Manager - HR M&A Transactions - People Advisory Services (UK&I) - Open to Flexible Working in London

Organisations are having to become much more adaptable to change as they face new workforce challenges as a result of globalisation, changing demographics, emerging technology, innovation and regulatory demands. 

We believe the People Agenda is at the heart of successful change.  EY People Advisory Services (PAS) help organisations to put humans at the centre of their transformation agenda enabling them to align culture and leadership to their purpose, develop necessary skillsets and mindsets, and build adaptability through continuous change and learning.

We are a global network with more than 11,000 employees in more than 130 countries, offering deep industry knowledge and experience to more than 2,000 corporate clients worldwide.  Within the UK, we have over 330 consultants advising clients across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors on their most challenging workforce problems. 

We are growing fast and looking for those, who share our values, believe in the importance of the people agenda and have experience in organisation and workforce transformation and transactions, change experience and learning, culture and leadership, digital HR, rewards and people mobility, to join us in PAS. 

The Opportunity

In the HR M&A team we focus on advising and supporting clients through the complete deal cycle, combined with fast paced and complex restructuring projects; providing a range of HR/People related services to clients.

We contribute to and validate the deal price before a deal and assist in the realisation of synergies post-deal; whilst also supporting businesses to achieve their short and long term business objectives via supporting their restructuring initiatives.

Our services cover the entire deal cycle from HR due diligence, day one readiness (including reward elements such as retention, the impact of share based plans and other employee benefits) through post-merger integration and post deal value enhancement such as organisation design, consultation planning and execution and culture change initiatives. The team works on engagements for UK, European & Global organisations and private equity houses.

These engagements are often complex and fast-paced due to the nature of the deal timelines in ensuring adherence to statutory and anti-trust regulations.

Your Key Responsibilities

• Assist clients to address people related matters through all stages of the M&A deal life cycle.  Manage and structure work to meet and exceed clients expectations
• Support clients to address people related matters brought about via enterprise wide or functional re-organisation/restructuring
• Lead HR work stream activity, providing subject matter expertise on people related matters
• Manage all report writing, project planning, data analysis, and development of presentation material
• Manage, collaborate with and mentor project  team members
• Lead on data analysis and present high quality, risk-managed reports/conclusions including client and executive presentations in various formats
• Work with key project leaders to manage and maintain client relationships
• Ensure that all client work is delivered consistently, complying with EY's Q&RM guidelines
• Working collaboratively with other M&A service lines and PAS colleagues across  EY

To qualify for the role you must have

The current team has a different range of expertise across the M&A deal lifecycle. Therefore, we are looking for both specialists and candidates with some M&A experience, as well as broad HR generalist in some of the areas highlighted above.

• Ideally, some M&A deal background or business restructuring with a focus on HR such as Due Diligence, post-deal integration and post deal value enhancement. Business transformation and restructuring  such as organisation design or an HR generalist background or an M&A background (including legal or financial)
• Proven Commercial HR experience from private, public sector or consulting
• Experience of leading a project/workstream, demonstrating strong project management skills for high quality and timely delivery
• Experience of employee retention, compensation and benefits programmes
• Experience of working with and acting as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders on HR M&A /restructuring programmes
• Experience of leading and/or coaching and developing client or internal teams to improve performance
• Qualitative and quantitative data analysis skills and data manipulation and presentation
• For candidates without prior significant HR experience, strong M&A experience across a range of transactions, including M&A, IPO and restructuring

Skills and Attributes for success

• Team player; with the ability to integrate with new teams quickly
• Ability to analyse complex problems and to deliver insightful, practical and sustainable solutions
• Able to build and maintain relationships with senior stakeholders in a fast paced and complex environment
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and experience of producing high calibre reports, papers, presentations
• Coaching and developing team members
• Regularly brings ideas and insights to clients that provide value, help address risk and support the deal lifecycle
• Can leverage knowledge and experience of the transaction lifecycle to identify and develop new opportunities
• Good at influencing, driving impact and implementing change
• Pragmatic and adaptable with the ability to deal with ambiguity and effectively manage conflict

What we look for

We are looking for a professional and experienced individual who can demonstrate an ability to address varied interests of clients and stakeholders. In this role, you will need to be self-aware and flexible in your own approach when dealing with different styles and backgrounds.

What we look for

We have many clients from various sectors talking to us about how can they assess, attract and nurture individual talent engagingly in varying contexts.

We are looking for individuals who can demonstrate real impact within various areas of PAS for our clients. We require people who can build our service offerings, understand client needs, grow our internal capability and connect effectively across our global PAS to maximise our global knowledge and experience in assisting clients to build their talent pool. 

What working at EY offers

We offer a competitive remuneration package where you’ll be rewarded for your individual and team performance. Our comprehensive Total Rewards package includes assistance for flexible working and career development, and with FlexEY you can select benefits that suit your needs, covering holidays, health and well-being, insurance, savings and a wide range of discounts, offers and promotions. Plus, we offer:

• Coaching and feedback from some of the most engaging colleagues around
• Opportunities to develop new skills and progress your career
• The freedom and flexibility to handle your role in a way that’s right for you

About EY

EY is a global professional services organisation providing advisory, assurance, tax and transaction services. We are dedicated to doing our part in building a better working world for our people, our clients and our communities. And we are united by our shared values and a dedication to delivering exceptional client service

We make sure our people succeed. The networks you build and the experiences you have with us will help define and accelerate the rest of your career. Last year in the UK, nearly 2,000 of our people were promoted or progressed within their grade, and we are significantly increasing the number of partners in the UK. So, when you build something better at EY, we make sure you’re rewarded.

Our People Advisory Services practice has over 10,000 practitioners operating within a globally integrated team, bringing their skills, insights and experience to support our clients.

Driven by our focused insight and innovation, PAS is best positioned to advise and influence our client’s activities at senior leadership level to respond to the scale and complexity of how and where our clients work globally, making us the trusted advisor of choice to our clients and creating more opportunities for our people. As a result, we’re continually seeking new markets, new perspectives and better ways to deliver value.

EY is dedicated to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements. We strive to achieve the right balance for our people, enabling us to deliver excellent client service whilst allowing you to build your career without sacrificing your personal priorities. While our client-facing professionals can be required to travel regularly, and at times be based at client sites, our flexible working arrangements can help you to achieve a lifestyle balance.

If you can confidently demonstrate that you meet the criteria above, please contact us as soon as possible.

Make your mark.

Apply now.