Head of Corporate Development and Investor Relations

About The Role

Rippling is one of the fastest-growing enterprise software companies in history, with a compound platform covering HR, IT, and Finance across 100+ countries. As our platform scales on an accelerated basis with Rippling AI and our use of AI tools internally, we see opportunities to extend our product offering and reach through M&A. In this role you will help grow the business through Corporate Development initiatives and also lead Investor Relations (IR) and share Rippling’s vision with investors.  

As Head of Corporate Development & Investor Relations, you'll work directly with Rippling's leadership team including our CEO, CFO, and others on the full spectrum of projects that shape our strategic direction. You'll own strategy, deal work, and team management end-to-end — from market mapping and thesis development, to financial modeling, management engagement, term sheet negotiation, legal coordination, and post-close integration planning. This role will include oversight on deal-execution with a high analytical bar. The best candidates will be comfortable leading teams and working directly as needed to build financial models, drafting a term sheet, presenting a build/buy/partner recommendation to senior leadership, and managing a live diligence process. Alongside the core Corporate Development work, you'll also own Investor Relations strategy, which includes fundraise process planning and execution, secondary transactions, any updates, and long-term planning for IPO as Rippling scales well beyond $1B in annual recurring revenue now. 

This role carries significant responsibility and is best suited for leaders with deal experience and investor relations work at large technology companies or high-growth startups coupled with backgrounds in private equity, investment banking or corporate operating roles. There is meaningful room to grow, measure your impact, and scale with the organization as we build world-class Corporate Development and IR teams.

What You'll Do: 

• Deal execution & Pipeline Strategy: lead the end-to-end M&A pipeline, including market mapping, thesis development, target sourcing, and management engagement to expand Rippling’s product surface area. You’ll work with the team to build the strategic case (informing the CEO, CFO and Board), and drive the process from first conversation to signed deal.  
• Financial Modeling & Valuation: Build comprehensive financial analyses—including DCF, comparable transactions, build vs. buy scenarios, and pro forma impact modeling to Rippling annual and long-range plan—to advise the CEO, CFO, and Board on strategic decisions.
• Run structured diligence across product, engineering, legal, finance, HR, and customer channels — coordinating internal workstreams while conducting external market and customer research to independently validate the strategic and commercial thesis.
• Drive deals to close: draft and negotiate term sheets and LOIs, own key commercial terms in coordination with Legal, and build post-close integration frameworks that convert deal rationale into realized value.
• Partner with senior executives to execute future private fundraising rounds, secondary liquidity transactions, and long-term planning for Rippling's IPO and creating a public company ready IR function.
• Prepare high-impact materials and performance analysis for Board of Directors meetings, investor presentations, and shareholder discussions.
• Drive regular investor communications, updates, and messaging to effectively convey Rippling’s business model, AI strategy, and growth trajectory to current and prospective investors.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.  An advanced degree is a plus. 
• 10+ years of experience in Corporate Development, Investor Relationships, and/or Corporate Finance plus ideally prior PE investing experience. We will also consider candidates directly from PE 
• Leadership experience managing high-performing teams and demonstrated ability to own a deal process end-to-end (from sourcing, thesis development, to close). 
• Strong financial modeling skills and experience negotiating complex commercial agreements.  
• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally with internal and external stakeholders to get deals to the finish line. 
• Self-starter with excellent time management, project management, finance and strategy skills.
• Excellent communication skills with demonstrated experience working with senior leadership.
• Organized, attentive to detail, and intellectually curious.

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