Director, M&A Integration

Aperture brings together leading forensic specialists and technical consultants who clarify complex events, strengthen business decisions, and deliver answers grounded in science and extensive industry experience. Aperture has grown through the combination of fifteen firms and continues to acquire founder-led practices and recruit senior experts and their teams.

Salary
$150,000 - $200,000 base salary, plus annual bonus and eligibility for Aperture's Management Incentive Plan.

Description
As Director of M&A Integration, you will own the onboarding and first year of every firm and team that joins Aperture, whether through acquisition or by recruiting senior experts with their practices. You will lead each one from the time we sign the LOI, through diligence and closing, and through the first 180 days with the platform and beyond, as one of the primary points of contact for the founder and management team. You will own the onboarding plan, the milestone reporting to leadership, and the onboarding playbook, and you will report to the Vice President, Corporate Development & Strategy.
You will work alongside our Director of Change Management, who runs platform-wide programs, while you run the deal-specific work. This is a hands-on role: you will design the onboarding playbook, build its tools, and run it yourself on live deals. The role has no direct reports at the start and coordinates cross-functional teams on every deal. This position may be remote or hybrid from any Aperture office within the United States, with approximately 25% travel.
Essential Functions

Before close (LOI to closing)
• Join each deal at the letter of intent, participate in diligence, and convert its findings into the onboarding plan before closing, including the risks to resolve and the value creation levers to pursue
• Build the functional workplan with Finance, HR, Legal, IT, and Marketing, including Day 1 requirements: payroll and benefits, entity and banking, licensure and insurance, and systems access
• Set the first-year plan with the deal team and FP&A: revenue and profitability against the investment case, named-expert retention, and realized rate

Day 1 through Day 180
• Own the master onboarding plan for each acquired firm and hold functional leads to committed dates
• Lead the weekly onboarding call with each acquired firm from Day 1 through Day 180
• Track the value creation levers and retention commitments for each firm, and report milestones, risks, and open decisions to leadership and to the sponsor as part of the regular M&A update
• Surface roadblocks and opportunities early enough to act on them, and bring the decisions that need an executive to the executive who owns them
• Close out each firm at Day 180 against the onboarding completion conditions set at closing.

Founder, experts and clients
• Serve as the primary point of contact for the founder and leadership of each acquired firm from Day 1 through steady state; identify what is stuck and resolve it
• Coordinate the retention plan for named experts and the client transition with the practice leader, so that law-firm relationships and open matters carry over without interruption
• Plan employee communications for each deal with the Director of Change Management
• Run the same onboarding process for experts and teams recruited from competitors

Playbook and reporting
• Design, build, and run the onboarding playbook: the workplan templates, trackers, and checklists each firm moves through; update it after each deal
• Maintain plan status so leadership can read progress at any time

What Success Looks Like in the First Year
• Every firm closed during the year reaches its 180-day targets with the completion conditions signed off.
• The weekly onboarding call runs consistently from Day 1 through Day 180 on every deal.
• First-year EBITDA of acquired firms is reported monthly against the investment case with FP&A, and the value creation levers for each firm have a named owner and a status.
• Named-expert retention at twelve and twenty-four months and realized rate are tracked for every firm.
• The onboarding playbook exists in one place, has been through at least three deals, and the fourth deal runs smoother than the first.

Other Duties
This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree or higher in business, finance, accounting, engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience
• Eight or more years in M&A integration, corporate development, or operations at an acquisitive company, including five or more years leading integrations end to end
• Personally led the integration of five or more acquired companies from diligence through stabilization, including founder-led professional services firms of roughly five to fifty people
• Experience inside a private equity-backed platform with an active add-on program: sponsor reporting, a value creation plan, and three or more closes a year
• Personally designed, built, and ran an integration playbook and the milestone reporting behind it, rather than overseeing others who did; candidates will be asked to walk through both
• Track record of holding functional leaders to dates without line authority, and of working directly with management after close
• Outstanding oral and written communication skills and able to interact effectively with executives, functional leaders and the owners of acquired firms

Preferred Qualifications
• Integration experience in professional services (expert witness, legal, consulting, accounting, or engineering services)
• Experience onboarding senior professionals or teams recruited with a book of business, for example lateral partner integration at a law firm

Personal Attributes
• Credible with the executive team and the sponsor, and with a founder who has just sold the firm they built
• Holds people to dates without authority over them, and does it in a way that keeps the relationship
• Owns the outcome rather than advising on it, and stays engaged through Day 180 when progress stalls
• A doer: designs the playbook, builds the tools, and runs the plan personally rather than directing others to
• Direct, organized, and influential

Physical Requirements
• Work is primarily computer-based and involves remaining in a stationary position for extended periods
• Ability to travel approximately 25%, including overnight stays, with or without reasonable accommodation

Work Environment
This position may be performed remotely or on a hybrid basis from any Aperture office within the United States. Travel is approximately 25%, primarily to acquired firms around closing and as needed during their first 180 days, with occasional travel to Aperture offices for business purposes.
Benefits
We strive to offer an environment that provides our employees with the right balance between work and family. We offer a comprehensive benefits package including:
• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance
• 401K with company discretionary contributions
• Paid holidays, paid time off, and floating holiday time

Hours of Work
• Classification: Exempt
• Full-time: Defined as 5 days a week for at least 40 hours per week. At times, the employee may be required to work over 40 hours per week in order to successfully complete the expected job duties and projects. When traveling, employee may be exposed to longer work hours.
 

AAP/EEO Statement
Aperture is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, marital status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. Our commitment to equal employment opportunities shall include employment, upgrading, promotion, demotion, transfer, leaves or other absences from work, layoff, compensation and benefits, selection for training or other education, professional opportunities, and conflict resolution.
It is also the policy of Aperture to take affirmative action to employ and to advance in employment, all persons regardless of their status as woman, minority or individuals with disabilities or protected veterans, and to base all employment decisions only on valid job requirements.
Aperture is committed to adhering to its obligations to reasonably accommodate both employees and applicants under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered in accordance with applicable fair chance laws, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance and the California Fair Chance Act.

Application Deadline
Applications will be accepted through December 31, 2026.