Director of Business Development (M&A) - highly acquisitive PE backed company

The Firm

Our client is a highly acquisitive Private Equity-backed platform based in New York, NY.

Position Summary

Our client is looking to add a Director to their Business Development (M&A) team.

• Own assigned transactions as Deal Lead from initial engagement through LOI — delivering valuations, fielding objections, and managing sellers through a complex, long-cycle process.
• Operate independently in front of senior RIA principals, advancing deals without requiring leadership accompaniment or oversight.
• Cultivate and maintain relationships with RIA business owners and centers of influence, serving as the primary point of contact throughout the deal lifecycle.
• Drive cold outbound origination to prospective sellers and convert target firms from the existing nurture portfolio into active pipeline.
• Resolve seller-side objections, process friction, and deal complexity independently rather than routinely escalating to senior leadership.
• Manage an active pipeline and nurture portfolio simultaneously without losing momentum on either.
• Maintain full proficiency in DealCloud, the team's CRM platform, as the backbone for pipeline management and relationship tracking.

Experiences and Functional Skills Required

• 5–10 years in at least one of the following: buy-side M&A (PE or Corporate Development); Wealth Management with personal ownership of client acquisition; enterprise B2B sales within financial services; or a strong sales, sourcing, or M&A motion from outside financial services.
• A demonstrated track record of sourcing, closing, or converting outcomes — identifying targets, building relationships, and driving a process to close.
• Experience as the trusted primary point of contact for senior counterparties; second-chair is fine if you were clearly the relationship lead in waiting.
• Proven ability to run a complex deal process through to LOI independently, with senior decision-makers.
• Comfort delivering deal terms, fielding objections, and articulating a value proposition through a long-cycle seller process.
• Resolves problems independently before escalation.
• Fluent reading a P&L and extracting what matters from financial data; familiar with basic modeling and valuation logic.
• Proficiency with an enterprise CRM; DealCloud familiarity a plus.

Behaviors and Mindsets Required

• Interpersonal Savvy– Reads people and situations accurately and adjusts behavior to work effectively with others.
• Accountability / Ownership Mindset – A belief that you are responsible for outcomes, impact, and follow-through—regardless of ambiguity, obstacles, or who “should” own the problem.