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Payward (parent company of Kraken, NinjaTrader, and other fintech platforms) is seeking an HR M&A Lead to own the people workstream across the company's M&A activity from initial diligence through close and integration. Reporting to the Chief People Officer, this is a high-velocity role requiring someone comfortable with fast turnarounds, incomplete information, and complex deal mechanics.
Key responsibilities include: owning end-to-end people diligence including questionnaire design, data requests, and follow-up workshops; processing high-volume, unstructured data rooms (employment contracts, org charts, compensation, equity, policies, claims) using AI and automation to identify and score risks; translating findings into executive-ready recommendations with clear risk tolerance alignment; leading drafting of deal mechanics including compensation modeling, equity treatment, retention structures, and earn-out design; collaborating with corporate development, legal, finance, and people leadership to defend recommendations; and serving as people program manager during post-signing integration (org design, leveling, compensation harmonization, retention execution, Day 1 readiness).
The role also involves building reusable infrastructure—playbooks, DDQ templates, risk scoring frameworks, and automation—to accelerate future deals.
Required qualifications: 8+ years in M&A people/HR diligence, integration, total rewards, or corporate development with hands-on ownership of completed deals; proven ability to run multiple diligence processes simultaneously to hard deadlines; strong analytical capability in compensation modeling, equity, dilution, retention cost, and integration spend; global/cross-border deal experience with multi-jurisdiction and regulatory change-of-control employment considerations; demonstrated use of AI and automation for document review with sound judgment about model limitations; ability to make and communicate risk calls on incomplete information to executives; credibility in founder-facing negotiations on compensation and equity; rigorous confidentiality practices; and high agency in ambiguous, shifting environments.
Nice-to-haves include crypto/fintech/regulated financial services acquisition experience, experience integrating founder-led or early-stage teams, and prior playbook-building work.
