Director of Acquisition & Strategy

Overview

ALS is a global team harnessing the power of scientific testing and data-driven insights to build a healthier future. The Director, Acquisitions and Strategy designs, executes, and continuously improves the USA & Canada Environmental M&A strategy in alignment with ALS global strategy. This role owns the end-to-end lifecycle of acquisitions, including strategy formulation, pipeline development, due diligence, integration governance, and post-acquisition value realization, while incorporating disciplined lessons learned from prior transactions.

The role also serves as a strategic partner to the USA Environmental leadership team, contributing to the national strategy for operations best practices, innovation, and continuous improvement initiatives that drive margin expansion, scalability, and long-term value creation across both legacy and acquired businesses.

• Supporting building a credible, repeatable M&A pipeline and playbook
• Reducing execution risk through rigorous due diligence and integration discipline
• Acting as an empowered integration leader (or sponsor) post-close
• This role is senior and strategic and may evolve as the Environmental business matures and acquisition cadence increases

• M&A Strategy & Pipeline Development
• Develop and maintain a clear USA and Canada Environmental M&A strategy, aligned to ALS global capital allocation and USA growth priorities
• Define target criteria including:
  Target company profile (testing scope, geography, regulatory position, cultural maturity), deal size thresholds and risk appetite, strategic intent (bolt-on vs. platform vs. new-region entry), and best strategic fit (locations, services, culture)
• Build and manage a 6 to 12 month rolling opportunity pipeline in coordination with Corporate M&A
• Lead early-stage outreach strategy appropriate to target company type and ownership profile
• Act as USA and Canada point-of-contact with global M&A leadership and strategy function
• Due Diligence Excellence
• Own or co-own USA & Canada side due diligence execution, ensuring rigor across operations, quality, technical capability, regulatory and certification risk, culture, leadership depth, people capability, and systems (LIMS, ERP, HRIS, IT infrastructure)
• Lead and train teams from the business who will support due diligence phase
• Require documented proof and on-site verification, not verbal confirmation
• Incorporate cultural and integration readiness explicitly into valuation and deal structure
• Integration Leadership & Governance
• Act as Integration Sponsor or empowered Integration Leader for USA acquisitions; support early post-close stage for Canada acquisitions until turnover to appropriate business personnel
• Establish integration governance from Day 1 (no soft integrations): including clear authority, named workstream owners, and a resourced integration plan (12–18 months)
• Ensure functional integration across Quality, HSE, Operations, IT, Finance, HR, and Sales
• Enforce Integration Plan milestone validation and benefits realization tracking
• Drive early system integration to enable transparency, control, and cultural unification
• Post-Acquisition Value Realization and Transition to permanent Management Team
• Ensure acquisition thesis is translated into executable plans
• Monitor delivery of margin improvement, synergies (technical, commercial, procurement, logistics), client retention, and cross-selling
• Intervene early if leadership, culture, or performance risks emerge
• Support corrective action plans where legacy issues are uncovered post-close
• Develop timeline, task lists, and handover activities to ensure completed acquisitions transition successfully into the existing regional leadership structure for long-term oversight and integration
• Strategic & Operational Enablement
• Evaluate and interact with existing legacy businesses to ensure understanding of operational models for delivering best practices, innovation, continuous improvement, and client-focused strategies across both legacy and acquired businesses
• Set strategy and support implementation of greenfield and brownfield location strategy to expand service centers,…