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Our client is a leading corporation and they are seeking an individual to join their Strategy team. The head of the business development group is a former Partner at a leading private equity firm
If you are interested in applying for the position, you can apply to job #251on our careers website.
Responsibilities
- Support acquisition pipeline process
- Create and maintain acquisition financial models
- Cultivate acquisition candidates
- Perform market research on target markets or acquisition candidates
- Perform financial analysis on acquisition candidate financials
- Manage intermediary/banker relationships
- Support transaction execution
- Participate in management presentations
- Coordinate diligence workstreams
- Lead and execute diligence workstreams as required
- Support strategic plan development
- Participate in annual strategic planning cycle
- Participate on teams developing specific platform-related strategies (e.g. renewable energy)
- Execute Voice of Customer (VOC) studies
- Assist with other projects as required
What is the position value proposition?
- Significant learning experience. Work shoulder-to-shoulder with experienced operating and M&A leaders as only associate on small BD team.
- Get training on businessmanagement system and participate in business management system kaizens.
- High impact. Position central to firm’s investment thesis (driving outsized growth through aggressive acquisition program).
- High visibility. Position reports to EVP Strategy & BD; significant interaction with senior leadership.
What obstacles, negative circumstances, or problems will the incumbent need to solve?
- Balancing commitments. Incumbent will need to juggle multiple short and long-term projects at most times.
- Dealing with distributed teams. On live deals, virtually all people the incumbent works with will be located remotely.
- Operating autonomously. As a member of a small team, incumbent will need to be very self-directed, able to operate with very limited direct supervision.
- Limited authority. On live deals, incumbent will need to enlist support of individuals over whom he/she has no direct control/authority, so leading through influence will be essential.
What are the top two to three immediate objectives?
- Learn and embrace culture and firm’s business management system.
- Research markets and/or companies for new platform opportunities.
- Jump into diligence on currently live deals.
What will top talent do with their education, technical knowledge and experience?
- Education / Technical Requirements
- Able to formulate hypotheses and questions to learn about and assess new products and markets
- Able to critically assess information gathered / received and draw logical / analytical conclusions
- Experience Requirements
- Strong excel skills; able to build robust acquisition models
- Good knowledge of accounting and financial concepts; able to gather/analyze financial information from source documents.
- Good market research skills; able to gather, analyze and evaluate information on companies and markets.
- Professional maturity; able to successfully interact with internal and external senior leaders
- Able to navigate ambiguity (i.e., be comfortable making decisions without full information).
Describe the behaviors and leadership attributes that would fit the business and culture (i.e.,
leadership or communication style, organization skills, etc.)
- Able to successfully develop constructive working relationships and achieve results through influence across organizational boundaries, and up and down hierarchy.
- Able to simplify and crisply communicate complex topics / subject matter
- Strong sense of urgency
- Able to work with constrained resources
- Data / fact / metrics driven; embraces continuous improvement
- Able to operate at both “30,000 feet” (strategy) and “5 inches” (detail)
- Able to operate in a continuous improvement culture (focus on “the reds” vs. “the greens”)
- How would you characterize the ideal performer?
- Positive/determined; results-oriented. Successfully juggles multiple priorities. Maintains a positive attitude at all times. Takes ownership of deadlines, deliverables and results
- Continuous improvement oriented. Always looking for opportunities to improve work and process. Thick-skinned; able to take and act-on constructive criticism
- Data-driven; critical thinker. Supports recommendations and decisions with facts/data. Logical/analytical thinker
- Customer-focused; VOC-driven. Maintains/models external perspective. Uses thorough VOC to develop perspectives and test hypotheses
- Detail oriented. Understands/owns the details without getting mired in them. Intellectually curious. Asks the “extra question” in market research and financial analysis; doesn’t accept the easy conclusion
- Team player. Able to successfully work as part of a team; knows when to challenge and when to follow team’s decisions/consensus
- Passion for manufacturing/products. Enjoys working for a manufacturing company; interested in the products being made/researched
- What would top talent do differently than the average performer?
- Superior bandwidth. Achieve more in given timespan
- Superior market work and financial analysis. Perform deeper and more insightful market research and financial analysis
- Superior insights. Deliver better / more thoughtful analysis / synthesis of research and analysis.
- Superior leadership and communication. Better leadership of diligence process and workstreams.
- Superior professional maturity. Better ability to cultivate potential acquisition candidates and engage with senior leadership
- Strategic acumen. Discerns the strategic implications from the analysis and can develop a strategic path forward; doesn’t confuse actions with strategy
- What would top talent achieve to rate them “fully performing” at the 6-month mark?
- Successfully achieve immediate objectives.
- Demonstrate independence and professional maturity
What would top talent achieve in their first year?:
- Market research. Successfully execute several market research projects in support of new platform development work.
- Deal execution. Successfully participate as member of several deal teams.
- Build knowledge of business management system and participate in at least one kaizen.
- Relationships. Build strong trusting relationships with key work-withs in platforms and corporate staff groups.
Competencies that are critical to success
- Highly analytical with customer focus.
- Quick study; able to quickly understand essentials of markets and product segments.
- Effective communicator and influencer; significant professional maturity.
- Strong financial analyst and spreadsheet modeler.
- Excellent team player.
Likely succession plan (next planned position) and development opportunities for someone
in this role
- Next likely position: MBA or most-MBA position in platform (e.g., product manager).
- Development opportunities: develop / strengthen strategic acumen; develop / strengthen leadership skills (managing by influence); learn / build business management system skills.
Preferred Degrees
Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Business Administration
Master of Business Administration
Preferred Certifications
Not Applicable
Preferred Work Status
U.S. Citizen,
U.S. Permanent Resident (Green Card Holder)
Willingness to Travel
Yes
Carried Interest
No
Stock Options
No
This position has been filled. If you're interested in viewing our current open positions, click here.
