Senior M&A Consultant

Marsh McLennan; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 104,000 - 209,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Tuition assistance

401K savings

Job summary

Mercer, part of Marsh McLennan, seeks an experienced Senior M&A Consultant to join our HR M&A Advisory Services in a hybrid setting based in New York City or Chicago. You will lead due diligence, manage workstreams, and deliver HR M&A strategies across Mercer’s health, wealth, and global benefits platforms.

You will develop workforce analytics, leverage HRIS tools, and partner with senior consultants to drive high-impact transactions for corporate and private equity clients.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; 4–7 years experience with 2–3 years in consulting or in-house strategy/M&A preferred.
• Strong understanding of M&A deal lifecycle and able to support due diligence, integration planning, or separation activities across transaction types.
• Working knowledge of core HR functions and HR technologies; develop depth in one or two HR disciplines relevant to M&A contexts.
• Familiarity with transaction-specific HR considerations and regulatory issues; travel to client sites as needed.

Responsibilities

• Lead due diligence and transaction execution across deal types, manage data requests, VDR review, and quantitative analyses to identify HC risks and integration costs.
• Drive project management and cross-workstream coordination, owning scopes, timelines, and budgets.
• Serve as primary day-to-day client contact and workstream lead, delivering client-ready analyses and presentations.
• Develop workforce analytics and financial models to support due diligence findings and integration planning.
• Support organizational design and culture assessment workstreams.
• Lead and develop junior team members.
• Contribute to business development, including proposals, SOWs, and client meetings.
• Escalate issues with context and proposed solutions to senior leadership.
• Contribute to internal initiatives supporting practice and growth.
• Thrive in an environment embracing AI and tech-enabled tools.

Skills

Due diligence

Project management

Client liaison

Workforce analytics

HRIS knowledge

Excel modeling

PowerPoint

Data visualization

AI tools

Written communication

Verbal communication

Travel flexibility

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Workday

SuccessFactors

Job description

Company:

Description:

Mercer is seeking an experienced M&A consulting professional to join our HR M&A Advisory Services team as a Senior Associate. Based in New York City or Chicago (hybrid, minimum three days per week in-office).

The Senior M&A Consultant supports the full deal lifecycle across all transaction types—including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, carve-outs, and joint ventures—for both corporate and private equity clients. You will manage workstreams, lead junior team members, and partner with senior consultants to deliver human capital M&A strategies across Mercer’s business lines—Health, Wealth, Career, Global Benefits Management, Regional Market Development, and the broader Marsh McLennan enterprise. This is an opportunity to deepen your technical consulting expertise, build subject matter depth across M&A deal types and HR disciplines, and contribute to high-impact transactions that shape organizations.

We will count on you to:

• Lead due diligence and transaction execution across deal types: Manage data requests, virtual data room (VDR) review, and quantitative analyses to identify human capital risks, liabilities (e.g., pension/SERP obligations, change-in-control triggers, equity compensation exposure), and integration cost estimates.
• Drive project management and cross-workstream coordination: Own assigned workstreams across Mercer and client teams, managing scope, timeline, and budget.
• Serve as a primary day-to-day client contact and workstream lead: Partner with the Engagement Manager, Market Leader, and cross-practice Mercer consultants to deliver client-ready analyses, reports, and presentations that require minimal revisions.
• Develop workforce analytics and financial models: Build and interpret workforce cost models, headcount analyses, organizational design scenarios, and total rewards benchmarking to support due diligence findings and integration planning. Leverage HRIS platforms (e.g., Workday, SuccessFactors) and data tools to support people-data-driven insights and integration KPI tracking.
• Support organizational design and culture assessment workstreams
• Lead and develop junior team members
• Contribute to business development: Draft proposal sections and RFP responses, support development of scopes of work (SOWs) and fee estimates, and participate in orals presentations and client meetings.
• Escalate issues proactively: Surface risks and blockers to senior leadership with relevant context and proposed solutions, enabling timely decision-making.
• Contribute to internal initiatives that support practice and team development and business growth.
• Thrive and be motivated by an environment that embraces AI and technology-enabled tools.

