Principal People Team Business Partner - M&A / Strategy
Leads the People lifecycle for mergers and acquisitions, from HR due diligence through post-close integration, while coordinating cross-functional teams and retaining acquired talent. Requires 6–10+ years of HR M&A experience, strong project management, HR fluency, and influence without authority.
About the job
Responsibilities
Corporate Development Partnership & Diligence
- Serve as the primary People team representative alongside Corporate Development and Legal from deal kickoff through close.
- Lead rapid HR due diligence covering target-company culture, compensation structures, and compliance risks.
- Evaluate technical talent density and advise on deal structures, retention pools, and offer letters.
- Partner with Finance and Legal to analyze equity structures, rollover mechanics, and cash/stock retention incentives.
Cross-Functional Orchestration
- Coordinate Recruiting, Compensation, People Operations, Immigration, Mobility, Payroll, IT, and other People and G&A workstreams.
- Sequence workstreams, including immigration verification before offer letters are issued.
- Build infrastructure, checklists, and automated workflows to scale the M&A engine.
- Identify recurring deal failure modes and improve integration playbooks.
Integration & Talent Retention
- Provide a high-touch onboarding experience and serve as an advocate, guide, and escalation point for incoming talent.
- Partner with leadership and Internal Communications on change management, FAQs, town halls, and transparent workforce communications.
- Design organizational mapping and day-one onboarding schedules for acquired technical teams.
- When deal volume is low, support strategic People programs and talent initiatives.
Requirements
- 6–10+ years of experience in HR M&A.
- Experience building 0-to-1 processes in fast-moving, unstructured environments.
- Outstanding project management skills and the ability to operate calmly under pressure and manage confidential data.
- Foundational knowledge of employment law, high-growth compensation structures, and visa/immigration matters.
- Exceptional communication, relationship-building, and influencing skills, including the ability to influence without authority.
- Ability to build trust with technical founders and align cross-functional executives.
Compensation & Benefits
- San Francisco Bay Area hires: estimated annual salary of $214,000–$295,000.
- New York City and Washington hires: estimated annual salary of $205,000–$282,000.
- Colorado hires: estimated annual salary of $186,000–$256,000.
- Eligible to participate in Cloudflare’s equity plan.
- Benefits may include medical, dental, vision, flexible spending, commuter spending, fertility and family-forming support, mental health support, employee assistance, travel medical insurance, disability insurance, life and accident insurance, 401(k), employee stock participation, flexible paid time off, and leave programs.
Skills
Hr M&A, Project Management, Due Diligence, Change Management, Compensation Structures, Employment Law, Immigration, Equity Structures, People Operations, Payroll, Workflows, Internal Communications
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