Corporate Development Lead

Profound•San Francisco, CA

4d•$225,000 - $280,000•Onsite

About The Position

Profound is hiring a Corporate Development Lead to identify and execute high-impact M&A opportunities across the business. The role works with leadership and teams across Profound to determine where acquiring products, talent, or data could accelerate the company, assess build-versus-buy decisions, and own transactions end to end. This is not an origination-only role: the Lead will participate in deals ranging from quick acquihires to larger strategic acquisitions that may reshape the product and company. The Lead will work directly with the leadership team and collaborate with Product, Engineering, Legal, Finance, and People, as well as Operations on post-signing integration planning. The role is based on-site in Profound's NYC or SF office.

Requirements

At least 8 years of experience in corporate development, technology investment banking, venture, or private equity.
Several M&A or strategic transactions personally led from sourcing through close and integration.
Ability to diagnose business gaps and translate them into concrete deal theses.
Strong negotiation and deal-structuring skills, including comfort with valuation, financial modeling, and transaction legal mechanics.
An established network of founders, investors, and bankers in the AI and software ecosystem.
Executive-level communication skills and ability to influence founders, the board, and leadership.
High ownership, low ego, comfort with ambiguity, and a bias toward action; willingness to build financial models and run negotiations.

Nice To Haves

Corporate development experience at a high-growth technology or AI company.
Integration experience.
Background in marketing technology, analytics, or enterprise SaaS.

Responsibilities

Identify where M&A could accelerate Profound's business, working with leadership and functional teams to develop clear acquisition themes and strategy.
Evaluate whether business needs are best addressed by building or buying and make the case for acquisitions where appropriate.
Proactively source opportunities through founders, investors, bankers, and the broader AI ecosystem using thesis-led outreach.
Lead transactions from initial conversation through diligence, valuation, structuring, negotiation, signing, and close.
Manage a range of transactions, including acquihires, tuck-ins, and larger strategic acquisitions, matching the process and rigor to the deal.
Structure and negotiate terms, including price, equity, retention, and deal protections, in collaboration with outside counsel and advisors.
Work with Operations to plan integration from signing through Day 1 and beyond so acquired teams and technology become productive quickly.