Manager, Acquisition Integrations

Description

Why Everstory

At Everstory Partners, our mission is to create supportive spaces where individuals and families can find solace, meaning, and hope in the midst of loss. At the heart of our mission is a deep understanding of the profound and complex nature of grief. Every person’s journey through loss is unique, and we are committed to providing compassionate and personalized support. 

We also believe that grief is not a problem to be solved or a burden to manage alone, but rather a natural and beautiful part of the human experience. Backed by our national strength and our local partners’ role is to be a steady presence, a source of comfort and guidance, and a partner in celebrating the life and legacy of the person who has passed.

The Impact You Will Make 

The Manager, Acquisition Integrations leads the execution of onboarding and integration plans for newly acquired cemetery and funeral home locations, translating each acquisition's transition plan into coordinated action across HR, IT/systems, trust and finance, operations, and legal. This role supports multiple concurrent acquisitions and is responsible for maintaining the master integration plan, tracking workstream progress across department heads, resolving cross-functional roadblocks, and escalating risks before they affect timelines or day-one readiness. The Manager, Acquisition Integrations also contributes to operational readiness assessments during diligence, ensuring the transition plan accurately reflects what each acquired location needs at close.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Own and maintain the master integration plan and milestone tracker for each active acquisition, from signing through full stabilization.
• Translate department-level onboarding requirements (HR/hiring and training, IT/systems conversion, trust and finance onboarding, marketing, operations, legal/regulatory) into a coordinated cross-functional workplan for each acquired location.
• Run recurring integration status meetings with department heads and leadership; maintain action-item logs and drive follow-through on open items.
• Identify integration risks, dependencies, and bottlenecks early, and escalate to leadership with clear options for resolution.
• Track integration milestones and readiness across all workstreams for each acquired location through go-live and stabilization.
• Partner with the diligence team to assess operational readiness of acquisition targets, including systems compatibility, staffing structure, licensing/regulatory requirements, and site-level onboarding needs.
• Translate diligence findings into an actionable integration plan so execution can begin immediately at close, without a gap between deal close and onboarding kickoff.
• Flag integration risks discovered during diligence, such as system conversion complexity, staffing gaps, or state-specific regulatory requirements, for leadership review before close; financial, tax, and trust accounting diligence remain owned by the Accounting/Finance diligence team.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for department heads (HR, IT, Trust/Finance, Marketing, Operations, Legal) throughout the transition process.
• Coordinate system conversion and migration activities alongside IT and operations, including cemetery/crematory management system migrations and payment platform transitions.
• Support employee hiring and training rollout at newly acquired locations in partnership with HR.
• Maintain a repeatable integration playbook, refining it after each acquisition based on lessons learned.
• Prepare regular integration status updates for senior leadership, summarizing progress, risks, and decisions needed.
• Maintain documentation of integration decisions, timelines, and outcomes for audit and continuity purposes.

Core Competencies:

• Compassion - Genuinely cares about people; is concerned about their work and non-work problems; is available and ready to help; is sympathetic to the plight of others not as fortunate; demonstrates real empathy with the joys and pains of others.
• Customer Focus - Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
• Ethics and Values - Adheres to appropriate (for the setting) and effective set of core values and beliefs during both good and bad times; acts in line with those values; rewards the right values and disapproves of others; practices what he/she preaches.

Role Competencies:

• Problem Solving - uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions. Probes all fruitful sources for answer. Can see hidden problems. Is excellent at honest analysis. Looks beyond the obvious and doesn’t stop at the first answers.
• Directing Others - is good at establishing clear directions. Sets stretching objectives. Distributes the workload appropriately. Lays out work in a well-planned and organized manner. Maintains two-way dialogue with others on work and results. Brings out the best in people. Is a clear communicator.
• Organizing - can marshal resources (people, funding, material, support) to get things done. Can orchestrate multiple activities at once to accomplish a goal. Uses resources effectively and efficiently. Arranges information and files in a useful manner.
• Comfort Around Higher Management - can deal comfortably with more senior managers. Can present to more senior managers without undue tension and nervousness. Understands how senior managers think and work. Can determine the best way to get things done with them by talking their language and responding to their needs. Can craft approaches likely to be seen as appropriate and positive.
• Process Management - good at figuring out the processes necessary to get things done. Knows how to organize people and activities. Understands how to separate and combine tasks into efficient work flow. Knows what to measure and how to measure it. Can see opportunities for synergy and integration where others can’t. Can simplify complex processes. Gets more out of fewer resources.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Operations Management, or related field required.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification a plus but not required.
• 5+ years of experience in M&A integration, project/program management, operations, or management consulting, including direct experience coordinating post-close integration workstreams.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent, complex initiatives with competing deadlines and stakeholders.
• Experience in multi-site or multi-location service businesses (healthcare, funeral/cemetery, retail, hospitality, or similar regulated industries) preferred; death care experience a plus but industry-specific training will be provided.
• Prior exposure to system conversions/migrations and vendor transitions as part of an integration effort preferred.
• Familiarity with due diligence processes and the handoff from diligence into execution preferred.
• Proficient with project-tracking tools (e.g., Smartsheet, MS Project, Asana).
• Exceptional attention to detail, analytical thinking, and problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Advanced Excel and PowerPoint skills required.
• Demonstrated hands-on approach and success in working with cross-functional departments, particularly HR, IT, Trust/Finance, Operations, and Legal.
• Valid driver’s license required; regular travel to acquired locations required.

Work Environment:

• On-site at Support Center, M-F required. 
• Regular travel to acquired locations required to support onboarding and site readiness.

Our Investment in You

Everstory Partners is proud to provide our employees with a quality work environment and opportunity for both personal and professional growth. As part of our ongoing commitment, we offer a competitive benefits package for our Full-Time Employees including:

• Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, AD&D and STD Insurance
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Anniversary Award for each year of service
• Career Advancement and Training - like our Aspiring Managers Program
• Everstory Cares - Employee Assistance Fund
• Legend Award Program
• Funeral and Cemetery Benefits
• Employee Referral Bonus
• 401k with Company Match

Everstory Partners is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to employing a diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, gender identity or expression, or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal law.

The pay range for this role is based on a wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions regardless of race, gender, age, religion, or any other protected characteristic. They include skill set, experience and training, licensure and certification, and other business and organizational needs. This range estimate has been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. Compensation decisions are dependent on the circumstances of each hire.