Head of Corporate Development

About

Public is the long-term investing platform. Investors use AI and a vast variety of asset classes, from stocks and bonds to crypto and options, to build portfolios for the long haul. Launched in 2019, Public has been trusted with billions in assets of affluent investors. Headquartered in New York City, it’s raised over $400M from investors like Accel and Tiger Global.

The Role

We’re hiring a Head of Corporate Development to own our build-buy-partner strategy: sourcing and executing M&A and strategic partnerships that accelerate Public’s ambitions. You’ll be the DRI for the full deal lifecycle (from thesis → LOI → diligence → close → integration), partner closely with the CEOs, CFO, Product, and Legal, and stand up the operating system for corporate development at Public. This role reports directly to co-CEO Leif Abraham. 

What You’ll Do

• Strategy & pipeline: Build and maintain theses and market maps across broker/dealer, market data, wealth, and adjacent fintech; prioritize opportunities that move activation, LTV, or cost to serve.
• Sourcing & relationships: Develop senior relationships with founders, bankers, funds, and strategic partners; keep an active, qualified pipeline.
• Deal execution: Own valuation, modeling, and structure; run LOIs/term sheets; lead cross-functional diligence (product, tech, legal, compliance, finance), and drive to close.
• Partnerships & investments: Evaluate BD partnerships and minority investments; design structures that de-risk and create option value.
• Integration & value capture: Create post-close plans with accountable owners, timelines, DRIs, and comms; track synergies and risks.
• Operating system: Stand up templates for IC memos, diligence checklists, reporting cadence, and a living pipeline/market-intelhub.

Who You Are

• An owner-operator who pairs strategic judgment with organized speed; comfortable making calls with imperfect data and course-correcting fast.
• Candid, low-ego communicator who gives/receives feedback from a place of care and builds trust across execs and teams.
• Excellent storyteller: you can distill complex trade-offs into crisp memos and board-ready materials.
• Deeply curious about fintech/markets and motivated by Public’s mission; high integrity and confidentiality by default.

Experience

• 8 - 12+ years across Corporate Development / Strategic Finance / IB / PE / VC, including end-to-end deal experience (buy-side M&A or significant strategic partnerships).
• Expert in valuation & modeling (comps, DCF, cohort/LTV, unit economics) and deal mechanics (structure, earn-outs, retention, working capital).
• Demonstrated post-merger integration experience and cross-functional leadership.
• Fintech, brokerage, market-infrastructure, or regulated-financial-services experience preferred; comfort with securities/compliance considerations.
• Track record of building repeatable processes (pipelines, ICs, dashboards) from zero to one.

Public is an equal employment opportunity employer to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type.  We celebrate people of all race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression. The compensation range for this role is $200,000-$300,000 based on skills and experience.