Corporate Development & Strategy Lead

We are seeking a Corporate Development & Strategy Lead for a full time and direct hire role for one of our amazing partners in the travel & tour industry. This role is remote, but living is Southern California is preferred. You MUST be living in the United States, and you MUST be a US Citizen or Green Card Holder. This role does NOT offer sponsorship, it's NOT a consulting role, and we do NOT work with 3rd parties!

Overview:

Our client is a growing travel company with a portfolio of guided travel and vacation brands serving affinity organizations, group leaders, travel advisors, and individual travelers. As they continue to grow, they are investing in a more proactive approach to corporate development, acquisitions, and strategic growth initiatives. This newly created role will work directly with the CEO and will have broad exposure across the business. They will help identify and evaluate acquisition opportunities, manage key components of live transactions, and lead high-priority strategic projects that can meaningfully impact growth and profitability.

This is a high-visibility, hands-on role in a lean organization. This is an individual contributor with the opportunity for expanded leadership responsibilities. You should be analytically strong, commercially minded, highly accountable, and comfortable moving from financial analysis to executive-level discussions to getting projects across the finish line.

You should enjoy being the person in the room who figures things out. You should be comfortable building a financial model, speaking with a business owner, coordinating a diligence process, presenting a recommendation to senior leadership, or rolling up your sleeves to drive a strategic project forward. This is not a role for someone who wants to operate within a narrowly defined corporate development function. It is an opportunity to work directly with senior leadership, gain broad exposure to the business, and have meaningful influence on both M&A and the company's broader growth strategy.

Responsibilities:

Lead Corporate Development & M&A

• Help shape the company's acquisition strategy, investment criteria, and priority markets.
• Build and maintain a targeted pipeline of potential acquisition opportunities.
• Research markets, identify prospective targets, and develop relationships with business owners, founders, brokers, and industry contacts.
• Support initial outreach and help prepare the Co-CEO for target conversations.
• Evaluate acquisition opportunities and determine whether they warrant further diligence.

Drive Transaction Analysis & Execution

• Build detailed financial models covering company performance, valuation, transaction structure, returns, and financing scenarios.
• Lead commercial diligence and coordinate financial, legal, tax, technology, HR, and other diligence workstreams.
• Prepare investment analyses, executive presentations, Board materials, and transaction recommendations.
• Support transaction structuring, financing analysis, and negotiations with sellers and lenders.
• Develop practical Day 1 and first-100-day integration plans for completed acquisitions.
• Track post-close priorities, synergies, and value creation initiatives.

Lead Strategic Growth Initiatives

Between transactions, take ownership of one or two high-priority initiatives sponsored by the CEO. You will be expected to take ambiguous business questions, develop a structured approach, gather the right information, evaluate alternatives, and turn the analysis into a clear recommendation and actionable plan. Projects may involve areas such as:

• Channel and distribution strategy
• New-market expansion
• Cost optimization
• Data and analytics
• Digital and customer experience
• Technology and AI
• Product or service expansion
• Strategic partnerships
• Other opportunities to improve revenue, EBITDA, or customer value

Partner With Leadership

• Work closely with Finance, Operations, Sales, Marketing, Technology, Product, and external advisors.
• Translate complex financial and strategic analysis into concise, decision-ready recommendations.
• Keep leadership informed on acquisition pipeline, transaction status, strategic initiatives, risks, and key decisions.
• Build strong relationships with founders, owners, executives, investors, and other external stakeholders.
• Handle highly confidential information with sound judgment and discretion.

During the first year, you will:

• Establish a disciplined and proactive acquisition pipeline aligned with the company's investment strategy.
• Build relationships with priority acquisition targets and key industry intermediaries.
• Create a repeatable process for identifying, evaluating, and advancing acquisition opportunities.
• Ensure active transactions move efficiently through analysis, diligence, decision-making, and closing.
• Provide leadership and the Board with clear, thorough, and timely transaction analysis.
• Develop integration plans that translate acquisitions into measurable value.
• Lead strategic initiatives from initial analysis through recommendation, pilot, implementation, or functional handoff.
• Enable the Co-CEO to spend more time on relationships, negotiations, major decisions, and running the business.

Requirements:

• Approximately 5+ years of experience in corporate development, investment banking, private equity, transaction advisory, management consulting, or a similar transaction-focused environment.
• Meaningful experience supporting or leading acquisitions through evaluation, diligence, approval, and closing.
• Strong financial modeling, accounting, valuation, and investment-analysis skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex, cross-functional workstreams and external advisors.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience developing materials for executives, investment committees, or Boards.
• Strong Excel and PowerPoint skills.
• Ability to build credibility and relationships with founders, business owners, senior executives, and other stakeholders.
• Comfortable working with imperfect information and turning ambiguous problems into structured analysis and clear recommendations.
• Highly driven, intellectually curious, and comfortable taking ownership without needing significant direction.
• Bachelor's degree required; MBA is a plus.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, age, ancestry, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, or military or veteran status. You must be legally authorized to work in the United States without current or future sponsorship.