Lead and execute US-focused lower-middle-market M&A: source and originate opportunities, build founder relationships, perform financial analysis and modeling, lead due diligence and negotiations, produce investment papers, coordinate advisors and stakeholders, and support integration alongside finance, HR, and operations.
Build deals. Build relationships. Help build our US business.
Celnor Group is entering an exciting new phase of international growth, and we're looking for an experienced M&A Manager to play a central role in building our US platform.
The United States is an important part of Celnor's long-term growth strategy. We have ambitious plans and are looking for someone on the ground who can identify exceptional businesses, build genuine relationships with their owners, and lead transactions from initial opportunity through to completion.
This isn't a role where you'll simply manage a pipeline or coordinate advisors.
We're looking for someone who can find opportunities, understand businesses, build relationships, and get deals done.
You'll be based remotely in the United States, working closely with our established M&A leadership in the UK while taking significant ownership of activity across our priority US markets, including the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, North Carolina, Texas, and California.
What you'll be doing:
What you'll be doing:
You'll take genuine ownership within our US acquisition pipeline, working across multiple opportunities at different stages and helping Celnor identify businesses that are both commercially attractive and culturally right for our Group.
You'll be responsible for:
- Identifying and originating acquisition opportunities, including off-market opportunities
- Building trusted relationships directly with founders, owners, and entrepreneurs
- Assessing businesses from financial, strategic, and commercial perspectives
- Developing investment cases and recommendations for senior leadership and the Board
- Leading transactions through evaluation, due diligence, negotiation, and completion
- Building financial analysis and deal models in Excel
- Producing clear, high-quality investment papers, reports, and presentations
- Coordinating external advisors and internal stakeholders throughout the transaction process
- Working closely with Finance, HR, Integration, and operational leadership
- Managing multiple live transactions while maintaining pace, accuracy, and attention to detail
- Contributing ideas, market intelligence, and potential opportunities to our wider US acquisition strategy
This is deliberately a hands-on M&A role. We want someone who enjoys being close to the transaction and wants to personally drive deals rather than oversee the process from a distance.
What we're looking for:
Fundamentally, we need someone who already knows how to do deals.
You may currently be working in corporate development, lower-middle-market M&A, investment banking, or transaction advisory. We're less concerned with the name above the door and more interested in what you've actually done.
You'll ideally bring:
- A strong track record of executing and leading M&A transactions
- Experience working within the lower-middle market
- Strong financial analysis and transaction capability
- Excellent commercial judgment and the ability to recognize what makes a genuinely attractive business
- Confidence building relationships directly with founders and business owners
- The ability to originate opportunities rather than relying solely on intermediated processes
- Strong Excel financial modeling and PowerPoint skills
- The ability to turn complex financial and commercial information into clear recommendations
- Confidence presenting investment cases to senior stakeholders
- The judgment to assess cultural alignment alongside financial performance
- Excellent attention to detail
- The ability to operate autonomously while remaining part of an internationally connected team
- Willingness and ability to travel within the United States as required
A CPA, CFA, or equivalent professional finance/accounting qualification would be advantageous.
Experience combining M&A with consulting, corporate strategy, or another commercially focused environment would also be valuable.
The person behind the resume matters
The person behind the resume matters
We're building something ambitious, but we're not trying to recreate an investment bank.
Our team moves quickly. Decisions get made. People are trusted to take ownership, challenge thinking, and get things done.
You'll need to be confident, commercially curious, and comfortable speaking with everyone from entrepreneurs and advisors to senior executives and Board members.
We're looking for someone with integrity, energy, judgment, and a sense of humor. Someone who communicates openly, notices things others miss, brings ideas to the table, and isn't afraid to get into the detail when a transaction needs it.
You'll also need to be comfortable operating independently. Your closest colleagues may be across the Atlantic, so we're looking for someone who doesn't need constant direction to create momentum.
