Associate Director, HR M&AGlobal Human Resources | Mergers & Acquisitions
About Cognizant Corporate
Cognizant Corporate is a global community united by a shared purpose: to make a meaningful impact. We are committed to excellence and driven by outcomes that matter. Collaboration is at the heart of how we work, and our forward-thinking mindset fuels continuous learning, innovation, and growth. At Cognizant, careers transcend titles. We empower our people to think strategically, inspire others, and lead with purpose, always guided by our core values.
About the role
The Associate Director, HR M&A is a senior member of the global HR M&A team responsible for leading the people-related aspects of acquisitions and integrations across the transaction lifecycle.
This individual serves as a trusted HR M&A advisor to deal teams, business leaders, and functional stakeholders, assessing human capital risks and opportunities, developing HR transaction and integration strategies, and influencing deal terms. The role spans due diligence, pre-close planning, employee transition and onboarding, integration, and post-close stabilization.
The successful candidate will bring direct HR M&A experience, strong business and financial acumen, and the ability to translate complex workforce information into clear risks, recommendations, and executable plans. This role requires strategic thinking, hands-on execution, executive communication, data analysis, and disciplined program leadership.
HR M&A Leadership
In this role, you will:
· Lead assigned HR workstreams across acquisitions and integrations.
· Serve as a primary HR M&A point of contact for deal teams, business leaders, HR leaders, target companies, and cross-functional stakeholders.
· Translate transaction objectives into a comprehensive people strategy, HR work plan, governance structure, and employee transition approach.
· Provide guidance on workforce risks, organizational implications, employee experience, cost considerations, and execution requirements.
· Apply sound judgment in a fast-paced transaction environment, balancing business objectives, employee considerations, compliance requirements, and deal timelines.
· Manage multiple concurrent transactions and workstreams with differing levels of complexity, risk, geography, and maturity.
Acquisition Due Diligence
· Lead or independently manage the HR due diligence process for assigned acquisitions.
· Develop a tailored HR tailored due diligence strategy based on deal drivers, transaction structure, workforce profile, geographic scope, and known areas of risk; refine requirements as additional risks, gaps, or dependencies emerge.
· Review and analyze workforce data, employment practices, HR policies, employee programs, organizational structures, and contractual obligations.
· Assess human capital health, including organizational capability, workforce stability, critical talent, employee relations, compliance exposure, and key-person dependencies.
· Evaluate compensation, benefits, incentives, retention arrangements, employment terms, workforce costs, and other employee-related obligations.
· Review executive and key-employee arrangements, including employment agreements, change-in-control provisions, severance obligations, transaction bonuses, retention commitments, and other potential transaction triggers.
· Compare target-company practices and programs with Cognizant plans, policies, processes, and operating model.
· Develop comprehensive gap analyses that identify material risks, integration considerations, potential costs, and recommended mitigation actions.
· Partner with Compensation, Benefits, Employment Legal, Finance, Tax, Mobility, Talent, HR Operations, and other subject-matter experts to validate findings and determine potential exposure.
· Translate due diligence findings into concise, executive-ready risk assessments, recommendations, and decision materials.
· Provide HR input into purchase agreement provisions, transition service considerations, financial models, integration requirements, and other people-related deal terms.
· Ensure due diligence findings are effectively transitioned into integration planning and execution.
Acquisition Integration
· Translate transaction objectives and due diligence findings into an actionable HR integration strategy and roadmap with clear milestones, owners, dependencies, decision points, and success measures.
· Partner with Finance, IT, Corporate Security, Legal, Mobility, Compliance, Corporate Development, and business teams to identify and manage cross-functional dependencies affecting employees.
· Coordinate with Compensation, Benefits, Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Talent Architecture, HR Operations, Payroll, HR Technology, and HR Business Partners to assess gaps and develop appropriate harmonization strategies.
· Guide decisions related to organizational alignment and the harmonization of HR policies, systems, and processes.
· Partner with HR Business Partners, Organizational Change Management, Corporate Communications, and Corporate Development to establish an effective employee communication and change framework.
· Coordinate integration-related data requirements with the HR M&A data management team and other data owners.
· Support post-close stabilization, issue resolution, and the transition of responsibilities to steady-state HR owners.
· Conduct post-integration reviews and apply lessons learned to improve HR M&A methodologies, playbooks, tools, templates, and governance practices for future transactions.
Employee Transition and Onboarding
· Develop and oversee comprehensive employee transition and onboarding plans for acquired employee populations across HR functions, countries, legal entities, and business units.
· Evaluate differences between acquired employees’ current terms and Cognizant compensation, benefits, policies, and employment practices.
· Develop recommendations for compensation and benefit alignment, retention, employee support, policy transition, and risk mitigation.
· Oversee employment documentation, employee communications, onboarding materials, benefit information, background verification, work eligibility, employee data readiness, payroll setup, benefits enrollment, and HR system readiness.
· Partner with Legal, Finance, Tax, Mobility, Payroll, Compensation, Benefits, Talent Acquisition, HR Operations, and local HR teams to ensure employee readiness.
· Lead HR readiness reviews and confirm that people-related requirements are completed before key transaction milestones.
· Act as an escalation point for complex employee transition matters, monitor employee-impacting issues following close, and drive timely resolution through the appropriate HR and business teams.
Program Governance and Stakeholder Management
· Establish disciplined program governance for assigned HR M&A workstreams.
· Develop and maintain integrated project plans, workstream schedules, decision logs, risk registers, status reports, and executive updates.
· Track milestones, deliverables, dependencies, issues, and actions across functional teams.
