From early-stage strategy development and organisational design for carve-outs, to synergy cases and cost benefits, employee experience and corporate culture, employee transfer, through to the conception, development and management of effective transformational solutions to help an organisation achieve its ambitions and objectives. We work together to develop solutions to the issues our clients may face and understand the financial benefits or risks that may be present from a people perspective. Above all, we are driven by a passion to help our clients execute transactions and transformational change efficiently, maximising value through people and ensuring a smooth people transition.

The Manager role is a key role to the team, being the bedrock of project lead and delivery whilst working alongside the leadership of global organisations. We work across various sectors although there is the opportunity to specialise in a specific area. Our four key client proposition areas are:

• Employee experience: Executing an engagement program that addresses the impact to the employee, ensuring that if presented a choice, the employees would have joined the company independently of the deal.
• Organisational strategy development: Developing the organisation design, people strategy, operating model, synergies and value enhancements for a carve-out or standalone operation.
• Labour relations and compliance: Ensuring the labour and HR risks and obligations are fully understood and effectively managed globally to deliver on the deal timelines and planned integration changes.
• HR operations: HR operations focuses on how HR will deliver services to the organisation through the deal, and post close, in the most cost effective and efficient manner, which provides the highest level of service to the employee.

In this role, you will work on and lead projects by working closely alongside senior members of the team, who will provide guidance and insight into the deal environment, enabling you to build your deals knowledge and further develop your people, OD, strategy and HR skills. You will also leverage your change and consulting skillset to deliver top-tier transformational change for clients outside of a deal context.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Leading small-to-medium-sized engagements and being the day-to-day support for clients.
• Due Diligence: Contributing to and reviewing deal and transaction reports from a people perspective, analysing data to comment on the people elements of the business including cost, people and legal issues such as TUPE or unions, systems and HR contracts, providing insights on people aspects of the deal that are relevant to the client and readers of the due diligence reports and to be able to explain issues simply, highlighting the impact of people on business strategy, operations and deal valuation, developing an understanding of people benchmarks and qualitative information to provide insights to clients to describe a typical headcount, design and associated cost, contributing content for reports/deliverables.
• Integration & Separation: Advising on people, strategy and organisational design aspects of integration, separation and optimisation initiatives (e.g. synergy analysis) including the development of target operating models, understanding the people landscape, defining transitional service agreements, developing plans and supporting implementation, leading the HR/OD workstream on integrations and separations, working with and supporting the client workstream leads, facilitating and leading key client workshops and meetings, designing and building materials, identifying and/or reviewing client organisational design and people-based synergies.
• Transformational Change: Supporting the client in achieving their objectives by delivering transformational change projects, creating a clear, suitable and effective roadmap to chart the transformational journey and key associated activities whilst imparting confidence in the competence of KPMG to deliver a quality service backed by clear experience, facilitating and guiding client thinking in the conception and design of appropriate solutions to their challenges and requirements, designing and deploying effective change management and communications plans tailored to suit the organisation by taking into account its unique sensitivities, timelines, available change mechanisms and other key considerations, working with the client to scope the critical success factors for the transformation project and factoring these into the overall planning considerations, proactively identifying and mitigating risks and threats to the successful execution, implementation and maintenance of transformational change early in the project, designing key success criteria and metrics to enable the client to measure not only the progress behind the implementation of the transformation, but also the realisation of the resultant benefits.
• Wider Responsibilities: Interacting with senior client and internal stakeholders, coaching junior team members, ensuring engagement management protocols are followed and kept up to date e.g., quality and risk management, providing support such as preparation of propositions & associated materials, development of tools, methodologies and templates.

Leadership & Management:

• The Manager is a role model supporting mentoring, coaching and development of junior project team members.
• Managers are expected to challenge our people to be curious and innovative on all engagements and internal work, and to be supportive of each other.
• Ensure that all outcomes are commercially focussed, value adding and effectively executed by providing quality challenge and review.
• Individuals are expected to actively contribute to developing pitches, proposals and external market initiatives which help us to win new work as well as look out and help to convert new opportunities on existing engagements.

Stakeholder Interaction & Challenges:

• Demonstrate credibility and experience to advise and deliver on complex deals.
• Act as Engagement Manager for small and medium projects.
• Act as key point of contact for the client across specific engagement areas.
• Proactively understand client expectations and how the KPMG team can add value.
• Manage stakeholders (internal and external) to minimise reputation risk on live engagements.
• Take full ownership for delivering high quality client deliverables and provide day-to-day coaching for the team on the ground to ensure quality standards are maintained.
• Identify opportunities to employ Deal Execution and Advisory technology on their projects, to reduce cost and improve client delivery where appropriate.

The Person

Work Experience:

• A good understanding of or background in HR, OD or Strategy, ideally in an M&A environment.
• Experience of working on M&A projects and understanding of consultation is beneficial.
• People specialism such as: People strategy, TUPE, HR functions, processes and technology, Union engagement, best practice organisational design, employee engagement, talent analysis, recruitment and retention. (Not all specialisms are required and a deep understanding in one area could be sufficient).
• Leading and facilitation of client meetings, workshops and interviews.
• Leading / working within a team which includes both colleagues and client members of staff.
• Strong understanding of the value drivers within HR/People.
• Ability to manage small-medium-sized teams or significant parts of complex projects or programmes.
• Experience of developing and preparing business development pitches in the People sector.
• Ability to work effectively, influence and challenge senior people (client and internal).
• Demonstrate curiosity and innovation, striving for continuous improvement, exercising professional judgement, and making a positive and lasting impact.

Professional, Technical & Soft Skills:

• Bachelor's degree qualification. Professional qualifications welcome.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills including reporting.
• Ability to work well under pressure, learn quickly and leverage skills in new situations.
• Comfort with ambiguity, fluid consulting situations and a highly pressured environment.
• Evidence of strong problem-solving & analytical capabilities.
• Structured thinking skills combined with creativity.
• Ability to talk credibly with client counterparts on the key issues and strategic considerations facing the industry.
• Ability to evaluate complex challenges and deliver insightful recommendations that can be practically executed.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Report writing.
• An understanding of the market drivers, challenges and opportunities impacting our client’s strategies and priorities, enabling them to position solutions and ideas which take these into account.