GVP, Corporate Business Development

ServiceNow•Santa Clara, CA

10h•Onsite

About The Position

The GVP, Head of Corporate Business Development, is accountable for the company’s end-to-end inorganic growth agenda, including M&A and strategic investments/ventures. This leader translates corporate strategy and product priorities into a disciplined portfolio of build/buy decisions and executes transactions that strengthen competitive position, accelerate platform capability, and expand ecosystem reach. Operating at board and executive level, the role combines hands-on deal leadership with governance rigor, ensuring post-close value realization against defined investment theses. The role chairs the Board-level M&A Working Group, providing regular portfolio, pipeline, and transaction updates; ensuring decision readiness; and aligning management and the Board on priorities, risks, and value-capture expectations.

Requirements

20+ years of progressive experience in corporate development, investment banking, private equity, venture capital, and/or strategy consulting, including 8+ years in senior leadership roles with direct accountability for M&A and/or strategic investments in a technology environment.

Responsibilities

Own a multi-year inorganic growth roadmap aligned to corporate strategy and product vision, including clear prioritization across capability gaps and adjacencies.
Lead the Build vs. Buy decision framework and decision cadence; drive executive alignment on portfolio trade-offs, sequencing, and resource allocation.
Maintain a portfolio-level view across all M&A and strategic investment activity, balancing near-term impact with longer-horizon platform bets.
Prepare and present investment theses, strategic rationale, and recommendations to executive leadership and the Board with clarity, rigor, and strong governance discipline.
Lead the full M&A lifecycle: origination, strategic screening, valuation and modeling, diligence orchestration, negotiation, signing/closing, and key post-close decisions.
Build and sustain an active pipeline through proactive market mapping, ecosystem outreach, and trusted banker/advisor relationships.
Partner closely with Finance, Legal, Tax, Global People, Product & Engineering, and Security to structure and execute transactions with disciplined risk management and commercial outcomes.
Drive integration planning (in partnership with integration leaders) to ensure value capture, accountability, and measurable outcomes against the acquisition thesis.
Establish and continuously improve M&A standards, playbooks, stage gates, and approval frameworks appropriate to scale and complexity.
Define the strategic investment thesis for venture/minority investments to extend platform capabilities, strengthen ecosystem leverage, and create future acquisition options.
Source, evaluate, negotiate, and execute minority investments and co-investments aligned to technology and market roadmaps.
Manage portfolio governance: board/observer roles, follow-on decisions, portfolio company engagement, and strategic value realization.
Build durable relationships across the venture capital and startup ecosystem to ensure early visibility into disruptive technologies and emerging category leaders.
Serve as a primary advisor to the CEO, CFO, CSO, and Board on corporate development strategy, pipeline, and transaction decisioning.
Champion business model and ecosystem innovation (e.g., platform extension, marketplace models, new monetization constructs) in partnership with Product and Finance, supported by disciplined business cases and pilots.
Ensure strong governance across all inorganic activities: confidentiality, conflicts protocols, investment committee materials, and decision documentation.
Build, lead, and develop a high-performing Corporate Business Development organization spanning M&A, strategic investments, and deal operations.
Define the coverage model, roles, and capabilities (e.g., sourcing, diligence, modeling, negotiation, integration value tracking) and scale processes as the company grows.
Set a high bar for talent, integrity, and execution; attract and retain diverse, top-tier talent from banking, investing, consulting, and operating backgrounds.
Establish and operationalize a Board-ready inorganic growth roadmap and pipeline review cadence, including clear stage gates and decision criteria.
Deliver a prioritized, thesis-led target universe and maintain an active pipeline aligned to top strategic capability gaps.
Execute and close high-impact transactions (M&A and/or strategic investments) aligned to strategy, with clear integration plans and value-capture scorecards.
Implement standardized deal governance, diligence playbooks, and post-close value tracking to improve speed, rigor, and predictability.
Build and scale the Corporate Business Development team and operating model, including external advisor ecosystem and internal cross-functional rhythms.