Director, M&A People Strategy & Integration

We are looking for a strategic, hands-on Director, M&A People Strategy & Integration to lead the human capital lifecycle for our deal pipeline. In this high-impact individual contributor role, you will design and execute due diligence and post-merger integration strategies centered on talent, organizational design, compensation, and cultural alignment.

You will serve as the primary human resources quarterback during transactions, partnering closely with internal People team functional leads (Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, People Operations) and collaborating with Corporate Development, Legal, Finance, and IT to ensure seamless operational continuity, compliance, and employee experience from announcement through post-close integration.

Key Responsibilities

People Due Diligence & Risk Assessment

Diligence Execution: Lead HR and talent due diligence across target organizations, analyzing organizational structures, total rewards programs, workforce demographics, employment contracts, and labor compliance risks.

Talent & Cultural Assessment: Evaluate key talent retention risks, leadership team capabilities, organizational design, critical skills gaps, and cultural alignment to inform valuation, deal terms, and integration strategies.

Cost & Synergy Modeling: Partner with Finance to analyze workforce cost structures, including compensation, benefits, harmonization costs, retention packages, severance exposure, and synergy targets.

Cross-Functional Integration Planning & Execution

Integration Playbook & Strategy: Build and maintain scalable People M&A playbooks, defining key deliverables across HR, Legal, Finance, and IT for Day 1 readiness and First 100 Days goals.

Legal & Compliance Alignment: Partner with Legal to manage employment contract transfers, equity roll-overs, restrictive covenants, immigration/visa transfers, works council/labor relations requirements, and employment law compliance.

People Ops & Systems Transition (with TD&I & Finance): Collaborate with TD&I and People Ops to manage HR Information System (HRIS) migrations, identity/access management transitions, payroll cutovers, and benefit vendor consolidations.

Total Rewards Harmonization: Partner with Total Rewards to design side-by-side benefit maps, compensation alignment structures, equity conversions, and stay/retention bonus programs for acquired employees.

Employee Experience & Change Management

Change & Communications: Partner with Internal Comms and Legal to design Day 1 announcement communications, offer letter rollouts, onboarding experiences, and executive town halls.

Retention Strategy: Track, monitor, and support key talent post-close, driving initiatives that preserve company culture and minimize unwanted attrition.

Stretch Opportunities & Total Rewards Impact: M&A activity naturally ebbs and flows. During lower deal volume periods, you will drive and project-manage strategic, high-visibility initiatives across the broader Total Rewards organization.

Qualifications & Requirements

Experience: 7–10+ years in M&A HR and Talent strategy, People Integration, or M&A Human Capital consulting (Big 4 / strategic advisory), with end-to-end deal lifecycle management.

Cross-Functional Expertise: Proven ability to drive joint workstreams with Legal, Finance/Payroll, IT, and HR functional leads without direct line management authority.

Technical HR Acumen: Strong fluency in global/domestic employment law fundamentals, compensation/benefits harmonization, equity compensation, and HRIS systems migrations.

Data-Driven Analysis: Solid skills in workforce data modeling, salary/benefit side-by-side mapping, and workforce financial synthesis.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or related field; Master's or SPHR/SHRM-SCP certification preferred.

Key Competencies

Cross-Functional Leadership: Adept at aligning disparate stakeholder priorities across Legal, Finance, IT, and HR teams toward tight deal deadlines.

Proactive "Driver" Skillset: High-agency operator with a strong bias for action; proven ability to take full ownership of deal outcomes, push cross-functional workstreams forward, hold partners accountable to tight deal timelines, and solve complex roadblocks with urgency.

Structured Problem-Solving: Ability to bring structure, playbooks, and clarity to ambiguous, rapidly moving transaction environments.

Empathy & Discretion: High emotional intelligence, discretion, and tact when handling sensitive employee information and high-stress organizational changes.

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The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in the San Francisco Bay area is between:

$219,000—$301,000 USD

Below is the annual base salary range for candidates located in California (excluding San Francisco Bay Area), Colorado, Illinois, New York and Washington. Your actual base salary will depend on factors such as your skills, qualifications, experience, and work location. In addition, Okta offers equity (where applicable), bonus, and benefits, including health, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), flexible spending account, and paid leave (including PTO and parental leave) in accordance with our applicable plans and policies. To learn more about our Total Rewards program please visit: https://rewards.okta.com/us.

The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in California (excluding San Francisco Bay Area), Colorado, Illinois, New York, and Washington is between:

$196,000—$270,000 USD

The Okta Experience