Director, Corporate Development, Integration & Business Leadership

CTS Corporation•Lisle, IL

21h•Onsite

About The Position

The Director, Corporate Development, Integration & Business Leadership is a senior enterprise leader responsible for advancing the company's inorganic growth strategy from acquisition strategy and transaction execution through integration, value creation, and ongoing business leadership. This role serves as a critical bridge between corporate development and operations, ensuring that acquisitions not only close successfully but also achieve their strategic, financial, and operational objectives. Working closely with executive leadership, business units, functional leaders, external advisers, and target-company management teams, this individual leads the full acquisition lifecycle, including opportunity assessment, transaction execution, diligence, integration planning, value-capture realization, and post-close business performance. The role establishes the governance, accountability, and operating discipline required to deliver the acquisition business case and create long-term shareholder value. A unique aspect of this position is the expectation that the individual may assume direct leadership responsibility for acquired businesses following close. Depending on the needs of the organization and the acquisition, the Director may serve as the interim or ongoing business leader, with responsibility for strategy execution, financial performance, operational results, organizational effectiveness, customer relationships, and talent leadership. As such, the role requires not only strong corporate development and integration capabilities, but also the credibility, judgment, and leadership presence of a general manager.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, engineering, business, or a related field; MBA or other relevant advanced degree strongly preferred.
8 or more years of progressively responsible experience in investment banking, private equity, corporate development, transaction advisory, strategy consulting, or a comparable role, with meaningful ownership of executed M&A transactions.
Meaningful business leadership experience demonstrating commercial judgment, operational understanding, financial accountability, cross-functional leadership, and the ability to influence business performance beyond the transaction process.
Demonstrated ability to lead multiple phases of the transaction lifecycle, including sourcing, valuation, due diligence, structuring, negotiation support, approvals, and closing.
Direct experience leading post-merger integration, separation, or value-creation workstreams, including governance, synergy tracking, operating-model decisions, and executive reporting.
Advanced financial modeling and valuation capability, with the ability to independently build, audit, and communicate complex analyses and investment returns.
Experience working with senior executives and preparing materials for executive committees and Boards.
Willingness and ability to travel as transaction and integration needs require.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a top-tier or middle-market investment bank, private equity firm, active corporate development team, or PE-backed portfolio company.
Prior operating experience, such as P&L ownership, general management, business-unit leadership, site leadership, commercial leadership, product-line leadership, or leadership of a significant operational or strategic transformation.
Experience with industrial technology, electronic components, sensors, mechatronics, or other engineered-product businesses with global operations.
Experience with cross-border transactions, carve-outs, founder-owned businesses, buy-and-build strategies, and integration of decentralized operations.
Working knowledge of transaction accounting, purchase accounting, tax structuring, financing considerations, antitrust or regulatory review, and transaction documentation.
Experience building repeatable M&A processes, dashboards, decision templates, integration playbooks, and performance-management routines.

Responsibilities

Partner with executive and business-unit leadership to shape inorganic growth priorities, acquisition themes, capability gaps, and market-entry strategies aligned with enterprise objectives.
Build and actively manage a prioritized pipeline of acquisition, divestiture, joint venture, minority investment, and strategic partnership opportunities.
Develop market maps, sector theses, target screens, and investment hypotheses using industry, customer, competitor, technology, and financial insights.
Cultivate relationships with business owners, executives, private equity sponsors, investment banks, advisers, and other market participants to generate proprietary and intermediated opportunities.
Prepare concise, decision-ready materials for executive management and the Board, including strategic rationale, valuation, key risks, alternatives, and recommended next steps.
Lead end-to-end transaction execution, including initial assessment, valuation, deal structuring, due diligence, negotiation support, approvals, signing, closing, and transition to integration.
Own advanced financial analyses, including three-statement models, discounted cash flow, precedent transactions, comparable companies, accretion/dilution, returns analysis, scenario and sensitivity analysis, and synergy valuation.
Lead multidisciplinary diligence across commercial, financial, operational, tax, legal, human capital, technology, cybersecurity, environmental, and compliance workstreams; synthesize findings into clear investment conclusions.
Develop transaction structures and negotiation positions in partnership with leadership and external advisers, including purchase price mechanics, working-capital adjustments, earnouts, escrows, representations, and other key terms.
Coordinate investment banks, accounting firms, consultants, legal counsel, lenders, and other advisers to maintain pace, quality, confidentiality, and accountability throughout the process.
Identify critical risks, challenge assumptions, and provide independent judgment on whether and how the company should proceed.
Lead integration planning beginning during diligence, converting the investment thesis and synergy case into a practical Day 1, first 100-day, and longer-term integration roadmap.
Establish and lead the Integration Management Office, including governance, workstream charters, decision rights, milestones, interdependencies, escalation protocols, and executive steering reviews.
Partner with business and functional leaders to design the future operating model and integrate finance, operations, commercial, supply chain, technology, human resources, legal, and other capabilities while protecting business continuity.
Create and maintain the synergy and value-capture model; define baselines, owners, timing, costs to achieve, KPIs, and reporting cadence for revenue, cost, cash, and capability benefits.
Lead integration risk management, change planning, leadership alignment, and stakeholder communications for employees, customers, suppliers, and other key constituencies.
Conduct post-close performance reviews, identify corrective actions, capture lessons learned, and continuously improve the company’s M&A and integration playbooks.
Translate integration priorities into operating rhythms, performance goals, and leadership routines that enable the acquired business to achieve revenue, margin, cash, customer, quality, and organizational objectives.
Apply strong commercial, operational, and financial judgment to evaluate whether an opportunity can become a stronger business under the company’s ownership.
Engage credibly with business-unit presidents, general managers, functional executives, and target leadership on growth strategy, customer needs, operational execution, talent capability, margin expansion, capital allocation, and risk management.
Challenge business plans and synergy cases through an operator’s lens, ensuring assumptions are grounded in market realities, execution capacity, organizational capability, and measurable accountability.
Demonstrate the leadership presence, decision quality, and enterprise mindset expected of a future operating leader, including the ability to lead through ambiguity, align diverse stakeholders, and make balanced trade-offs across growth, profitability, cash, and risk.
Lead cross-functional teams without relying on formal authority; create clarity, resolve issues, and drive timely decisions in high-pressure and ambiguous situations.
Build trusted relationships with senior executives, business-unit leaders, target management teams, sellers, and advisers through sound judgment, candor, discretion, and executive presence.
Coach and develop corporate development talent and strengthen transaction, diligence, integration, and value-creation capabilities across the enterprise.
Maintain the highest standards of ethics, confidentiality, governance, and compliance.