Manager, Strategy & Transformation (Merger Transformation)
About The Position
Highspring is seeking a Manager, Strategy & Transformation to support merger transformation and other major financial-services initiatives. The role joins a team that guides clients through transactions and organizational change, including M&A, carve-outs, IPOs, system implementations, and transformation across operational accounting, financial processes and technology, FP&A, liquidity and cash reporting, regulatory reporting, risk management, and transactions. The position alternates between focused facilitation and mapping engagements and ownership of end-to-end journeys or workstreams. The manager may facilitate a single workshop, document findings, and hand off recommendations, or manage a cross-portfolio initiative from discovery through execution. The successful candidate will independently structure work, manage stakeholders and priorities, and move between these modes as needed. The role requires client and team interaction, including flexibility to work onsite with clients or in a Highspring office up to three days per week and willingness to travel at least 25%. The stated base compensation range is $114,886–$177,397 USD. The individual may also be eligible for bonuses and financial incentives based on individual and company performance.
Requirements
- BA/BS in Business, Finance, Accounting, Information Systems, Operations, or a related discipline.
- At least 5 years of experience in banking, financial services consulting, business transformation, or a related environment.
- Prior business analyst experience or deep familiarity with building and interpreting process-flow diagrams and journey maps.
- Prior project or program manager experience, or clearly demonstrated equivalent skills in planning, dependency management, status reporting, and driving work to completion.
- Proven ability to independently design and facilitate workshops, particularly process- and journey-mapping sessions, and drive groups to a decision or clear next step.
- Ability to set strategy and plans with minimal support and personally execute those plans.
- Strong interpersonal skills and ability to quickly build credibility and trust with new stakeholders.
- Subject matter expertise across multiple banking, financial services, or transformation domains.
- Ability to structure an ambiguous client problem, lead analysis, and develop an executable solution.
- Strong executive communication skills, including synthesizing complex issues into clear recommendations, tradeoffs, and decisions.
- Demonstrated ability to manage and develop junior team members while maintaining accountability for quality and outcomes.
- Comfort working in fast-moving environments where priorities, requirements, and available information may evolve.
- Strong Microsoft Office experience, including PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook.
- Willingness to travel at least 25%.
- Flexibility to work onsite with clients or in a Highspring office up to three days per week.
Nice To Haves
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification, or equivalent process-improvement experience.
- Experience with HRIS, CM, or HRMS systems such as WorkDay, ADP, UKG, or Paylocity.
- Prior management consulting experience.
- Experience leading workstreams within a bank merger, acquisition integration, core banking conversion, regulatory transformation, or enterprise-wide change program.
- Experience working with banks experiencing significant growth, increasing organizational complexity, or preparing to cross regulatory asset thresholds.
- Experience helping financial institutions enhance operating models, governance, risk management, controls, data, reporting, technology, or business capabilities as organizational and regulatory expectations increase.
- Experience leading initiatives requiring close coordination between business and technology teams.
- MBA, relevant advanced degree, or professional certification.
Responsibilities
- Design, plan, and independently facilitate process-mapping, journey-mapping, current-state/future-state, root-cause, and requirements workshops, driving participants to documented outcomes.
- Build and maintain process-flow diagrams and end-to-end journey maps connecting activities, systems, and handoffs across portfolios and lines of business.
- Identify gaps, redundancies, and conflicting decisions in shared processes, functions, and customer or employee experiences, and resolve or escalate them.
- Translate workshop results into maps, decision logs, action plans, and RAID logs that portfolio and program leads can use.
- For assigned journeys or workstreams, develop plans, sequence work, and execute with limited day-to-day direction.
- Apply program and project management practices, including scope, milestones, dependencies, RAID management, and status reporting, to cross-portfolio initiatives.
- Balance standalone facilitation requests with longer-running workstream ownership and proactively flag capacity conflicts.
- Build trust with portfolio leads, project teams, and subject matter experts, including stakeholders who are new to the engagement.
- Probe assumptions and surface risks or gaps that portfolio-level teams may not identify.
- Communicate findings and recommendations effectively to working teams and senior stakeholders.
- Manage and develop junior team members while remaining accountable for quality and outcomes.
- Travel at least 25% and be flexible to work onsite with clients or in a Highspring office up to three days per week.
Benefits
- May be eligible for bonuses and financial incentives based on individual and company performance.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Manager
