Integration Management Office (IMO) Lead

Affinia; Stratford-upon-Avon; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

Extra 3 days holiday

Pension scheme

Death in Service

Professional membership support

Paycare reimbursement

Dress for your Diary

Job summary

Affinia is seeking an Integration Management Office Lead to establish and run the central IMO for our acquisitive integration programme. You will orchestrate governance, planning, and reporting across enabling functions, service lines, and acquired teams to deliver synergy value.

You will stand up the integrated plan, manage risk, issues and dependencies, and build in-house capability to sustain the IMO beyond mobilisation.

Qualifications

• Proven experience establishing and running a programme or IMO across multiple concurrent workstreams.
• Strong command of planning, governance, RAID and reporting disciplines.
• Experience coordinating cross-functional teams and senior stakeholders.
• Excellent governance and executive reporting abilities to board-level audiences.
• Ability to manage complexity and ambiguity with strong stakeholder management.

Responsibilities

• Set-up and operate the Integration Management Office as the central control function for the programme.
• Own governance rhythm and reporting to the steering committee and forums.
• Manage RAID across the programme, escalating and resolving issues and dependencies.
• Coordinate Enabling Function and Service Line workstreams and key business teams.
• Define the target operating model and move mobilisation to delivery.
• Track costs, benefits and value creation against the investment case.
• Develop and improve the integration framework, tools and templates.

Skills

PMO/IMO

Programme planning

Governance

RAID management

Stakeholder management

Executive reporting

Analytical thinking

Autonomy & organisation

Finance/Accountancy exposure

Job description

Job title: Integration Management Office (IMO) Lead

Reporting to: Head of Integration & Technology (line manager); assigned to the Integration Programme Director for integration programme delivery.

Hours: Full time Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm (37.5 hours per week)

Location: Hybrid working. Home base tethered to an Affinia or Wilson Partners office by agreement; willingness to travel across Affinia and Wilson Partners sites as the integration programme requires.

Affinia is the UK’s largest purpose-led, purpose-built Accountancy firm, focused on building stronger, more valuable relationships. With over 1,600 colleagues across the East, South East, London and the Midlands, we are dedicated to supporting our clients, colleagues and communities. We advise businesses, public sector organisations, charities and individuals throughout the UK and internationally across six Service Lines - Accountancy & Advisory, Tax and Planning, Audit & Assurance, Corporate Finance, Payroll and Corporate Recovery. Our team also offer in-depth sector expertise across a number of sectors, ensuring our clients receive the best short to medium and long-term advice, tailored to them. We are committed to delivering excellence in every aspect of our work, adapting to the evolving technology and regulatory landscape while consistently exceeding client expectations.

Our people are our most valuable asset. We are therefore committed to supporting our colleagues throughout their professional development, providing guidance and training at whatever stage of their career they join us.

Real people. Real growth. Real difference.

Purpose Of The Role

We are seeking a highly capable Integration Management Office (IMO) Lead to establish and run the central engine room of our acquisition integration programme. This pivotal role owns the integration management office – the planning, governance, reporting and control capability through which multiple workstreams are mobilised, coordinated and driven to deliver against synergy and value-creation targets.

You will build and operate the IMO as the single point of orchestration across Enabling Function leads (People & Culture, IT, Finance, Business Support and Marketing), Service Line leads (Accounts, Audit, Tax, Payroll), the acquired business leadership teams and key third party suppliers and advisers. You will stand up and maintain the integrated plan, the governance calendar, the risk, issue and dependency framework and the reporting cadence that feed the integration steering governance, and you will orchestrate the discovery and design activity that defines the target operating model. Where external consultants provide initial mobilisation support, you will take on and internalise the IMO from them, building enduring in-house capability.

This is a unique opportunity to design and lead the integration management capability at the heart of a dynamic, acquisitive organisation – turning a portfolio of complex, concurrent integrations into a repeatable, class-leading discipline and making a direct impact on strategic business success.

Accountabilities

IMO Set-up & Operation: Establish and run the Integration Management Office as the central control function for the integration programme, defining the standards, tools, templates, plan architecture and ways of working through which all workstreams operate. Maintain the integrated master plan and ensure milestones, dependencies and resources are aligned with strategic goals and delivered on time and within scope.

Governance & Reporting: Own the governance rhythm and the flow of information to the integration steering committee and supporting forums. Prepare papers, track progress against milestones and synergy targets, maintain the programme dashboard and key performance metrics, and provide executive leadership with a clear, confident line of sight on status, risk and value.

Risk, Issue & Dependency Management: Operate the programme-level RAID discipline, capturing and managing cross-functional risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies. Drive timely resolution, maintain escalation thresholds and ensure the right decisions reach the right forum at the right time.

Workstream Orchestration: Coordinate Enabling Function and Service Line workstream leads and the acquired business teams, aligning objectives, sequencing interdependent activity and holding the programme to its commitments. Convene and service the design and decision-making forums, ensuring decisions are logged, distilled and actioned.

Discovery & Target Operating Model: Orchestrate the discovery period and the definition of the target operating model, moving the programme from mobilisation into delivery at pace against a clear, agreed operating model, with fee-earner capacity actively protected throughout.

Cost, Value & Benefits Tracking: Track the cost of integration and the realisation of synergy and value-creation benefits, maintaining the methodology and evidence base that demonstrate return against the investment case.

Standardisation & Capability Building: Develop and continuously improve the integration framework, tools and templates so that each successive integration is faster, more consistent and more assured. Internalise capability from external advisers and build an enduring in-house IMO function that scales with deal volume.

Skills And Experience

• Proven experience establishing and running a programme or integration management office (PMO/IMO) across multiple concurrent workstreams in a complex, fast-moving environment.
• Strong command of programme planning, governance, RAID and reporting disciplines, with fluency in relevant toolsets (i.e. MS Project, Planner or other tools).
• Demonstrable experience coordinating cross-functional workstreams and senior stakeholders, sequencing interdependent activity to a plan.
• Excellent governance and executive-reporting skills, with the credibility to prepare and present to committee and board-level audiences.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with attention to detail and the composure to manage significant complexity and ambiguity.
• Excellent stakeholder management and interpersonal skills with the ability to influence and hold others to account at all levels.
• Highly organised, self-motivated and outcome-focused, comfortable operating with autonomy and building structure where little exists.
• Previous experience in professional & or financial services; previous accountancy sector experience would be beneficial.

Desired Experience

• Experience within an M&A environment integrating multiple businesses together.
• Relevant project/programme management certification (e.g. MSP, PMP, APM, Agile or ScrumMaster).
• Experience of standing up a PMO/IMO from scratch and transitioning capability from external advisers in-house.
• Experience working in a private equity-backed environment.

Core Benefits

At Affinia, our culture is driven by ambition and a commitment to positively impact all the communities we serve. We are dedicated to the success, development, and wellbeing of our colleagues, helping them achieve their goals and seize the opportunities that come with our growth. Alongside a flexible and inclusive work environment, we offer the following core benefits:

• 25 days holiday (FTE) plus Bank Holidays (Sept-Aug).
• Opportunity to purchase 3 extra days holiday per year.
• Auto enrolment Pension Scheme with True Potential.
• Death in Service.
• Professional membership support.
• Paycare – claim money back for Dental / Optical / Professional Therapies
• Dress for your Diary Policy.

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.

Affinia is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is unequivocal: we do not tolerate discrimination based on age, disability, sex, race, religion, or belief, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy, or maternity, or sexual orientation. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation that actively promotes equality of opportunity for all, valuing the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates, and selection for roles is based solely on individual merit.

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