There will inevitably be intense periods around transactions, but we also believe high performance and having a life outside work can coexist. We're not interested in creating an investment banking culture where long hours are treated as a badge of honor. We respect personal and family time while recognizing that, occasionally, everyone needs to get into the trenches to get a deal over the line.
Why Celnor?
Why Celnor?
Celnor Group is a rapidly growing group of specialist businesses operating across the Testing, Inspection, Certification, and Compliance (TICC) sector.
Our model is deliberately different.
We acquire successful specialist businesses and give their leaders access to the investment, expertise, and support of a larger international group while protecting the entrepreneurial culture, technical expertise, and identity that made those businesses successful in the first place.
That means our approach to M&A is about more than the numbers.
Many of the people you'll meet have spent years building their businesses. Understanding what matters to them, earning their trust, and recognizing whether there is a genuine cultural fit with Celnor is just as important as understanding the financials.
Our US strategy represents an important next stage of our growth.
You'll be joining early enough to have a genuine influence over how that story develops, working closely with senior Group leadership while having the autonomy to build relationships, create opportunities, and make things happen in the US market.
And as our US platform grows, so could your role.
For the right person, there is the potential to help build and ultimately lead a broader US M&A capability over time.
Compensation & benefits:
Compensation & benefits:
- Base salary: $140,000–$160,000
- On-target earnings: Deal-based variable incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is performance-related, is not guaranteed, and is subject to the applicable incentive plan.
- Location: Remote, United States
- Travel: Domestic travel required, typically around twice per month depending on deal activity.
- Benefits: Competitive US benefits package, including healthcare coverage and a generous paid time off allowance.
....
Additional Information:
Celnor Group is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to qualified applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based on the requirements of the role and individual qualifications, without discrimination on the basis of any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
Celnor Group is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to qualified applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based on the requirements of the role and individual qualifications, without discrimination on the basis of any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
Reasonable accommodations are available to qualified applicants with disabilities throughout the recruitment process.
Similar Jobs
Artificial Intelligence • Big Data • Cloud • Information Technology • Machine Learning • Software
Leads Nexthink’s global indirect procurement strategy, category management organization, sourcing initiatives, supplier negotiations, governance, and procure-to-pay capabilities. Partners with executive stakeholders across business functions to deliver savings, manage supplier risk, improve performance, and support growth. Develops Category Managers, establishes procurement KPIs, strengthens processes and systems including NetSuite, and builds scalable procurement operating models across international markets.
Top Skills:
NetSuite
Cloud • Information Technology • Internet of Things • Machine Learning • Software • Cybersecurity • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Leads techno-commercial strategy for RAN engagements across East and North Africa. Translates radio technology into ROI, TCO, pricing, offer scope, negotiation, and value narratives. Partners with sales, pricing, contract management, presales, and technical domain teams to improve win rates, protect margins, and support profitable growth. Requires strong RAN expertise, complex telecom deal structuring, commercial modelling, stakeholder management, financial fluency, and negotiation skills.
Top Skills:
2G3G4G5GCloud ComputingCloud RanCore NetworksMassive MimoOpen RanOss/BssRanSoftware LicensingTransport Networks
Automotive • Professional Services • Software • Consulting • Energy • Chemical • Renewable Energy
Drive growth for fire safety testing and certification services across the UK. Responsibilities include developing new and existing customer relationships, managing the full B2B sales cycle, building pipeline, negotiating proposals, closing deals, expanding accounts, collaborating with technical and customer success teams, and providing market insights. The role requires extensive UK travel and offers remote working flexibility.
Top Skills:
Salesforce
What you need to know about the London Tech Scene
London isn't just a hub for established businesses; it's also a nursery for innovation. Boasting one of the most recognized fintech ecosystems in Europe, attracting billions in investments each year, London's success has made it a go-to destination for startups looking to make their mark. Top U.K. companies like Hoptin, Moneybox and Marshmallow have already made the city their base — yet fintech is just the beginning. From healthtech to renewable energy to cybersecurity and beyond, the city's startups are breaking new ground across a range of industries.
