Mergers and Acquisitions Manager

Job title: Mergers and Acquisitions Manager

Job Type: Contract to hire

Location: Schaumburg, IL – Hybrid

To be considered for an interview, please make sure your application is full in line with the job specs as found below.

Job Summary

We are seeking a full-time Mergers and Acquisitions Manager to support the Company's acquisition growth strategy. This role will be responsible for acquisition sourcing, transaction advisory, deal execution, due diligence coordination, closing readiness, and post-merger integration support.

The M&A Manager will work closely with Company leadership, internal teams, offshore financial analysts, legal counsel, tax advisors, accounting teams, lenders, insurance providers, quality of earnings providers, and other external advisors to manage active and future acquisition opportunities from initial sourcing through closing and post-close integration.

Deliverables

The M&A Manager will be responsible for preparing, managing, and maintaining the following deliverables, as applicable:

• Acquisition target pipeline and sourcing tracker
• Target company profiles and initial screening summaries
• Transaction timelines and execution workplans
• Due diligence tracker and open-items list
• Weekly transaction status reports
• Executive summaries of diligence findings and key risks
• Investment and internal approval materials
• Transaction issue logs, action-item trackers, and decision logs
• Closing readiness checklist
• Post-close integration plan and milestone tracker

Responsibilities

1. Acquisition Sourcing and Deal Origination

• Source and identify acquisition targets aligned with the Company's growth strategy.
• Build and maintain a qualified acquisition pipeline.
• Conduct outreach through owners, brokers, M&A advisors, lenders, and referral networks.
• Screen targets based on financials, strategic fit, growth potential, and transaction readiness.
• Prepare target profiles with key risks, fit, and next steps.
• Maintain relationships with business owners, intermediaries, advisors, and deal sources.
• Track sourcing activity, follow-ups, and deal progress.
• Present qualified opportunities to leadership for review.

1. Transaction Execution

• Coordinate end-to-end deal execution.
• Develop, manage, and monitor detailed transaction timelines, workplans, due diligence trackers, and closing schedules.
• Serve as the primary internal coordination point across legal counsel, tax advisors, accounting teams, lenders, insurance providers, quality of earnings teams, and other internal or external advisors.
• Facilitate transaction meetings, maintain follow-up items, and ensure timely resolution of open issues.
• Partner with the offshore M&A financial analyst team to review financial models, validate assumptions, analyze transaction economics, and support investment decision-making.
• Support preparation of investment memoranda, internal approval materials, management presentations, and transaction summaries for leadership review.
• Identify execution risks, bottlenecks, unresolved diligence issues, and key dependencies.
• Escalate critical transaction matters to Company leadership in a timely manner.

1. Due Diligence Coordination

• Coordinate and manage the due diligence process across financial, legal, tax, operational, technology, HR, compliance, and commercial work streams.
• Prepare, maintain, and regularly update a comprehensive diligence tracker and open-items list.
• Monitor diligence requests, ownership, status, deadlines, and resolution of open matters.
• Coordinate with target-company management, data room administrators, and third-party advisors to obtain required information and documentation.
• Review diligence outputs and summarize key findings, issues, and risks for leadership.
• Work with internal teams and external advisors to track outstanding diligence matters.
• Support risk assessment, purchase price evaluation, transaction structure review, and final deal decision-making.

1. Reporting and Transaction Management

• Prepare and circulate weekly transaction status reports covering progress, timeline updates, diligence status, key risks, dependencies, critical decisions, and next steps.
• Prepare executive summaries of diligence findings and risks, including financial, legal, tax, operational, compliance, technology, HR, and integration considerations.
• Maintain transaction issue logs, action-item trackers, and decision logs for each active deal.
• Organize key transaction information and ensure leadership has clear, accurate, and timely updates.
• Prepare materials necessary for executive meetings, lender discussions, advisor calls, and internal transaction reviews.

1. Closing Readiness and Completion Support

• Coordinate all pre-closing workstreams to ensure transaction readiness.
• Track completion of due diligence, financing requirements, legal documentation, disclosure schedules, internal approvals, advisor inputs, and other closing deliverables.
• Develop and manage a closing readiness checklist for each transaction.
• Support leadership in assessing close/no-close readiness based on open items, deal risks, transaction conditions, and advisor feedback.
• Assist in final closing coordination with internal stakeholders and external advisors.
• Ensure required closing items are completed accurately and on time.

1. Post-Merger Integration and Value Creation

• Lead post-close integration planning and support execution after closing.
• Develop an integration roadmap with defined workstreams, responsibilities, milestones, and timelines.
• Coordinate integration efforts across operations, finance, technology, HR, compliance, client transition, reporting, and leadership teams.
• Track integration milestones, synergy realization, operational improvements, and performance against investment objectives.
• Identify integration risks, execution gaps, and cross-functional dependencies.
• Recommend corrective actions where needed to support successful integration.
• Support leadership in prioritizing and monitoring post-close value creation initiatives.

1. General Support and Advisory

• Provide strategic and execution-related support to Company leadership throughout the transaction lifecycle.
• Assist management in organizing transaction information, summarizing issues, and preparing materials for informed decision-making.
• Support communication and coordination among all parties involved in the transaction and integration process.
• Maintain strict confidentiality regarding acquisition targets, financial information, transaction terms, and internal strategy.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, Operations, or a related field.
• Extensively experienced in mergers and acquisitions, corporate development, transaction advisory, private equity, investment banking, business brokerage, or related deal execution roles.
• Experience coordinating financial, legal, tax, operational, HR, technology, compliance, and commercial due diligence.
• Experience working with legal counsel, tax advisors, accounting teams, lenders, quality of earnings providers, and other transaction advisors.
• Strong communication, presentation, follow-up, and organizational skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Google Workspace, CRM tools, and transaction tracking tools. xhyhwjd
• Willingness to travel as needed for business meetings, target company visits, advisor meetings, and transaction-related activities.