Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Chief Corporate Development Officer

🎯 Role Definition

The Chief Corporate Development Officer (CCDO) is a C-suite leader responsible for defining and executing the organization's corporate development strategy—including mergers & acquisitions (M&A), strategic partnerships, joint ventures, divestitures, capital allocation, and post-transaction integration. The CCDO leads deal sourcing, end-to-end transaction execution, due diligence, valuation and modeling, cross-functional integration, and alignment with corporate strategy and the board. This role requires strong financial acumen, proven transaction leadership, excellent stakeholder management, and the ability to translate market intelligence into high-impact strategic moves that drive growth, scale, and shareholder value.

Key SEO and LLM keywords: Chief Corporate Development Officer, corporate development, M&A, mergers and acquisitions, post-merger integration, due diligence, valuation, strategic partnerships, divestiture, transaction execution, capital allocation, corporate strategy.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Director / Head of Corporate Development or M&A
Vice President, Corporate Strategy or Business Development
Senior Investment Banker or Private Equity Principal

Advancement To:

Chief Strategy Officer (CSO)
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Board Director / Non-Executive Director

Lateral Moves:

Head of Strategy & Transformation
Head of Strategic Partnerships / Alliances
General Manager of a Business Unit

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop, own and execute the enterprise-wide corporate development strategy including M&A, divestitures, joint ventures, strategic investments, and partnerships that align with long-term corporate objectives and maximize shareholder value.
Build, manage and prioritize a high-quality acquisition pipeline by proactively sourcing targets through market mapping, partner relationships, investment banks, private equity, and industry networks.
Lead full lifecycle deal execution: originate opportunities, manage due diligence, construct valuation and financial models, craft deal structures, negotiate commercial and legal terms, coordinate closing and oversee post-closing activities.
Design and maintain robust valuation frameworks, scenario analyses, LBO and accretion/dilution models, and sensitivity testing to support transaction decision-making and communicate business cases to the CEO and Board.
Coordinate and manage external advisors (investment banks, law firms, accounting firms, commercial due diligence providers, tax and regulatory consultants) to ensure high-quality, cost-effective execution of transactions.
Lead diligence programs across commercial, financial, operational, legal, tax, regulatory and IT domains, synthesizing findings into actionable risk assessments and integration plans.
Develop and run rigorous target screening criteria and investment memos for the executive team and Board, including clear KPIs, exit hypotheses and synergy capture plans.
Own post-merger integration (PMI) strategy and delivery: create integration playbooks, align leadership, set governance, drive synergy capture, monitor performance and remediate execution gaps.
Sponsor carve-outs and divestitures: develop sale/co-sell strategies, prepare assets for sale, manage data room processes, and support buyer negotiations and transition services.
Lead strategic partnership and alliance programs including joint ventures, minority investments and commercial partnerships—structuring terms, governance, performance KPIs and exit options.
Oversee corporate portfolio management and optimization, recommending capital allocation, prioritization, and rebalancing decisions to optimize ROI and strategic fit.
Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO and Board on macro trends, competitive dynamics, M&A market conditions, capital markets activity, and inorganic growth opportunities.
Establish and maintain robust governance processes, approval thresholds, and reporting structures for all corporate development activities, ensuring board-ready documentation and compliance with corporate policies.
Build and lead a best-in-class corporate development team: recruit, mentor, develop talent, set performance metrics and align resourcing with strategic priorities.
Drive cross-functional coordination with finance, legal, HR, IT, operations and business leaders to ensure transaction readiness and to mitigate operational and cultural integration risks.
Lead negotiations for material commercial and financial terms, earn-outs, retention and change-of-control provisions, vendor agreements and key customer contract transitions.
Create and maintain playbooks, templates, checklists and knowledge repositories to standardize deal execution, diligence, integration and carve-out processes across the enterprise.
Monitor and report post-transaction performance including synergy realization, P&L/Balance Sheet impacts, change in market position and lessons learned for continuous improvement.
Manage investor and rating agency communications related to major transactions and strategic capital moves, coordinating with IR and CFO as appropriate.
Evaluate and execute strategic capital market transactions, including equity financings, convertible structures, debt issuance, or structured financing to support growth or M&A financing needs.
Conduct strategic scenario planning and sensitivity analysis to stress-test acquisition assumptions, runway impact, and integration timelines under multiple market conditions.
Ensure regulatory, antitrust and compliance considerations are identified early in the deal lifecycle and managed through appropriate legal and compliance channels.
Lead post-transaction organizational design, talent retention and change management initiatives to realize value and to sustain operational performance post-close.
Track market intelligence, competitor M&A activity, and adjacent market opportunities; translate signals into strategic initiatives, thesis refinement and actionable recommendations.
Maintain and improve internal systems (CRM, deal-tracking, valuation libraries) to increase deal flow transparency, reporting accuracy and speed of execution.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Provide mentorship and cross-training to finance and strategy teams on M&A processes and financial modeling best practices.
Support vendor assessments and technology due diligence for strategic investments or digital transformation initiatives.
Assist in developing board materials and executive briefings for strategic initiatives beyond transactional work (e.g., strategic reviews, portfolio optimization).
Facilitate knowledge transfer and documentation of best practices and post-deal retrospectives to uplift organizational M&A capability.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Advanced financial modeling and valuation (DCF, LBO, accretion/dilution, comparable company and precedent transactions).
End-to-end M&A deal execution experience, including structuring, SPA negotiation, closing mechanics, and post-close integration.
Due diligence program management across commercial, financial, tax, legal, IT and operational areas.
Corporate finance expertise: capital allocation, balance sheet management, financing strategies and market transactions.
Post-merger integration (PMI) planning and synergy realization methodologies with measurable KPI frameworks.
Experience managing external advisors: investment banks, law firms, tax advisors, accounting firms and commercial diligence providers.
Strong commercial acumen and industry/market analysis capabilities, including competitive benchmarking and TAM/SAM/SOM assessment.
Transaction documentation familiarity: term sheets, purchase agreements, shareholder agreements, JV agreements and TSA/transition agreements.
Regulatory and antitrust awareness relevant to cross-border and sector-specific transactions.
Experience with carve-outs, divestitures and restructuring transactions, including separation planning and transition service agreements.
Proficiency with deal management tools and CRMs (e.g., DealRoom, Midaxo, Salesforce) and advanced Excel/BI tools for analytics.
Familiarity with equity and debt financing instruments, private placements, and investor negotiations.