· Hold workstream owners accountable for agreed deliverables; escalate risks affecting transaction timing, cost, compliance, or employee experience; and present recommendations, options, and trade-offs to support timely decisions.
· Facilitate cross-functional working sessions, governance meetings, leadership reviews, and decision forums.
· Build trusted relationships with business leaders, HR leaders, Corporate Development, functional experts, target-company representatives, and external advisors.
· Communicate complex and sensitive topics with clarity, discretion, and an appropriate level of urgency.
· Prepare and deliver concise presentations, risk assessments, recommendations, and decision materials to senior HR and business leadership.
· Ensure decisions, assumptions, material findings, open items, risks, and transaction commitments are documented, escalated as appropriate, and communicated to stakeholders.
What you must have to be considered
· Deep understanding of the HR M&A lifecycle, including due diligence, pre-close planning, employee transition, integration, stabilization, and transition to steady-state operations.
· Strong understanding of HR disciplines and their interdependencies, including compensation, benefits, HR operations, talent acquisition, talent management, employee relations, payroll, mobility, HR technology, and HR business partnering.
· Demonstrated ability to assess human capital risk and translate HR findings into business, financial, contractual, and operational implications.
· Advanced analytical capabilities, with the ability to synthesize complex workforce and financial information, identify critical risks, trends, dependencies, and gaps, and maintain a clear view of transaction objectives.
· Strong business and financial acumen, including an understanding of cost drivers, financial exposure, workforce costs, and the impact of HR decisions on transaction outcomes.
· Advanced project and program management skills, including governance, planning, dependency management, risk mitigation, decision management, and execution.
· Ability to develop practical, business-oriented recommendations based on incomplete information and evolving transaction circumstances.
· Strong executive communication skills, including the ability to prepare and deliver concise presentations, risk summaries, decision papers, and recommendations.
· Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders without direct authority and drive alignment across multiple functions.
· Strong relationship-building and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with target companies, internal teams, business units, and external advisors.
· High degree of judgment, discretion, and sensitivity when handling confidential transaction and employee information.
· Exceptional attention to detail, with the ability to manage competing priorities, compressed transaction timelines, and rapidly changing parameters while maintaining quality and accuracy.
· Ability to operate effectively in a global environment and work across cultures, countries, legal entities, and time zones.
Qualifications
· Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, Finance, Organizational Development, or a related field required; advanced degree preferred.
· Minimum of 12 years of progressive experience in corporate Human Resources, HR consulting, or a related discipline.
· Minimum of 7 years of direct HR M&A experience, including acquisition due diligence, pre-close planning, integration, employee transition, or post-close stabilization.
· Demonstrated experience leading HR workstreams across multiple phases of the M&A lifecycle.
· Experience conducting HR due diligence and evaluating workforce risks, compensation, benefits, employment arrangements, organizational structures, and employee-related obligations through data analysis, gap assessments, and cost evaluation.
· Experience leading complex, cross-functional, global programs with significant business and employee impact.
· Demonstrated experience partnering with Corporate Development, Legal, Finance, Compensation, Benefits, HR Operations, HR Business Partners, and business leadership.
· Experience providing HR input into transaction terms, financial assumptions, purchase agreements, transition plans, and integration cost models.
· Advanced Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint skills required, including workforce data analysis and development of executive-ready materials.
· Project or program management certification, such as PMP, PgMP, or an equivalent credential, preferred.
· Prior experience in consulting, technology services, or another transaction-intensive global organization strongly preferred.
· Willingness and ability to work across global time zones and support critical transaction milestones outside standard working hours when required.
· Ability to travel based on transaction and business needs.
These will help you succeed
The preferred candidate will have hands-on responsibility for multiple completed acquisitions, with meaningful experience spanning due diligence, integration planning, employee transitions, executive communications, and post-close execution. Experience leading HR workstreams for divestitures or other complex corporate transactions is also valued.
Key Success Measures
· Early identification and effective mitigation of material human capital risks.
· Clear, actionable HR recommendations that support informed transaction decisions.
· Accurate and timely delivery of employee transition and integration milestones.
· Effective management of cross-functional dependencies, risks, and decisions.
· Strong leadership confidence in HR M&A analysis, recommendations, and execution.
· Consistent and well-managed employee experiences during periods of significant change.
· Successful transition of acquired employees into steady-state operations.
· Continued improvement of HR M&A processes, playbooks, tools, governance, and organizational capability.
· Proficiency of AI skill within each transaction
Work model
We believe hybrid work is the way forward as we strive to provide flexibility wherever possible. Based on this role’s business requirements, this is a hybrid position requiring 3 days a week in a Cognizant office. Regardless of your working arrangement, we are here to support a healthy work-life balance though our various wellbeing programs.
The working arrangements for this role are accurate as of the date of posting. This may change based on the project you’re engaged in, as well as business and client requirements. Rest assured; we will always be clear about role expectations.
We're excited to meet people who share our mission and can make an impact in a variety of ways. Don't hesitate to apply, even if you only meet the minimum requirements listed. Think about your transferable experiences and unique skills that make you stand out as someone who can bring new and exciting things to this role.
Salary and Other Compensation
Applications will be accepted until December 15th, 2026.
The annual salary for this position is between $116,000 - $157,000, depending on experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.
This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program, based on performance and subject to the terms of Cognizant’s applicable plans.
Benefits: Cognizant offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements:
- Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance
- Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off
- 401(k) plan and contributions
- Long-term/Short-term Disability
- Paid Parental Leave
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan
Disclaimer: The salary, other compensation, and benefits information is accurate as of the date of this posting. Cognizant reserves the right to modify this information at any time, subject to applicable law.
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