[Hiring] M&A Integration Manager @Sanoma Learning

Role Description

We are looking for a senior Integration Leader to take full ownership of a high-impact post-acquisition integration. This is a unique opportunity to operate at the intersection of strategy and execution — translating deal rationale into tangible results while safeguarding business continuity and unlocking long-term value.

You will work directly with senior leadership, acting as the orchestrator of the integration journey and ensuring that growth, synergies, culture, and operational excellence move forward in a coordinated and structured way.

What You Will Own:

• Define and execute the end-to-end integration roadmap (0–30–90–180 days), aligned with the deal thesis and value creation levers (growth, synergies, capability expansion).
• Lead the Integration Management Office (IMO), coordinating cross-functional workstreams and ensuring clear governance, prioritization, decision-making, and dependency management.
• Secure business continuity in the acquired company: deliver financial targets, retain key talent, protect critical client and supplier relationships, and minimize operational disruption.
• Drive organizational and cultural integration, aligning processes, systems, structures, and ways of working.
• Define, monitor, and report integration KPIs (clients, talent, synergies, process and systems milestones, organizational health) to senior leadership.
• Identify and manage risks, trade-offs, and key escalation topics in a proactive and structured manner.

Qualifications

• Senior leadership experience, including post-merger integrations or complex cross-functional transformation programs.
• Proven track record integrating medium-sized organizations into larger corporate structures.
• Experience working with founder-led or entrepreneurial environments, navigating sensitive stakeholder dynamics and professionalizing processes and governance.
• Strong background in complex project/program management (multi-stakeholder, cross-functional, tight timelines, high ambiguity).
• Exposure to strategy, corporate development, or PMI environments within matrix and/or international organizations is a plus.

Requirements

• Strategic and structured: connects day-to-day integration decisions with long-term value creation, bringing clarity and prioritization to complex environments.
• Influential leadership: mobilizes senior stakeholders and teams across organizations without relying solely on formal authority; manages conflict and trade-offs constructively.
• High cultural and emotional intelligence: understands informal dynamics and power structures, balancing empathy with clear boundaries.
• Hands-on and resilient: combines executive-level communication with strong operational presence; performs effectively under pressure and with incomplete information.
• Clear communicator: articulates direction and decisions in a transparent and tailored manner for different audiences (Board, executives, middle management, teams).

Company Description

Sanoma Learning is a leading K12 European learning company, operating in 12 countries. Our learning products and services enable and support teachers and schools to develop the talents of every child to reach their potential. By offering printed and digital learning content, as well as digital learning and teaching platforms for primary, secondary and vocational education, we want to grow our positive impact on learning across Europe. With over 3000 employees, we help shape the future of education for 25+ million of students.

Sanoma Learning is an equal opportunity employer; we are committed to inclusion and diversity, ensure equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or any other characteristics.