Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Acquisition Manager

🎯 Role Definition

The Acquisition Manager is responsible for leading the full lifecycle of acquisition activities — from identifying and evaluating target companies, assets or customer segments, through structuring and negotiating terms, coordinating cross‑functional teams for due diligence, presenting business cases, executing contracts and managing post‑acquisition integration and performance monitoring. This role ensures that acquisitions align with the organisation’s strategic objectives, deliver value, mitigate risk and integrate smoothly into the existing business. The incumbent must combine strategic vision with operational excellence, strong financial acumen, stakeholder management and robust execution capability.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Business Development Manager or Corporate Development Analyst
Strategy Consultant or Investment Banking Associate with M&A exposure
Product/Market Expansion Lead with demonstrated acquisition success

Advancement To:

Director of Mergers & Acquisitions or Head of Corporate Strategy
Vice President of Corporate Development or Growth Initiatives
Executive leadership in strategic business units or divisional GM

Lateral Moves:

Private Equity or Venture Capital Principal
Director of Strategic Partnerships and Alliances
General Manager of a newly‑acquired business unit or integration lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Conduct comprehensive market and industry research to identify potential acquisition targets, benchmark competitors, analyse market trends and evaluate strategic fit.
Develop, present and drive strategic acquisition roadmaps aligned with company goals, objectives and long‑term growth ambitions.
Lead deal origination: build a pipeline of opportunities, engage with brokers, owners, advisors and internal stakeholders to secure deal flow.
Manage the due diligence process: coordinate financial, legal, tax, operational, commercial and regulatory reviews, ensure completeness of assessments and identify deal risks.
Develop detailed financial models and valuation analyses (e.g., DCF, comparables, accretion/dilution) to support investment decisions and deal structuring.
Negotiate acquisition agreements, including letters of intent, term sheets, share or asset purchase agreements, and manage approval processes with senior leadership and legal teams.
Coordinate cross‑functional deal execution: work closely with Legal, Finance, HR, IT, Operations, Compliance and other teams to manage integration planning and closing logistics.
Oversee post‑acquisition integration planning and execution: define integration workstreams, monitor performance metrics, track synergy realisation and embed acquired assets into the organisation.
Monitor ongoing performance of acquired businesses or assets: compare actual results against projections, identify variances, recommend corrective actions and report to senior management.
Lead stakeholder communication: prepare board‑level presentations, investment memorandums, internal stakeholder briefings and status updates throughout the acquisition lifecycle.
Establish and oversee acquisition governance frameworks, deal approval processes, documentation standards and integration best practices.
Manage budgets, timelines, resource allocation and risk management for acquisition projects, ensuring adherence to milestones and financial targets.
Collaborate with corporate finance, treasury and investor relations teams to address capital raising, funding structures, covenant monitoring and investor reporting.
Stay abreast of regulatory, tax and accounting developments relevant to mergers & acquisitions, and provide insight on potential implications to transaction strategy.
Partner with business unit leaders to translate acquisition strategies into operational business plans, define success metrics and monitor integration results.
Analyse potential cultural, technological and operational risks of acquisitions and lead organisational change management initiatives to facilitate smooth transitions.
Mentor and lead junior acquisition team members or integration specialists: allocate work, review deliverables, promote best practices and develop capability.
Provide integration support for system migrations, process harmonisation, personnel alignment and cultural assimilation post‑acquisition.
Identify and recommend opportunities for divestments, restructuring, carve‑outs or re‑capitalisation as part of portfolio optimisation.
Drive continuous improvement of acquisition processes: evaluate performance of past deals, refine criteria, update playbooks and embed lessons learned into future strategy.

Secondary Functions

Support ad‑hoc data requests and exploratory analyses to inform acquisition strategy, market intelligence and business development dashboards.
Contribute to the organisation’s acquisition roadmap and growth strategy by collaborating with business units, IT, finance and operations to translate strategic goals into actionable acquisition initiatives and integration plans.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Strong financial modelling and valuation skills: proficiency with DCF, LBO, accretion/dilution modelling and scenario analysis.
Expertise in due diligence across multiple disciplines: financial, legal, tax, operational, regulatory and commercial assessments.
Advanced negotiation skills: drafting and reviewing letters of intent, term sheets, purchase agreements and managing contract closing processes.
Proficiency with analytics tools, CRM systems and data‑visualisation platforms to support pipeline management and reporting.
Experience with integration planning and execution: synergy tracking, process harmonisation, P&L management post‑acquisition.
Knowledge of regulatory, tax and accounting frameworks relevant to deals (M&A, antitrust, GAAP/IFRS, SEC filings).
Ability to prepare and deliver high‑quality presentations and investment memorandums to senior leadership and boards.
Project management skills: managing timelines, resources, budgets and cross‑functional stakeholder teams through complex deals.
Market research and strategic analysis: competitive benchmarking, industry trend identification and strategic target prioritisation.
Risk management and governance: establishing acquisition policies, integration controls, documentation standards and audit readiness.

Soft Skills

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills: capable of influencing senior stakeholders, managing cross‑functional teams and liaising with external advisors.
Strategic thinking and business acumen: able to align acquisitions with organisational goals, identify value levers and translate insight into action.
Leadership and team development: able to mentor junior staff, foster high‑performing teams and build integration capability.
Analytical and critical‑thinking: able to challenge assumptions, interpret complex data and offer clear recommendations for action.
Negotiation, persuasion and conflict‑resolution: comfortable leading deal discussions and resolving competing interests.
Organisational and time‑management skills: managing multiple projects, shifting priorities and high‑profile transactions.
Adaptability and resilience: thriving in dynamic deal environments, ambiguity and high‑pressure situations.
Stakeholder management and collaboration: working effectively with business units, advisors, legal, finance, operations and senior executives.
Ethical judgment and integrity: maintaining confidentiality, professional conduct, compliance with regulations and fiduciary responsibility.
Continuous learning and innovation: staying current on market trends, deal structures, integration best practices and new growth channels.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:
Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, Accounting or a related field.

Preferred Education:
Master’s degree (MBA preferred) in Finance or Business, and advanced credentials or deal‑related training or certification (e.g., CFA, CPA, CMC).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Finance, Accounting, Economics
Business Administration, Corporate Strategy, M&A
Data Analytics, Risk Management, Investment Banking

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:
5–8 years of progressive experience in acquisitions, corporate development or strategy roles involving deal execution.

Preferred:
8+ years’ experience in leading multiple acquisition deals, managing integration, building acquisition strategy and supervising teams in a corporate development or private‑equity environment.