Finance role
Corporate Development Director / Manager Recruiters
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
Financial Headhunters: Hire a Corporate Development Director who owns your deal lifecycle instead of one who only produces internal slide decks.
This is what we do all day: recruit accounting, finance, banking and insurance professionals.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
- VP Corporate Development
- M&A Director
- Corporate Development Manager
- No upfront fee
- Pay only if you hire
- Accounting, finance, banking and insurance
- We reach people who aren’t on job boards
- Replacement terms on standard searches
01
What does this hire really come down to?
Your firm needs a leader to translate long-term growth targets into actual executed deals. This person manages the full cycle including target sourcing, due diligence workstreams, and the practical hand-off of assets to internal teams. They must be able to adjust valuation assumptions when underlying deal variables shift during the negotiation process.
This role requires handling conflicting priorities from internal stakeholders and external deal advisors during aggressive deal timelines. They decide when to pull a deal because the risks outweigh the potential value and when to push forward to secure a competitive market position. They present these trade-offs to the board so you can make decisions on capital allocation.
While candidates understand financial theory, they must demonstrate they can handle the friction of integrating a new company. Whether you are executing bolt-on acquisitions or pursuing a platform shift, this person keeps financial discipline while dealing with the immediate challenges of a merger. This role is required to manage the deal lifecycle for growth strategy. How have you balanced internal stakeholder feedback with external deal deadlines during an acquisition?
02
What do we check before you see anyone?
- 01Ask them for a specific deal they led from initial outreach to signing and what part of that process they personally managed.
- 02Check how they build financial models to see if they account for debt-equity trade-offs and various sensitivity cases rather than just using static templates.
- 03Ask who they coordinated with during due diligence and how they resolved conflicts when legal, tax, or HR teams disagreed on findings.
- 04Ask them to explain how they handled the first 90 days after a transaction closed to verify they understand how to transition assets to your existing operations.
- 05Ask them to show how they translate dense regulatory filings and complex tax structures into the specific deal covenants they negotiated.
- 06Check how they explain technical financial results to leadership to verify they can provide actionable summaries that directly influence your board.
03
Where do we find them?
We recruit from environments where deal volume is high and the margin for error is low. We target professionals currently inside specialized investment banking groups, accounting firm M&A transaction teams, and corporate development departments at serial acquirers. These individuals already manage the daily volume and pressure of intense transaction cycles.
Staff change jobs when their current organization restricts their ownership of the deal lifecycle. We seek those who want to influence the actual growth strategy of a business rather than those tasked only with financial research. We identify candidates who prioritize having a measurable impact on your future growth.
04
Which hiring mistakes should you watch for?
- 01Hiring a candidate who knows financial theory but lacks the operational experience to fix the messy administrative and coordination problems that occur after a deal closes.
- 02Ignoring the size and structure of your acquisitions. Ask which parts of a transaction they owned and which were handled by outside advisers before comparing that experience with your deal pipeline.
- 03Selecting a candidate based on their previous employer's size rather than evidence of their own specific work on successful deals, which leads to confusion about their day-to-day contributions.
05
The search in three steps
- 01We begin by clarifying your specific deal volume and mandate to verify if you need a financial modeler for early-stage screening or a leader for post-acquisition integration.
- 02We perform direct, confidential outreach to professionals currently in active deal environments and exclude all passive applicants who do not match your specific search criteria.
- 03We set up interviews centered on your real deal pipelines to allow you to pressure-test their strategic judgment and fit within your existing executive structure.
In this family
Healthcare providers (hospitals, physician groups, ASCs, senior living, behavioral)
OpenManufacturing and distribution
OpenTechnology and SaaS
OpenPrivate equity backed portfolio companies
OpenFintech and payments
OpenHospitality, restaurants and multi-unit franchise
OpenPublic companies and IPO-bound companies
OpenProfessional services firms (law, architecture/engineering, consulting)
OpenFP&A and Strategic Finance
Open
How your Corporate Development Director / Manager search runs
How does The Six-Step Search work?
One sequence, from a well-defined seat to a shortlist you can judge.
Search Calibration
We start with a call about the seat, the books, the owners and the people the hire will work with. We learn what the role must fix in the first year and what would make a candidate wrong even if the resume looks right.
You get: A written search brief: scope, must-haves, deal-breakers and the pay range, agreed with you.
Market Mapping
We map the companies and institutions where the right people already work: similar size, similar ownership, similar complexity, in your market and in others.
You get: The target list of companies and institutions we will search, reviewed with you before outreach.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We find direct ways to reach the people on the map. Most are employed and not reading job boards, so reaching them takes real research.
You get: Direct routes to people who are not on job boards, researched for your search.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We call and write to people individually and follow up. Interest varies, so we discuss the actual opportunity rather than promising a particular response.
You get: One-to-one conversations about your actual role, followed up, never a mass email blast.
Live Candidate Qualification
We speak with every candidate before you do. We check scope, systems, reporting lines, compensation expectations, location and why they would move.
You get: Only candidates we have spoken with, checked on scope, systems, pay, location and motive.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You receive a short written brief on each finalist covering what they have done, where they are thin and what they want. Then we help with interviews, references and the offer.
You get: A short written brief on each finalist, plus help with interviews, references, counteroffer risk and the offer.
Questions people ask
Can you provide a firm timeline for when we will receive a shortlist of qualified M&A candidates?
We focus on candidate alignment rather than speed. We provide profiles as we identify professionals who match your specific mandates, rather than promising arbitrary delivery dates.
What is your process for managing candidates who may be tempted by a counteroffer from their current firm?
We determine a candidate's personal and professional drivers during our first conversation. We maintain consistent communication during the search to identify potential counteroffer risks before they reach the final offer stage.
Are you able to conduct this search without alerting our competitors or internal staff?
We keep all outreach completely confidential. We define the disclosure approach with you before we contact any candidates to protect your internal teams and external contacts.
How are your search fees structured for this role?
We operate on a standard contingency model. You pay a fee only if you hire a candidate we present, based on the terms of the recruiting agreement signed before the search begins.
Do you place candidates into temporary, fractional, or interim leadership positions?
We work exclusively on permanent, full-time placements. Please contact our partner firm if you need to discuss interim or fractional leadership solutions.
What is your guarantee?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What don't you do?
We do not post your Corporate Development Director / Manager job and forward whoever applies. We do not send stacks of unscreened resumes, and we do not recruit outside accounting, finance, banking and insurance.
Start a search
Tell us about the seat.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
Not ready to start a search?
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What does the published pay data show?
$102,740 national annual median. SOC 13-2051: Financial and Investment Analysts.
BLS reports Corporate Development Director / Manager within a broader occupation. It does not publish separate wages for this exact title, credentials, seniority or industry. Compare the listed SOC duties with your actual role before using this range.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Released 2026-05-15. This is not a separately measured salary for this exact title.
Read the full salary guide