Senior Specialist, Onboarding & Cultural Integration

Cohen & Co•Milwaukee, WI

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking a highly organized, detail-oriented Senior Specialist, Onboarding & Cultural Integration to own the firmwide onboarding experience end to end. This role ensures every new team member—across all service lines, levels, and locations—has a seamless, welcoming, and well-coordinated start at Cohen & Co. As the firm continues its rapid growth and M&A-led expansion, this position carries a mandate to streamline and modernize the existing onboarding process, building relationships with cross-functional stakeholders and partner with team managers to actively engage in setting up newcomers for success. The Senior Specialist partners closely with Talent Acquisition, IT/End User Technology, Admin Operations, P&C Business Partners, service line Pod Leaders and Training Leads, the M&A integration team, and the broader Learning & Development team to align onboarding plans with what each group needs from its people in the critical first week and beyond.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree.
Experience leading onboarding initiatives in a growing company (required).
Strong attention to detail and advanced organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple concurrent onboarding plans and deadlines.
Demonstrated ability to build strong relationships and influence cross-functional stakeholders without direct authority.
An eye for process improvement and the ability to streamline and modernize existing workflows.
Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to interact effectively with all levels (intern to partner).
Ability to maintain confidentiality and handle sensitive information professionally.
Ability to work independently as an individual contributor while collaborating across teams.
Requires 3 days per week in office at any Cohen & Co location.

Nice To Haves

2–3 years of experience directly handling onboarding programs.
Experience working in a professional services firm (accounting, legal, consulting, etc.).
Experience supporting M&A / acquisition integration.
Experience coordinating high-volume campus or cohort onboarding classes.
Familiarity with LMS platforms (e.g., LCvista), Workday, Asana, MS Teams, and AI/Copilot tools.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end onboarding process for the entire firm, including lateral hires, campus hires, interns, contractors, and international team members.
Ensure a consistent, high-quality experience across all service lines, levels, and office locations.
Coordinate the full onboarding workflow across stakeholders—Talent Acquisition, IT, Admin Operations, P&C Business Partners, the Independence Team and Team Managers.
Manage the biweekly (moving to weekly) lateral onboarding cadence, leveraging the New Hire List and onboarding trackers (e.g., Workday, Asana).
Finalize and deliver onboarding schedules, meet & greets, and Day 1 sessions on time and error-free.
Partner closely with our international teams in India, Ireland, and beyond on onboarding coordination—providing a unique opportunity to grow and strengthen those global relationships.
Partner closely with Talent Acquisition to plan and execute large campus hire and intern classes (approximately 50 per class, three times per year), which require extra coordination and lead time.
Scale onboarding logistics, scheduling, and communications to accommodate high-volume cohort intake across time zones and varied work arrangements.
Partner with each service line (Assurance, Tax, Advisory, and CSS) to tailor onboarding plans that match what each group needs from employees in their first week.
Coordinate with Team Managers, Pod Leaders, and Pod Training Leads to build schedules aligned to service line, super pod, sub pod, and level.
Ensure role-specific technical and compliance training is secured and scheduled in partnership with the technical learning teams.
Partner with Team Managers to actively engage in the onboarding process—from timely assignment to first-week participation.
Establish mutually agreed timelines and proactive communication norms with P&C Business Partners and Talent Acquisition to prevent delays.
Build strong, trust-based relationships with cross-functional stakeholders across People & Culture, IT, and the service lines.
Support the integration of incoming team members from the firm’s merger and acquisition activities, ensuring a welcoming and structured onboarding into the Cohen culture and systems.
Partner closely with the M&A integration team to align onboarding logistics, timelines, and cultural integration for acquired groups.
Adapt standard onboarding plans to accommodate the unique needs and scale of acquired teams.
Work with the learning technology team to ensure accurate LMS setup, enrollments, and learner records (e.g., LCvista) for each new hire.
Coordinate with technical learning teams to ensure technical training needs are identified and secured ahead of start dates.
Identify inefficiencies and pain points across the onboarding process and lead efforts to streamline and modernize it as the firm scales and cadence increases.
Recommend and implement improvements to reduce manual effort, standardize workflows, and improve the new hire and Team Manager experience.
Explore automation and e-learning tools to enhance and scale the onboarding experience.