M&A Integration Specialist
Reports to: Chief Operating Officer
Department: Operations
Location: Colorado Springs, CO (corporate HQ preferred); remote considered for the right candidate; may also be housed at any Summit location; travel to acquired firm locations required during active integrations
Employment Type: Full-time, exempt
Compensation: $85,000 – $110,000 base, commensurate with experience; eligible for performance-based bonus tied to integration milestones and firm goals
About Summit
Summit Wealth Group is a nationally recognized leader in personalized financial planning and investment management, honored by Forbes as a “Best-in-State” firm. Behind our client’s experience is a culture built on respect, alignment, and strategic growth—where employees are empowered to make meaningful contributions to the firm’s long-term success.
Position Summary
The M&A Integration Specialist owns the end-to-end operational execution of bringing acquired firms into Summit—from the moment a deal closes through final legacy workflow elimination. It is the connective tissue between Summit’s standards and an incoming firm’s reality, ensuring that re-papering, custodial transitions, billing alignment, and advisor onboarding all happen on time and on standard. Summit has integration foundations in place from prior transitions; this role will refine, extend, and standardize that work into a repeatable playbook.
Core Responsibilities
Integration Planning
- Build detailed transition timelines, checklists, and project plans for each merger or acquisition.
- Conduct operational audits of incoming firms, workflows, platforms, custodial relationships, and documentation.
- Identify integration gaps and surface risks to the COO and Operations Manager before transition begins.
- Coordinate with compliance and legal regulatory requirements tied to each transition, including ADV amendments, state registrations, and client notices.
- Support the Head of Advisor Success and COO on due diligence preparation and operational assessment for prospective mergers and acquisitions.
Account Re-Papering & Custodial Transition
- Track and manage advisory agreement execution across all client accounts.
- Monitor ACAT transfers, custodial forms, and account paperwork completion.
- Maintain detailed, real-time status logs for all re-papering activity.
- Escalate incomplete or at-risk documentation before it becomes a compliance issue.
Systems & Workflow Integration
- Coordinate CRM migration and data mapping for incoming firms in partnership with the Platform & Custodian Coordinator.
- Align billing processes and ensure accurate fee structures are implemented in Summit’s systems in conjunction with the Accounting & Finance Department.
- Standardize document storage and eliminate legacy workflows post-integration.
- Ensure all system and platform work aligns with standards set by the Operations Manager.
Advisor Operational Onboarding
- Train incoming advisors and staff on Summit workflows, platforms, and operational standards.
- Monitor 90-day transition adoption and address gaps in process adherence.
- Serve as the primary operational point of contact for acquired advisors during the transition window.
Documentation & Post-Integration Review
- Maintain thorough integration documentation and audit-ready records throughout each project.
- Conduct post-integration reviews and document lessons learned to improve future transitions.
- Between active integrations, contribute to SOP development, platform documentation, and operational improvement initiatives.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, operations, or a related field.
- 4–7 years of operations, project management, or integration experience at an RIA, broker-dealer, or wealth management firm.
- Direct experience supporting at least one RIA or broker-dealer integration, conversion, or acquisition—from re-papering through systems migration.
- Demonstrated project management skills—you’ve owned complex, multi-workstream projects with real deadlines and produced project plans, status reports, and post-mortems leadership can trust.
- Working knowledge of custodial operations (SEI, Fidelity, Schwab, or similar), ACAT processes, and core wealth management platforms (CRM, portfolio management, billing)—and how they connect during migration.
- Familiarity with advisory agreements, Form ADV amendments, state registration requirements, and client notice obligations.
- Executive presence and the judgment to push back on acquired firm leadership when standards are at risk, without damaging relationships.
- Willingness to travel to acquired firm locations during active integrations (typically short trips; volume varies by deal flow).
- Experience with Summit’s technology stack preferred: Redtail, Orion, SEI, Fidelity, RightCapital, Holistiplan, Nitrogen, AssetMap.
AAP/EEO Statement
Summit provides equal employment opportunities to all individuals regardless of their race, color, creed, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by state, federal, or local law.