Senior Manager - Corporate Strategy (M&A)

At M&G our purpose is to help people manage and grow their savings and investments, responsibly. As a business, we are continuing to take steps towards a sustainable future, delivering better long-term solutions for our customers and clients and identifying new opportunities to make a positive impact for our environment and communities . To help us achieve our vision we're looking for exceptional people who live our values of care and integrity and who can inspire others; embrace change; deliver results and keep it simple.

We will consider flexible working arrangements for any of our roles and also offer work place accommodations to ensure you have what you need to effectively deliver in your role.

Context for the role:

We are expanding the Corporate Strategy team and broadening its capabilities as we chart the next phase of M&G's development.
The Senior Manager, Corporate Strategy, M&A, will assess opportunities for strategic partnerships, JVs and acquisitions, and prepare presentations to advise the Group Executive Committee and the Board of Directors. He / she will work with internal stakeholders across the Group, as well as external advisers, in pre-closing merger activities such as due diligence, the development of the business plan, negotiations, closing preparation and integration planning. Depending on the opportunity, the successful candidate may then play a central role is the steering and execution of post-closing integration activities.

Success in this role requires hands-on experience in M&A, a curious and resourceful mindset, established abilities in strategic thinking, superior problem-solving and analytical skills, excellent communication skills and a confident ability to work transversally across different parts of the organisation.

Key accountabilities for Integration Leader level role:

• Accountable for a clear, data-driven assessment of strategic priorities, their financial impacts and the expected customer outcomes
• Accountable for translating strategy into practical implementation plans, working with the relevant stakeholders to identify pre-requisites and build value-generating roadmaps with an MVP mindset
• Addresses competing requirements to deliver balanced results, resolving significant/priority conflicts
• Manages problems with broad reaching ramifications, managing different parts of complex topics and issues, and linking to the broader picture.
• Drives incremental and transformational change in response to market and customer needs; typically leads the delivery of major programmes of work.
• Motivates teams to shape and align on strategic objectives, with a strong understanding of delivery teams to make the strategy relevant for implementation.
• Networks with peers across the organisation, regardless of reporting lines.
• Engages and monitors external stakeholders, remaining open to external input and ideas in search of creative solutions.

Key accountabilities for this role:

• Assesses a variety of opportunities in acquisitions, JVs and strategic partnerships, working cross-functionally with a variety of internal stakeholders and external advisers
• Works collaboratively with the rest of the Corporate Strategy team, relevant Business leads and the Finance function to assess the cost and revenue drivers underpinning a proposed transaction, perform financial analyses and develop business models for impending and on-going transactions
• Supports junior team members in the Corporate Strategy team on relevant topics, such as building business plans and assessing revenue and cost synergies
• Supports transaction preparations, such as due diligence, business modelling, synergy assessment and integration planning
• Develops and helps present recommendations to the Group Executive Officer, Group Executive Committee and Board of Directors regarding potential M&A opportunities, the benefits of a particular opportunity and execution risks.

Key knowledge, skills and experience:

• Hands-on experience in M&A, including in-depth operational and valuation financial modelling, transaction structuring and corporate finance
• Excellent business sense, with a mature ability to understand M&G's priorities in delivering profitable growth and enhancing client outcomes, and assess transaction opportunities against those priorities
• Established problem solving skills: intellectually agile, autonomy in formulating sound hypotheses, identifying and assessing the synergy drivers of a proposed transaction, performing relevant analyses to prove or evolve them
• Superior verbal and written communication skills: ability to structure a recommendation paper for a senior audience, develop logical storylines, explain complex problems clearly and present them in a concise, fact-driven manner
• Significant experience in engaging constructively and providing positive challenge across the organisation, building and managing strong relationships with other senior management team members, gaining trust and respect, and adapting to the internal dynamics and politics as required
• Strong interpersonal skills, combined with diplomacy and discretion
• Ability to operate effectively in a complex, matrix environment.

Qualifications:

• Relevant degree or professional qualification.

We have a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture at M&G plc, underpinned by our policies and our employee-led networks who provide networking opportunities, advice and support for the diverse communities our colleagues represent. Regardless of gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, nationality or disability we are looking to attract, promote and retain exceptional people. We also welcome those who take part in military service and those returning from career breaks.