Director, Corporate Development

Responsibilities

• Lead active deal evaluations by owning workplans, data room coordination, diligence tracking, timelines, and cross-functional and advisor management from evaluation through closing.
• Develop investment recommendations as the first pen on investment theses, financial models, investment committee memos, and board and management presentations.
• Form and defend an independent point of view on opportunities using qualitative and strategic considerations—including structural market position, durable competitive advantage, demand durability, and fit with Hearst Health—alongside financial analysis. Generate evidence logs, document findings and pass rationales, and create summary memos of key takeaways to build and maintain a searchable proprietary insight library.
• Partner with management teams of Hearst Health operating businesses to understand their businesses, product roadmaps, strategic priorities, and the markets in which they operate—translating these insights into market analyses that inform strategic direction.
• Perform comprehensive market research and competitor analysis to deliver insights that shape strategy, deal sourcing, and opportunity assessment.
• Connect opportunities to portfolio strategy by identifying adjacencies, capability gaps, and inorganic growth themes across Hearst Health's six businesses.
• Build sector expertise between deal cycles through expert networks, banker relationships, industry conferences, management meetings, and analysis of early-stage and venture activity.
• Develop and maintain a disciplined sourcing pipeline with a ranked, auditable view of potential platform and tuck-in opportunities, while continuously improving screening and diligence processes.
• Build trusted external and internal relationships with bankers, management teams, advisors, Hearst Health operating company leaders, and Hearst leadership.
• Strengthen the corporate development function by building automation and agents leveraging AI tools, improving processes, and, as needs evolve, building the business case for recruiting, onboarding, and managing a junior corporate development professional.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in strategy, corporate development, management consulting, private equity, or a similarly rigorous environment, with demonstrated ability to lead complex end-to-end workstreams or transactions with limited oversight.
• Strong business and investment judgment, including the ability to form, articulate, and defend an independent perspective rather than simply present analysis.
• Excellent project leadership skills and the ability to manage multiple stakeholders, advisors, workstreams, and deadlines through complex deal processes.
• Executive presence and communication skills, with the ability to build credibility with senior bankers, management teams, operating executives, and corporate leadership.
• Strong financial modeling skills and fluency in Excel and PowerPoint.
• Intellectual curiosity and the ability to develop meaningful expertise in unfamiliar sectors quickly.
• A self-directed, collaborative approach and comfort operating in an environment where depth, selectivity, and quality of judgment matter more than transaction volume.

• Experience developed through a leading management consultancy, private equity firm, corporate development team, or comparable strategy and investment environment.
• Exposure to healthcare, healthcare IT, information services, or software businesses.
• Experience evaluating opportunities through both strategic and financial lenses and connecting individual investments to broader portfolio strategy.