Head of Corporate Development

Responsibilities

• Build and own a proactive pipeline of acquisition and investment opportunities aligned to Plaid's strategic priorities.
• Maintain an up-to-date view of the competitive and startup landscape to identify targets before they're formally for sale.
• Build and nurture a network of founders, executives, and investors across fintech and adjacent markets to source proprietary deal flow.
• Develop well-researched and insightful points of view on adjacent categories and key competitors, and use that intelligence to help inform Plaid's strategic direction and investment priorities.
• Lead end-to-end deal execution: valuation, financial modeling, diligence coordination, negotiation, and structuring, partnering with key cross-functional teams throughout.
• Partner with Finance, Legal, People and business leaders to successfully integrate closed acquisitions. Set a clear integration plan with milestones and performance metrics, track integration milestones and backtest outcomes against the original investment thesis.
• Engage Product, Engineering, and GTM to qualify opportunities and sharpen Plaid's areas of strategic interest.
• Prepare board- and executive-ready materials on market landscape, deal pipeline, deal evaluation and due diligence findings, integration plan and post-close performance.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience across Investment Banking, Private Equity, Corporate Development or Management Consulting (with a focus on PE due diligence work).
• Deep, hands-on experience evaluating and executing deals end-to-end, including sourcing, valuation, financial modeling, diligence, negotiation, and closing.
• A track record of managing multiple complex deals simultaneously, from inception through post-close integration.
• Strong analytical rigor paired with sound business judgment, knowing when to dig deeper and when to move forward with a decision.
• Comfort building frameworks and processes, turning ambiguity into repeatable motions.
• Executive presence and excellent written, verbal, and visual communication skills, with the ability to engage senior stakeholders and Board-level audiences.
• Prior experience in Technology is a must-have. Experience partnering with Product and Engineering leaders is a plus; fintech or financial services experience is a plus.