Senior Manager - Growth and Strategic Initiatives

Company:

Oliver Wyman

Description:

Oliver Wyman advises clients across a broad spectrum of strategy and actuarial challenges. We are a rapidly growing practice with offices across the globe. We bring a combination of broad-based expertise with specialized knowledge, allowing us to provide independent, objective advice in the three primary areas of risk and insurance: Life, Health and Property/Casualty.

Oliver Wyman is a business of Marsh (NYSE: MRSH), a global leader in risk, reinsurance and capital, people and investments, and management consulting, advising clients in 130 countries. With annual revenue of over $27 billion and more than 95,000 colleagues, Marsh helps build the confidence to thrive through the power of perspective.

For more information, visit oliverwyman.com, or follow us on LinkedIn and X.   

Background

Growth – both organic and inorganic – is central to the long-term ambitions of our Insurance, Asset Management (IAM), and Actuarial (OWA) businesses. Acquiring complementary businesses, in combination with organic and geographic expansion, is a critical component to our long-term growth goals and future success.

Delivering on that ambition takes more than deal execution. It requires disciplined prioritization of the leadership agenda, rigorous program management, thoughtful integration of the businesses we acquire, and the ability to convert strategy into measurable outcomes across practices, geographies, and functions. To support this, we are seeking a Senior Manager, Growth and Strategic Initiatives.

Job Overview:

The Senior Manager, Growth and Strategic Initiatives is a high exposure, global role and a strategic partner to the Chief Growth Officer, the Chief of Staff to the Chief Growth Officer and the Head of Platform & Transformation in guiding and facilitating the IAM & OWA growth agenda. This role will help translate growth ambitions and leadership priorities into action.

The role drives a portfolio of priorities spanning growth and strategic projects, including: identifying, evaluating, and integrating potential acquisition targets; working closely with cross-functional teams, including corporate development, finance, legal, HR, and operations, to ensure successful execution of acquisitions; leading business-side integration planning and governance once transactions close; and supporting other strategic projects on the growth agenda.

This is a highly visible position for an individual who can operate effectively with senior leaders, navigate ambiguity, connect stakeholders across the organization, and independently drive important initiatives from concept through execution.

This is a hybrid role that will require a presence in the office three days per week. There is no option to be fully remote.

Key Responsibilities:

Growth and M&A:

• Serve as the primary business-side coordinator for inorganic growth initiatives across IAM and OWA, in close partnership with Oliver Wyman and Marsh Corporate Development.
• Identify and research acquisition and investment targets across all practices and geographies, drawing on market research, leadership networks, and collaboration with Corporate Development.
• Lead development of the business-side strategic rationale and business case, covering capability fit, market attractiveness, strategic benefits, potential synergies, and key risks; manage any required internal approval processes
• Project manage the due diligence process on potential targets, coordinating business participation and assisting Corporate Development with market research, commercial analysis, risk assessment, and negotiation support.
• Support senior leaders in developing and managing relationships with potential targets and strategic partners, as needed.

Integration Support:

• Partner with the functional teams responsible for executing detailed integration plans across Finance, HR, Legal, IT, Marketing, and Operations, holding the overall plan together and resolving cross-functional issues.
• Coordinate commercial integration: client and pipeline alignment, cross-sell opportunities, capability positioning, and go-to-market messaging.
• Track integration progress and acquisition outcomes against the original business case, escalating issues and helping leadership ensure the strategic rationale and expected business benefits are realized.

Strategic Projects & Business Impact:

• Partner with the Chief Growth Officer, Chief of Staff to the Chief Growth Officer, Head of Platform & Transformation, and other leaders to develop, prioritize, and execute strategic growth initiatives.
• Lead high-priority strategic and operational projects focused on the growth agenda that require coordination across practices, geographies, and functions.
• Act as a connector across teams, helping ensure growth priorities are understood and that functional expertise and resources are mobilized effectively.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree and 7+ years of relevant experience, ideally in professional services, management consulting, corporate strategy, business operations, corporate development or a comparable environment.
• 3+ years working directly with or supporting C-suite or senior leadership teams.
• Prior experience in M&A, corporate development, transaction diligence or post-merger integration; direct transaction execution experience is helpful but not required.
• Demonstrated track record of managing complex, cross-functional initiatives from ideation and analysis through execution and measurable outcome.
• Proven project and program management capability, including planning, milestone tracking, risk management and stakeholder reporting across multiple concurrent workstreams.
• Strong PowerPoint and Excel capability, and comfort adopting new analytical and work-optimization tools.
• Willingness to travel as needed to support the business.

Skills and Attributes:

• Strategic and execution-oriented: Moves fluidly between defining the question, doing the analysis, and driving implementation.
• Commercially minded: Curious about markets, competitors, clients, capabilities and new avenues for growth.
• A strong integrator: Connects people, ideas, and information across organizational boundaries and brings structure to complex initiatives.
• Analytically rigorous: Comfortable working with incomplete information, developing hypotheses, and turning analysis into actionable recommendations, including developing business cases and synthesizing quantitative and qualitative information into clear recommendations.
• An exceptional communicator: Distills complexity into concise, persuasive narratives and polished materials for senior audiences. Outstanding written, oral and presentation skills.
• Credible with senior stakeholders: Builds trust with Partners and executives and can constructively challenge thinking when appropriate. Can influence senior stakeholders without formal authority and operate effectively in a matrixed organization.
• Proactive and independent: Anticipates what is needed, takes ownership and moves work forward without waiting for detailed direction.
• Discreet and trustworthy: Brings a high level of integrity and professionalism to confidential and commercially sensitive work.

Oliver Wyman is a business of Marsh (NYSE: MRSH), a global leader in risk, reinsurance and capital, people and investments, and management consulting, advising clients in 130 countries. With annual revenue of over $27 billion and more than 95,000 colleagues, Marsh helps build the confidence to thrive through the power of perspective. For more information, visit oliverwyman.com, or follow us on LinkedIn and X. The Actuarial Practice of Oliver Wyman, a Marsh business, advises clients across a broad spectrum of risk management issues. We are a rapidly growing group with offices expanding across the globe. Our actuaries hold the highest professional qualifications and are nationally recognized as experts in their field(s). We use mathematical and statistical modeling skills and our qualitative assessment methodologies to assist clients in evaluating and addressing risk. Our solutions help clients manage and prepare for the potential financial consequences of uncertain future events. We bring a combination of broad-based expertise with specialized knowledge of specific risks, allowing us to provide independent, objective advice in the three primary areas of risk: healthcare, life and annuity, and property and casualty.Marsh is committed to embracing a diverse, inclusive and flexible work environment. We aim to attract and retain the best people and embrace diversity of age background, disability, ethnic origin, family duties, gender orientation or expression, marital status, nationality, parental status, personal or social status, political affiliation, race, religion and beliefs, sex/gender, sexual orientation or expression, skin color, veteran status (including protected veterans), or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. If you have a need that requires accommodation, please let us know by contacting [email protected] is committed to hybrid work, which includes the flexibility of working remotely and the collaboration, connections and professional development benefits of working together in the office. All Marsh colleagues are expected to be in their local office or working onsite with clients at least three days per week. Office-based teams will identify at least one “anchor day” per week on which their full team will be together in person.