What you need to have:

• Bachelor’s degree required
• 4–7 years of professional experience, with a minimum of 2–3 years in a consulting role (or in-house strategy/M&A); prior exposure to HR M&A transactions strongly preferred
• Solid understanding of the M&A deal lifecycle and fundamental deal mechanics, including experience supporting due diligence, integration planning, or separation activities across multiple transaction types (e.g., acquisitions, divestitures, carve-outs); developing depth in one or more deal phases
• Working knowledge of core HR functions—total rewards, benefits, HR technology (e.g., Workday, SuccessFactors), talent, and HR operations—with developing expertise in one to two HR disciplines that are material in M&A contexts (e.g., compensation benchmarking, benefit plan design, workforce planning)
• Working knowledge of business models, finance, and industry terminology
• Familiarity with transaction-specific HR considerations across deal types, including carve-outs, divestitures, add-on acquisitions, and cross-border deals; awareness of relevant regulatory considerations (e.g., WARN Act, TUPE, change-in-control obligations, collective bargaining agreements) is a plus
• Demonstrated project management capabilities, including the ability to manage competing priorities and time constraints
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to translate complex data and analyses into clear, executive-level presentations and reports
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Excel modeling, PowerPoint storyboarding); familiarity with data visualization or analytics tools; comfort with AI productivity tools in a consulting context
• Ability to work with minimal direction; knows when to seek support or guidance; manages time effectively to meet deadlines with reliability and consistency
• Willingness to travel to client sites as required by deal activity (travel volume is deal-dependent and varies)

What Makes You Stand Out:

• Established credibility as a reliable workstream lead with growing subject matter expertise in HR M&A; recognized as a go-to resource by peers and junior colleagues
• Proactive, confident, and calm under pressure in a fast-paced, changing environment with the ability to work at the pace required by client M&A activity
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills, including comfort with financial modeling and workforce data analysis
• Intellectual curiosity about deal structures, transaction dynamics, and the evolving HR M&A landscape, including private equity deal models and cross-border transaction complexity
• Prior experience supporting both corporate and private equity clients across transaction types, or strong desire to develop this breadth
• Demonstrated collaboration and a team-oriented mindset, including being approachable and sought after by junior colleagues for guidance and support
• Understanding of organizational goals and metrics, with growing commercial awareness of how Mercer’s solutions connect across business lines and how M&A engagements generate broader client value
• Relevant professional certifications are a differentiator (e.g., CCP, GRP, CEBS, PROSCI, PMP)

What can you expect:

• We help you be your best through professional development opportunities, increasingly complex and meaningful work, and supportive leaders who invest in building your consulting depth and growth.
• We foster a vibrant and inclusive culture where you can work with talented colleagues to create new solutions and have an impact on colleagues, clients, and communities.
• Our scale enables us to provide a range of career opportunities, as well as benefits and rewards to enhance your well-being.

Mercer is a business of Marsh (NYSE: MRSH), a global leader in risk, reinsurance and capital, people and investments, and management consulting, advising clients in 130 countries. With annual revenue of over $27 billion and more than 95,000 colleagues, Marsh helps build the confidence to thrive through the power of perspective. For more information about Mercer, visit mercer.com, or follow us on LinkedIn and X.

Marsh is committed to embracing a diverse, inclusive and flexible work environment. We aim to attract and retain the best people and embrace diversity of age background, disability, ethnic origin, family duties, gender orientation or expression, marital status, nationality, parental status, personal or social status, political affiliation, race, religion and beliefs, sex/gender, sexual orientation or expression, skin color, veteran status (including protected veterans), or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. If you have a need that requires accommodation, please let us know by contacting [e-mail].

Marsh is committed to hybrid work, which includes the flexibility of working remotely and the collaboration, connections and professional development benefits of working together in the office. All Marsh colleagues are expected to be in their local office or working onsite with clients at least three days per week. Office-based teams will identify at least one “anchor day” per week on which their full team will be together in person.

The applicable base salary range for this role is $104,400 to $208,800.

The base pay offered will be determined on factors such as experience, skills, training, location, certifications, education, and any applicable minimum wage requirements. Decisions will be determined on a case‑by‑case basis. In addition to the base salary, this position may be eligible for performance‑based incentives.

We are excited to offer a competitive total rewards package which includes health and welfare benefits, tuition assistance, 401K savings and other retirement programs as well as employee assistance programs.