Managing Director, Integration Management Office

Position Summary

Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, the Managing Director, Integration Management Office (IMO), will lead Grant Thornton’s enterprise integration capability during a period of sustained growth, transformation, and active M&A.  The role is responsible for translating deal rationale, diligence findings, and approved integration objectives into executable integration plans that move acquired businesses into Grant Thornton’s platform with speed, discipline, and minimal disruption to clients, partners, and professionals.

The IMO leader will serve as the central integration executive for post-close execution, Day 1 readiness, integration sequencing, operating model activation, cross-functional decision-making, and integration risk management.  This role will work closely with the Value Creation Office (VCO) leader so that value creation opportunities are embedded into integration plans from the outset and critical handoffs are tightly managed throughout the integration lifecycle.

The successful candidate must be a seasoned integration operator who has personally led multiple, concurrent integrations across complex, matrixed organizations.  This person must bring the judgment, presence, and execution discipline to challenge functional plans, resolve blockers, impose cadence, and escalate decisions when required.

Key Responsibilities:

Integration Strategy, Planning, and Execution

• Translate acquisition strategy, diligence findings, business case assumptions, and deal rationale into detailed integration roadmaps, milestones, workplans, and decision calendars.
• Own end-to-end integration planning from pre-close readiness through Day 1, stabilization, functional integration, operating model transition, and post-close completion.
• Define the appropriate level of integration by acquisition, balancing speed, value capture, business continuity, client impact, cultural alignment, and operational readiness.
• Partner with Corporate Development during diligence and pre-close planning so integration requirements, risks, one-time costs, timelines, and resourcing needs are understood before close.

Integration Governance and Decision Rights

• Establish and manage the integration governance model, including decision rights, escalation paths, SteerCo materials, executive operating cadence, and functional workstream accountability.
• Ensure integration decisions are made at the right level and that unresolved matters are escalated quickly with clear options, trade-offs, and recommended actions.
• Reinforce the IMO as the decision-making authority for integration-related matters while partnering constructively with functional leaders and regional management.
• Provide transparent updates to the CFO, CEO, COO, Executive Committee, and New Mountain Capital on integration progress, risks, blockers, resourcing needs, and key decisions.

Program Management, Cadence, and Cross-Functional Accountability

• Lead disciplined program management across overlapping integrations, ensuring clear ownership, on-time execution, weekly cadence, milestone tracking, integrated RAID management, and issue resolution.
• Drive dedicated functional resource alignment across Finance, GTech, Legal, P&C, Procurement, Growth, service lines, and country leadership, with clear expectations for integration work versus business-as-usual priorities.
• Challenge functional teams to simplify integration scope, reduce unnecessary complexity, and focus work on the items most critical to deal thesis realization and operating model readiness.
• Maintain a single source of truth for integration status, dependencies, risks, decisions, and open issues using fit-for-purpose tools and reporting standards.

Day 1 Readiness, Stabilization, and Business Continuity

• Own Day 1 readiness planning and execution, including employee, client, financial, system, communication, governance, compliance, and operational readiness requirements.
• Ensure critical Day 1, Day 30, Day 60, and Day 100 deliverables are defined, assigned, tracked, and completed with minimal disruption to business performance.
• Coordinate with acquired-company leadership and Grant Thornton functional teams to protect key talent, client relationships, revenue continuity, and essential controls through the integration period.
• Build practical stabilization routines after close to surface operational issues early and move them quickly into resolution.

Operating Model, Systems, Process, and Data Integration

• Lead the integration of acquired businesses into Grant Thornton’s target operating model, including process ownership, systems sequencing, data quality requirements, shared services adoption, and functional operating model alignment.
• Partner with GTech, Finance Transformation, GDC, and related stakeholders to align integration milestones with systems implementation capacity, data standards, and enterprise transformation priorities.
• Ensure integration plans reflect realistic dependencies for ERP, CRM, HRIS, practice management, reporting, procurement, and other core platforms.
• Drive standardization where it creates scale and control, while preserving differentiated capabilities that support growth, client service, or market positioning.

Playbooks, Tools, Lessons Learned, and Repeatability

• Institutionalize repeatable integration playbooks for entity integrations, tuck-ins, capability additions, and larger transformational acquisitions.
• Use current integration pilots and active transactions to refine standardized templates, workstream charters, decision logs, reporting packs, readiness checklists, and executive dashboards.
• Capture lessons learned after major integration milestones and embed those lessons into the next integration cycle.
• Build a scalable integration engine that can support continued inorganic growth without relying on bespoke, founder-dependent execution.

IMO / VCO Partnership and Value Handoffs

• Work in lockstep with the VCO leader to ensure integration sequencing supports synergy realization and value creation priorities.
• Define clean handoffs between integration execution and value realization, including ownership of milestones, evidence requirements, and escalation points.
• Ensure integration workstreams incorporate value creation assumptions, synergy dependencies, and operating model changes from the beginning rather than treating them as downstream activities.
• Maintain close alignment with the CFO-led cadence between IMO and VCO, including weekly alignment meetings, dependency management, and escalation management.

Change Management, Communications, and Stakeholder Engagement

• Partner with communications, P&C, functional leaders, and acquired-company leadership to deliver clear integration communications that support employee engagement, retention, and cultural alignment.
• Prepare senior-leadership materials that are concise, decision-oriented, and transparent about progress, risks, resourcing constraints, and trade-offs.
• Build trusted relationships with acquired-company management and functional leaders while maintaining firm accountability for integration outcomes.

• Model direct, practical, execution-oriented leadership through ambiguity, competing priorities, and high-pressure integration timelines.

   

Professional Experience and Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business, Operations, or a related field; advanced degree preferred but not required.
• Minimum of 15 years of progressively senior leadership experience, with direct responsibility for complex post-merger integrations, transformation programs, or enterprise-scale program management.
• Demonstrated track record leading multiple concurrent acquisitions and integrations across functions, geographies, systems, and operating models.
• Experience in professional services, financial services, or another people-intensive, matrixed services environment strongly preferred.
• Experience operating in a private equity-backed or high-performance sponsor environment preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of integration governance, Day 1 readiness, operating model design, systems integration, change management, PMO discipline, and executive stakeholder management.
• Ability to lead through influence, impose discipline where required, and keep senior functional leaders aligned to integration outcomes.
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills, with the ability to produce executive-ready materials focused on decisions, risks, trade-offs, and accountability.

The base salary range for this position is between $281,000 and $400,000. Placement within the pay range is at Grant Thornton’s discretion, and it is based on multiple factors, including but not limited to, job -related knowledge/skills, experience, business needs, progression within the role, geographic location, and internal equity. At Grant Thornton, compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate.