Corporate Development Manager

📈 We're Hiring: Corporate Development Manager

📍 Location: United Arab Emirates (Remote)

🕒 Employment Type: Full-Time

💼 Experience Level: Mid-Level to Senior

🌐 Work Arrangement: Fully Remote

About Us

We are a growth-oriented organization focused on creating long-term enterprise value through strategic investments, business expansion, partnerships, acquisitions, and portfolio development. Our distributed teams collaborate across Strategy, Finance, Investment, Legal, Operations, Business Development, Corporate Planning, Technology, and Executive Leadership to identify and execute opportunities that strengthen competitive position and accelerate sustainable growth.

The Role

We are seeking an experienced Corporate Development Manager to lead strategic growth initiatives including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic investments, partnerships, market expansion, portfolio optimization, and corporate strategy execution. The ideal candidate will combine financial analysis, strategic thinking, transaction expertise, market intelligence, and cross-functional leadership to identify and execute high-value opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute corporate development strategies aligned with organizational growth objectives, capital priorities, portfolio strategy, and long-term enterprise value.
• Identify, evaluate, and prioritize mergers and acquisitions (M&A), joint ventures, strategic investments, partnerships, divestitures, and market-entry opportunities.
• Collaborate with Strategy, Finance, Investment, Legal, Operations, Business Development, Corporate Planning, Tax, Technology, and Executive Leadership.
• Conduct market research, industry analysis, competitive assessments, target-company screening, sector mapping, and strategic opportunity analysis.
• Develop financial models covering valuation, discounted cash flow (DCF), comparable-company analysis, precedent transactions, accretion/dilution, return on investment, internal rate of return (IRR), net present value (NPV), and scenario analysis.
• Lead target identification, preliminary assessments, management presentations, opportunity reviews, and investment committee materials.
• Manage transaction processes from initial opportunity assessment and non-disclosure agreements through due diligence, valuation, negotiations, approvals, signing, closing, and post-transaction integration.
• Coordinate financial, commercial, operational, legal, tax, technology, cybersecurity, human resources, environmental, and regulatory due diligence.
• Develop transaction structures, investment cases, valuation ranges, deal scenarios, financing alternatives, risk assessments, and negotiation strategies.
• Support negotiations with acquisition targets, investors, strategic partners, financial institutions, advisers, shareholders, and other transaction stakeholders.
• Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) including pipeline value, transaction progress, deal conversion, investment returns, synergy realization, portfolio performance, integration milestones, and strategic-value creation.
• Develop post-merger integration and value-creation plans in collaboration with business-unit leaders, including synergy targets, operating-model alignment, technology integration, talent planning, customer retention, and financial performance.
• Monitor portfolio-company performance and identify opportunities for operational improvement, strategic repositioning, capital allocation, partnerships, expansion, or divestment.
• Evaluate new markets, products, technologies, business models, and emerging sectors that may create strategic growth opportunities.
• Build relationships with investment banks, private equity firms, venture capital investors, corporate advisers, consultants, law firms, accounting firms, entrepreneurs, founders, and strategic partners.
• Prepare board and executive materials including investment memoranda, acquisition proposals, strategic assessments, valuation analyses, transaction updates, risk assessments, portfolio reviews, and investment recommendations.
• Ensure corporate development activities comply with applicable UAE commercial, competition, securities, foreign investment, tax, corporate, regulatory, and governance requirements, as well as relevant international requirements.
• Drive digital transformation through artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted target screening, predictive market intelligence, automated financial modelling, transaction analytics, intelligent due-diligence analysis, and portfolio-performance forecasting.
• Utilize Bloomberg, Capital IQ, PitchBook, Refinitiv, FactSet, Excel, PowerPoint, Power BI, Tableau, Salesforce, SAP, Oracle, financial modelling platforms, data-room technologies, and transaction-management systems.
• Manage corporate development budgets, external advisers, investment-banking relationships, due-diligence providers, consultants, transaction platforms, market intelligence subscriptions, and strategic projects.
• Lead, mentor, and develop corporate development analysts, strategy professionals, investment specialists, and cross-functional transaction teams while fostering a culture of analytical rigor, commercial judgment, confidentiality, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business Administration, Accounting, Investment Management, or a related field.
• Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA), Finance, Economics, Investment Management, or a related discipline is highly advantageous.
• Professional qualifications such as CFA, ACA, ACCA, CPA, or equivalent corporate finance and investment credentials are preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in corporate development, investment banking, private equity, transaction advisory, strategy, corporate finance, M&A, or related roles.
• At least 2 years of experience managing M&A transactions, strategic investments, corporate development programmes, business expansion initiatives, or multidisciplinary transaction teams preferred.
• Strong understanding of corporate finance, M&A, valuation, financial modelling, due diligence, transaction structuring, negotiations, strategic partnerships, market analysis, portfolio management, and post-merger integration.
• Experience with Bloomberg, Capital IQ, PitchBook, Refinitiv, FactSet, Excel, PowerPoint, Power BI, Tableau, Salesforce, SAP, Oracle, financial modelling tools, virtual data rooms, and transaction-management platforms.
• Familiarity with AI-powered target screening, predictive market intelligence, automated due diligence, transaction analytics, intelligent valuation tools, and advanced portfolio analytics is highly advantageous.
• Strong financial analysis, strategic thinking, negotiation, communication, presentation, stakeholder management, project management, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Exceptional attention to detail and ability to manage confidential transaction information, complex financial models, competing priorities, and senior-level stakeholders.
• Ability to manage multiple corporate development initiatives while balancing strategic fit, valuation, risk, financing, regulatory considerations, integration complexity, transaction timelines, and expected returns.
• Ability to work effectively in a remote environment with distributed strategy, finance, investment, legal, operations, technology, business development, and executive teams, with occasional travel for target meetings, due diligence, negotiations, board presentations, investor meetings, conferences, and transaction closings as required.

What We Offer

• Fully remote work arrangement with flexible collaboration across global corporate development, strategy, finance, investment, legal, operations, technology, and executive teams.
• Competitive compensation package with performance-based incentives.
• Comprehensive health and wellness benefits.
• Professional development and corporate development leadership growth opportunities.
• Exposure to AI-powered deal intelligence, predictive market analytics, automated due diligence, intelligent valuation technologies, and next-generation investment platforms.
• Collaborative culture focused on strategic growth, disciplined investment, commercial excellence, analytical rigor, and long-term value creation.
• Opportunity to shape the organization's growth trajectory through high-impact acquisitions, strategic investments, partnerships, market expansion, and portfolio development