Transaction Services Manager

Forge Talent; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A dynamic advisory firm in Manchester is seeking a Transaction Services Manager to lead financial due diligence engagements. This role involves developing client proposals, managing transactions, and producing detailed reports while mentoring junior team members. The ideal candidate has experience in financial diligence in a professional services environment, is a qualified accountant, and possesses strong analytical and communication skills, critical for navigating complex financial data and engaging with senior stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in financial due diligence within a Transaction Services environment.
• Strong understanding of completion accounts.
• Background in professional services.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of client proposals and deliver financial due diligence engagements.
• Manage end-to-end financial due diligence across transactions.
• Produce concise due diligence reports and coach junior members.

Skills

Financial due diligence

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Commercial awareness

Education

Qualified Accountant (ACA or equivalent)

Job description

Forge Talent are working with a fast-growing UK advisory firm operating across accounting, tax, and deal advisory. The business is continuing to invest heavily in its Deal Advisory / Transaction Services capability and is building a high-calibre Transaction Services team to support an increasing volume of mid-market M&A activity, working with corporates, private equity, and investor-backed businesses.

This is a key hire into a relatively new but rapidly growing Transaction Services function, offering genuine opportunity to help shape the team, take ownership of client relationships, and work closely with senior leadership as the business continues its expansion.

The culture is collaborative and relationship-led, with a strong emphasis on quality of work, commercial thinking, and developing people. You’ll be trusted to run your own engagements, supported by a growing team of specialists across tax, legal, and advisory.

The Role

As a Transaction Services Manager, you’ll lead financial due diligence engagements from proposal stage through to completion, delivering clear, commercially focused insights that support deal execution and negotiations.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development of client proposals, defining scope, identifying key financial and commercial risks, structuring fees, and clearly articulating the value proposition
• Manage end-to-end financial due diligence engagements across buy-side, sell-side, and debt transactions
• Coordinate inputs from tax, legal, commercial, and other specialist teams to deliver integrated, high-quality outputs
• Produce concise, issue-led due diligence reports tailored to client objectives and transaction timelines
• Coach and mentor junior team members, promoting a commercially focused and high-quality approach to analysis and reporting
• Contribute to SPA negotiations from a financial perspective, including working capital, net debt, normalised EBITDA, and price mechanism considerations
• Maintain proactive client communication, managing expectations, resolving issues, and ensuring deadlines and service standards are met

Experience & Skills

• Proven experience in financial due diligence within a Transaction Services environment
• Strong understanding of completion accounts
• Qualified Accountant (ACA or equivalent)
• Background in professional services

Personal Attributes

• Strong analytical and report writing skills with the ability to interpret complex financial data
• Commercially minded, with a solid understanding of deal dynamics, valuation, and M&A drivers
• High attention to detail and a methodical approach to identifying risks and red flags
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, comfortable presenting to senior stakeholders
• Strong financial analysis and modelling capability