Head of Corporate Development

Harbor Compliance

3d•$186,919 - $233,649

About The Position

Harbor Compliance is seeking an entrepreneurial, commercially minded Head of Corporate Development to build and lead our M&A function from the ground up. As our first-ever dedicated corporate development hire, you will design the playbook, establish the pipeline, and drive a high-velocity roll-up strategy driving transactions each year in the lower middle market ($5M–$100M TEV). Reporting directly to the CFO and maintaining high visibility with our Private Equity board, you will champion the end-to-end deal lifecycle—from proprietary sourcing and sophisticated underwriting to execution and integration handoff. Designed for a player-coach who thrives in a greenfield environment and possesses the long-term ambition to scale into a C-level equivalent executive.

Requirements

6–10 Years of Relevant Experience: A foundational background in Investment Banking, followed by a minimum of 2 years in a PE investing or corporate development operator role.
Proven LMM Track Record: Demonstrated experience underwriting and closing transactions specifically within the $5M–$100M Total Enterprise Value (TEV) range.
Roll-Up Platform Exposure: Hands-on experience working within or for a high-velocity roll-up platform, demonstrating an understanding of rapid deal cadence and integration pacing.
Sector Familiarity: Prior deal execution experience within tech-enabled business services, compliance workflow, legaltech, regtech, GRC, or vertical SaaS.
Business Model Fluency: Practical exposure underwriting businesses with recurring-revenue, network-effect, or membership-based models.
Greenfield Operator Mindset: Proven experience operating as an individual contributor in an environment requiring autonomy, pragmatism, and a roll-up-your-sleeves execution style.

Nice To Haves

Advanced SaaS/Services Modeling: Elite financial modeling fluency, specifically tailored to complex revenue normalization, recurring revenue quality analysis, and software-enabled service metrics.
Proprietary Sourcing DNA: Exceptional commercial acumen, persuasive communication, and founder rapport-building skills necessary to unlock un-intermediated, off-market deal flow.
Domain Expertise: Specialized knowledge of the registered agent, corporate formatting, or business licensing/permitting compliance landscape.

Responsibilities

Build the M&A Function: Establish Harbor’s inaugural corporate development infrastructure, playbooks, and processes from scratch with no prior internal precedent.
Drive Proprietary Sourcing: Build and maintain a robust, proprietary deal pipeline through aggressive direct founder outreach, banker relationships, and industry networking; reliance on inbound flow is insufficient.
Own End-to-End Execution: Independently manage the full deal lifecycle from NDA and LOI negotiation through diligence, data room management, legal counsel coordination, and closing conditions.
Conduct Advanced Financial Underwriting: Build bespoke financial models and underwrite LMM software/services deals, evaluating normalized EBITDA, recurring revenue quality, and core SaaS metrics (ARR, GRR, NRR, and cohort churn).
Sustain High Deal Velocity: Direct parallel workstreams across multiple live transactions simultaneously to achieve an aggressive target cadence of 3–5 closed deals per year.
Lead Cross-Functional Alignment: Coordinate and drive accountability across internal Finance, Legal, RevOps, and Operations teams without direct authority to ensure seamless execution.
Deliver Board-Level Reporting: Partner closely with the CFO to provide regular, highly visible updates to Private Equity sponsors regarding pipeline health, deal metrics, and strategic underwriting logic.
Facilitate Integration Handoffs: Develop clean integration frameworks and process-oriented handoffs to ensure portfolio operators can successfully onboard acquisitions post-close.