Soft Skills

Strategic thinking and long-range planning—ability to translate market trends into actionable M&A and partnership strategies.
Executive presence and board-level communication skills, with experience presenting complex analyses succinctly to boards and investors.
Strong negotiation and influencing skills with a track record of closing complex deals under pressure.
Leadership and people management—building, mentoring and retaining high-performing deal teams.
Cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder management across business units, finance, legal, HR, IT and external partners.
High ethical standards and sound judgment under confidentiality and corporate governance constraints.
Project management discipline, prioritization and delivery focus with capability to manage multiple high-stakes transactions concurrently.
Change management and cultural integration skills to ensure people and process adoption post-transaction.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills for drafting investment memos, board materials and executive summaries.
Resilience, adaptability and decisive problem-solving in ambiguous and time-sensitive deal environments.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or related field.

Preferred Education:

MBA from a top-tier business school and/or advanced degree (JD, Master’s in Finance).
Professional certifications such as CFA or CPA are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Finance
Accounting
Economics
Business Administration / Strategy
Law (for regulatory/transactional expertise)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

12–20+ years of progressive experience across corporate development, M&A, investment banking, private equity, strategy, or corporate finance.

Preferred:

15+ years with demonstrated leadership in enterprise-level M&A and integration, including experience managing multi-billion dollar transactions, cross-border deals, and a proven track record of driving value through acquisitions, partnerships and divestitures.
Demonstrated experience interfacing with C-suite and Board members, and leading multidisciplinary teams and external advisors to execute complex transactions.