Head of Corporate Development

Phipps Cameron Recruitment • San Francisco, CA

22h • Remote

About The Position

Phipps Cameron is partnering with a leading, private equity-backed wealth management firm to appoint a Head of Corporate Development. The business is a scaled, established RIA with approximately $38bn+ in AUM, a national footprint, and a strong track record of organic growth. Having built significant scale organically, the firm is now looking to accelerate M&A as a complementary growth channel and is seeking a senior corporate development leader to build and lead this strategy. This is a highly visible role working directly with the President, CEO, COO, private equity sponsor and Board. The successful candidate will take ownership of the M&A agenda, with a particular focus on building a proactive origination engine and developing long-term relationships with RIA owners, founders and advisor teams. This is not a high-volume acquisition strategy. The focus is on identifying a select number of high-quality transactions with strong strategic, financial and cultural alignment that can make a meaningful contribution to the continued growth of the platform.

Requirements

• Strong M&A capability with genuine origination and relationship-building experience.
• Experience within wealth management, RIAs, insurance brokerage or adjacent financial services.
• An established network and the credibility to develop senior relationships with founders and business owners.
• Strong financial, valuation and transaction skills.
• Commercial judgment and the ability to identify opportunities beyond formally marketed processes.
• The ability to operate autonomously while partnering effectively with a senior executive team and sophisticated private equity sponsor.
• An entrepreneurial, relationship-led approach with a focus on transaction quality rather than volume.

Nice To Haves

• Corporate development within wealth management or financial services
• Private equity
• Investment banking
• RIA business development
• Adjacent sectors with similarly fragmented and relationship-driven M&A markets, including insurance brokerage.

Responsibilities

• Own and execute the firm's corporate development and M&A strategy.
• Build a proactive and increasingly proprietary pipeline of acquisition opportunities across the U.S. wealth management market.
• Develop trusted relationships with RIA founders, business owners, advisors and relevant intermediaries.
• Lead opportunities from initial origination through valuation, diligence, negotiation, structuring and execution.
• Assess potential transactions across strategic fit, financial attractiveness, cultural alignment and execution risk.
• Prepare investment cases and recommendations for senior leadership, the private equity sponsor and Board.
• Support the recruitment of high-quality advisor teams as part of the firm's broader growth strategy.
• Provide ongoing market intelligence around valuations, competitive dynamics and consolidation across the RIA landscape.
• Partner closely with internal finance, operations, legal and integration teams throughout the transaction lifecycle.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed