Corporate Development Lead

Paxos•San Francisco, CA

9d•$244,000 - $279,000

About The Position

Paxos is seeking a Corporate Development professional to drive its inorganic growth strategy. This role involves identifying, structuring, and executing acquisitions, as well as managing fundraising processes. The successful candidate will report to the CFO and own the full M&A lifecycle. Additionally, they will support the CEO and CFO in end-to-end fundraise processes, collaborating with the executive team to present the Paxos story to potential capital partners. This position demands extreme ownership, requiring the individual to provide market insights, develop investment theses, independently source opportunities, lead deals to execution, and ensure successful post-close integration. The goal is to proactively identify and capitalize on strategic opportunities. The role encompasses owning the M&A process from start to finish, including developing investment and M&A theses through market research and understanding Paxos's product strategy. It involves sourcing, evaluating, and executing acquisitions, leading cross-functional diligence, and managing structuring, negotiation, and closing. A key responsibility is building and maintaining a pipeline of targets aligned with Paxos's strategic priorities in infrastructure, distribution, and regulated capabilities. The role also requires conducting operating performance analysis, leading market diligence, preparing investment memos, and developing financial models and valuation frameworks. Furthermore, the position involves owning the fundraising process and investor relations, leading equity fundraise processes, preparing investor materials, managing data rooms, coordinating diligence, and controlling the process timeline. Maintaining ongoing relationships with current and prospective investors and providing regular updates are also crucial. The individual will act as a strategic partner to the executive team, bringing an external perspective on competitors, market structure, and emerging opportunities to inform strategic planning and translate market insights into actionable recommendations. The role also includes scaling Paxos Ventures, sourcing and evaluating early-stage venture investments, and partnering cross-functionally to support founders and portfolio companies. Building the corp dev function at Paxos by establishing repeatable processes for sourcing, evaluation, and integration planning, and developing necessary templates and frameworks is also a key objective.

Requirements

Entrepreneurial, analytical and very comfortable operating in ambiguity.
Demonstrated track record of executing M&A or investment transactions - you have closed deals, not just supported them
Strong financial modeling and valuation skills
You enjoy building relationships
Proven ability to own a fundraising process end-to-end - managing workstreams, materials, and investor relationships with minimal oversight
Excellent communication skills - you can present a nuanced deal thesis to a CFO and explain a term sheet to an engineer
Comfort operating as an IC in a fast-moving environment; you don’t need a team to be effective, and you know how to pull in the right internal stakeholders at the right moment
You default to AI and take pride in your work. You are building agents, vibe-coding apps, and more.
Likely have 7+ years of work experience

Nice To Haves

You might come from investing (Banking, PE, VC) or a Corp Dev team at a fast-growing (fin)tech company.
Familiarity with the blockchain infrastructure, digital asset, or fintech space is a plus

Responsibilities

Own the M&A process end-to-end
Develop Investment and M&A theses by researching and monitoring emerging trends and disruptive companies and deeply understanding Paxos product strategy and overall priorities
Source, evaluate, and execute acquisitions - lead cross-functional diligence, drive structuring, negotiation, and close
Build and maintain a live pipeline of targets aligned to Paxos’s strategic priorities across infrastructure, distribution, and regulated capabilities
Conduct analysis of operating performance, lead market diligence, and prepare investment memos. Develop rigorous financial models and valuation frameworks
Own fundraising process & investor relations
Lead end-to-end equity fundraise processes - drive workstreams, prepare investor materials, build and manage data rooms, coordinate diligence, and control the process timeline; serve as the day-to-day owner ensuring nothing falls through the cracks and the CFO and CEO are focused where they matter most
Maintain ongoing relationships with current and prospective investors between raises providing regular investor updates
Be a strategic partner to the executive team
Bring an informed external view - on competitors, market structure, and emerging opportunities - into our strategic planning process; translate what you’re seeing in the market into clear, actionable recommendations for leadership
Continue to scale Paxos Ventures.
Source, evaluate and recommend early stage venture investments that further Paxos strategic priorities
Partner cross-functionally across the company to support founders and portfolio companies
Help build our founder community by planning programs and events that convene portfolio companies, investors, and others in the ecosystem
Build the corp dev muscle at Paxos: Establish repeatable processes for deal sourcing, evaluation, and integration planning; develop the templates, frameworks, and institutional knowledge that make us faster and sharper with every transaction