Lead - M&A and Corporate Strategy

This is a senior role within the Finance & Strategy function, reporting to the Group CFO and Head of Strategy. The position leads the end-to-end execution of the organization’s acquisitions, from target evaluation and due diligence through to deal closure and post-acquisition integration.

The role focuses on driving M&A activity from within the organization , ensuring disciplined execution, effective coordination across internal teams and external advisors, and delivering clear, decision-ready insights to the CFO and leadership team throughout the deal lifecycle.

In addition to M&A, the role supports corporate strategy initiatives led by the CFO’s office.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. M&A Project Management & Deal Execution (Weightage: 70%)

Serve as the primary project manager for all live acquisition processes, ensuring workstreams progress to plan

• Own the end-to-end M&A project plan for each transaction, including milestone tracking, workstream coordination, due diligence closure, to post acquisition integration
• Coordinate cross-functional teams (Finance, Legal, Tax, HR, Business, IT, Operations), ensuring clear accountability and timely delivery
• Act as the primary interface for external advisors (Legal, Financial, Tax, Consultants), managing outputs, aligning priorities, and challenging assumptions where required
• Lead target identification and pipeline management , maintaining a structured pipeline aligned with strategic priorities and acquisition criteria
• Develop and maintain financial analyses and business cases , including valuation summaries, synergy assessments, and scenario modelling in collaboration with finance
• Oversee the due diligence process , including dataroom setup, information flow, progress tracking, and gist of key findings and risks for leadership review
• Prepare board materials, investment committee papers, and approval documentation
• Support transaction negotiations through valuation benchmarking, peer analysis, and financial insights , including development of negotiation scenarios, sensitivity analyses, and clear positioning to inform deal strategy and decision-making
• Lead post-acquisition integration planning , defining integration roadmaps, tracking execution, and monitoring synergy delivery
• Support divestitures, joint ventures, and strategic partnerships as required

2. Corporate Strategy Support (Weightage: 30%)

Assist the CFO and Head of Strategy in delivering the company's corporate strategy agenda

• Support the annual strategic planning cycle — coordinating cross-functional inputs, consolidating analysis, and helping prepare the senior leadership and board strategy presentations.
• Conduct market and competitive analysis to inform strategic choices, including sector landscaping and peer benchmarking.
• Support and lead ad hoc strategic initiatives under CFO office
• Prepare board-level and Ex Co-level materials on strategic topics, ensuring content is clear, well-structured, and decision-ready.
• Act as an analytical thought partner to the CFO on cross-functional priorities where finance and strategy intersect.
• Monitor industry trends, M&A market activity, and competitor news — providing regular briefings to ensure the company's pipeline and strategic positioning remain current.

3. CFO Support, Stakeholder Management & Governance

Ensure the CFO is well-prepared and well-supported across all M&A and strategy commitments, and maintain effective relationships across internal and external stakeholder groups.

• Provide structured, timely updates on the status of all live deals and strategy projects — anticipating information needs rather than waiting to be asked.
• Prepare briefing materials ahead of key meetings, board sessions and external advisor interactions.
• Build strong working relationships with internal stakeholders across finance, legal, HR, and business to ensure effective cross-functional execution on all mandates.
• Liaise with the Board and its relevant sub-committees (e.g. Audit, Risk, Nominations) in support of deal or strategy approvals as required.
• Maintain rigorous project documentation, version control, and file management across all active mandates to ensure a clear and accessible audit trail.
• Identify process improvement opportunities within the M&A function and support the development of frameworks, templates, and playbooks to build institutional capability over time.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

Essential

• Minimum 12+ years of relevant experience M&A, or a corporate finance / strategy role with significant transaction exposure- ideally in BFSI space.
• Strong project management skills — comfortable running multiple concurrent workstreams, holding cross-functional stakeholders accountable, and maintaining pace and discipline on complex processes.
• Sound financial and commercial acumen; able to review, sense-check, and communicate business cases, valuations, and financial analyses confidently (strong modelling skills are a plus).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to prepare crisp, high-quality materials for CFO and Board-level audiences and to engage credibly with senior stakeholders.
• A professional qualification (CA, CFA, MBA) is must.

Desirable

• Prior experience working with CFO or other C-suite executive in a corporate environment.
• Exposure to post-merger integration planning and execution.
• Experience supporting corporate strategy processes including annual planning cycles.
• Familiarity with cross-border acquisitions and multi-jurisdictional transaction processes.
• Sector (BFSI) expertise relevant to the company's core markets.