M&A People Business Partner

 

ROLE SUMMARY

The M&A People Business Partner is a HR professional who serves as the primary people partner for every acquired company during Meriton’s 120-day integration experience. This role requires equal credibility with front-line employees and executive leadership; one day facilitating a benefits enrollment session, the next advising an acquired company’s President on how to navigate a sensitive personnel situation. The comms, onboarding, and enrollment work is real and required, but this person’s differentiating value is their ability to build trust quickly, manage complexity calmly, and help leaders and employees move through change with confidence.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Leader Partnership & Change Management

• Serve as a trusted HR partner to acquired company Presidents, GMs, and senior leaders throughout the integration window, handling full-cycle challenges and opportunities end-to-end.
• Guide employees through the cultural and operational transition to Meriton: what’s changing, what’s staying, and how to communicate both with their teams effectively.
• Anticipate and surface people-side risks: morale concerns, retention flags, leadership friction and proactively suggest recommended paths forward.
• Help leaders understand and adopt Meriton’s operating model, people practices, and expectations without losing the culture that made their company worth acquiring.

Employee Relations & Sensitive Issue Handling

• Serve as the first point of escalation for employee related issues or questions that arise during the integration window: medical coverage concerns, questions about job security, and other sensitive matters.
• Handle situations with sound judgment, appropriate confidentiality, and a clear escalation path to the Director when needed.
• Build visible, accessible relationships with employees across acquired companies so that people feel heard and supported through the process.
• Identify patterns in employee concerns and proactively flag systemic issues before they become escalations.

Benefits Enrollment & Participant Support

• Coordinate and lead benefits enrollment activities with Meriton’s benefits partners: education sessions, office hours, and Q&A events — virtual and on-site.
• Serve as first-line support for participant questions; resolve issues efficiently in partnership with carriers and vendors.
• Track enrollment completion and drive to 100% by each deadline through proactive follow-up.

ExponentHR Onboarding

• Guide employees through the ExponentHR onboarding workflow: logins, tasks, elections, and confirmations; drive completion by required milestones.
• Coordinate onboarding timing with the Director and Systems Analyst to align with payroll and benefits eligibility.
• Lead manager trainings to help introduce ExponentHR to the business.

Communications & Integration Materials

• Maintain acquisition materials: FAQ, town hall deck, manager talk tracks, and onboarding guides; ensuring they are current, accurate, and organized for immediate use.
• Manage a communications cadence for each deal from pre-close through Day 90, translating decisions into clear, employee-ready messaging.

On-Site Presence

• Travel to acquired operating companies to support town halls, run enrollment sessions, and serve as the in-person Meriton HR representative.
• Build credibility quickly at each site; de-escalate concerns in the moment and follow up with clarity.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• 5+ years of progressive HR Generalist experience, including meaningful exposure to employee relations, change management, and leader advisory work.
• Demonstrated ability to build trust and credibility with both senior leaders and employees in fast-moving, high-stakes environments.
• Experience managing sensitive employee relations matters with sound judgment and appropriate escalation.
• Comfort facilitating benefits enrollment processes: education sessions, deadline management, and participant support.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; polished presenter who is equally effective one-on-one and in front of a group.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365: PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Teams, SharePoint.

Preferred

• Experience in M&A integration, multi-site HR, or acquisitive organizations.
• SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, or SPHR certification.
• Familiarity with ExponentHR or comparable HRIS platforms.
• Working knowledge of health plans (PPO, HDHP, HSA/FSA), 401(k) fundamentals, and eligibility concepts.

TRAVEL

• 1–3 trips per month to domestic operating company locations, aligned to town halls, enrollment sessions, and on-site integration support. Travel is purposeful and tied to the highest-impact moments in each acquisition.