The Role

Our client have recently recruited a core team to advise clients during the pre-deal synergy and pre-planning stages, and through to operational integration (in an acquisition) and separation (in a demerger/disposal). The Integration Advisory Team (IAT) is part of our client Transaction Services and consequently works closely with their colleagues who conduct financial due diligence, commercial due diligence and vendor assistance. This allows the team to 'get in at the early stages' of a deal and so add considerable value during the life of a transaction.

They work with a wide range of clients including publicly listed corporates, private companies, private equity investors and public sector organisations looking at merger and divestment issues.

The IAT is growing rapidly and over the next three years is expected to make a significant contribution to the overall growth of the their client Transaction Services business. They are looking for a range of talented and committed individuals to join the team over the coming months.

The Responsibilities

The right individuals will have a passion for working in a deal environment and be committed to post-deal integration work. Candidates must also expect to work on separation engagements which is an additional service offering.

Previous deal experience is essential.

The ideal candidate will be comfortable working independently in a workstream lead role and creating an internal network of individuals who have a similar skill-set. Internal networking skills are as important as client management skills.

Candidates will have worked previously as a consultant in one of the strategy houses, a Big Four consultancy or in a niche consultancy. Alternatively, they may have acted as an in-house project manager on several major integration, change or cost reduction programmes.

Candidates must be a team player. They pride themselves on the way they work with and support each other. Rewards are geared to team performance as much as individual performance.

One of the key strengths of our client is it's culture, built through recruiting and developing people who have a deep felt respect for individuals, who operate professionally and ethically, and who are generally regarded by clients not only as highly effective, but as good people to work with. Candidates will have strong interpersonal skills and share our values in this regard.

Candidates will be comfortable working with financial aspects of a programme as they are the specifics of their area. Comfort with standard management accounts is desired.

Candidates will be expected to have as a minimum the following consultancy skills:

• Planning and budgeting
• Programme management
• Facilitation
• Presentation (oral and written)
• Analysis and problem solving
• Process redesign/improvement techniques

They will be trained at least to degree level. Ideally with additional qualification (MBA or other) and membership of appropriate industry associations. They are looking for functional specialists. Any languages in addition to English would be a bonus.

Finally, individuals should be comfortable working in the highly pressured yet often ambiguous and flexible conditions that characterise transactions.

The Person

To succeed in this role, the successful applicant should have:

• Would be comfortable leading work to redesign the finance function and all its key processes (back-office operations as well as management reporting, budgeting and business planning).
• Has experience of considering shared services options for finance, and ideally for a wider range of functions.
• Ideally a Chartered Accountant or CIMA.
• Will have familiarity with the common financial system software so could advise a client on system selection issues and costs of implementation/integration/separation.