SVP – Corporate Development — Enterprise-Software Suite

The mandate

A multinational-owned enterprise-software suite has board approval for inorganic growth, but the next phase requires stronger governance than an episodic transaction process. Targets must extend the suite’s customer value rather than simply add revenue, and integration choices need to be understood before valuation enthusiasm becomes commitment. The growth-stage reset places discipline around sourcing, decision and value realisation.

The SVP – Corporate Development will influence approximately €1,550 million in annual recurring revenue and lead around 775 employees and material partners. Scope includes acquisition strategy, proprietary sourcing, evaluation, diligence, valuation, transaction execution, integration thesis, portfolio review, strategic partnerships and talent. The role answers to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive committee sponsor.

The inorganic thesis begins with capability and customer gaps in the enterprise-software suite. The SVP will define which product, market, data, distribution or talent positions merit acquisition and which are better built or partnered. Criteria should be specific enough to exclude attractive companies that do not solve an agreed strategic constraint.

Pipeline quality depends on proprietary access and patience. Banker processes can supplement but not substitute for durable relationships with founders, boards, investors and sector operators. Each prospect needs a reason the combination is distinctive. The leader will avoid measuring success through target volume or signed confidentiality agreements.

Evaluation must connect recurring-revenue quality with product reality. Cohort retention, expansion, usage, pricing, implementation, cloud cost, security, technical debt and customer concentration should inform valuation. Adjustments require source evidence. A high-growth target can still weaken the suite if its architecture or service obligations destroy the apparent margin.

Integration logic will be written before final commitment. Product roadmap, customer migration, go-to-market, leadership, systems, brand and control choices need accountable owners and sequencing. The SVP should identify where independence preserves value and where delay merely postpones difficult decisions. Synergies must be tied to actions, cost and timing.

The governance reset should clarify who recommends, challenges and decides. Corporate development will coordinate evidence without becoming the sole author of the deal case. Product, technology, commercial, finance, people and risk leaders need explicit sign-off on assumptions they will later own. Dissent and unresolved dependencies should reach the investment committee intact.

Value realisation will continue after close. The same deal model should reconcile with operating forecasts and actual outcomes. Customer losses, delayed integration, retained cost and unplanned investment must not disappear into group reporting. The SVP will trigger corrective action, revise the thesis or recommend divestment when evidence changes.

The team requires commercial, technical and execution range. The leader will assess transaction professionals, integration capability and dependency on advisers, building succession for critical roles. External specialists should transfer knowledge rather than own institutional memory.

Why this seat is open

This is a planned replacement with four to six months available for assessment and structured transfer from the incumbent. The quiet process protects active relationships and transaction optionality. The handover will cover pipeline and open diligence without allowing informal authority to persist afterwards.

What you will own

• Translate the suite strategy into specific inorganic search fields.
• Steward development decisions affecting approximately €1,550 million of annual recurring revenue.
• Build proprietary relationships with credible targets and capital partners.
• Join revenue quality, product evidence and technical cost in valuation.
• Define integration choices and accountable owners before commitment.
• Lead approximately 775 employees and material partners.
• Track value realisation through the operating forecast after close.
• Strengthen investment governance, transaction talent and adviser independence.

The first 12 months

The first 90 days should validate the inorganic thesis, meet the 30 stakeholders central to disciplined execution and assess the team. Review live pipeline, prior-deal outcomes, integration capacity and governance. Agree search fields, evidence standards and stop gates with the investment committee.

Between months four and nine, develop proprietary prospects, advance only cases that clear strategic and economic hurdles and improve integration readiness. Close leadership or diligence gaps and reconcile earlier acquisitions to their approved cases. Value may come from avoided overpayment as readily as a signed transaction.

At year end, pipeline quality, integration logic and realised value should be independently visible. Performance must remain within 10% of the authorised case, while three successive forecasts align transaction assumptions, recurring revenue, cash, customers and people. A material diligence exception cannot remain undecided beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Proprietary targets aligned with explicit suite gaps and strategic criteria.
• Valuation supported by cohort, product, technology and service evidence.
• Integration ownership agreed before capital becomes irreversible.
• Prior-deal value reconciled to the original investment thesis.
• Retention above 90% for pivotal talent and immediate successors for 70% of direct roles.
• Adviser use that strengthens rather than substitutes internal judgement.

The person

You are an SVP Corporate Development, M&A Director or Strategy Executive with 22–28 years in technology or a related enterprise. You have led acquisitions from thesis and proprietary access through integration and measured value realisation.

Your accountable P&L, book, budget or portfolio has been at least €900 million, and you have led 550 or more people. The board will expect a transaction you stopped, a case you reshaped and outcomes that remained visible for two reporting periods.

You understand enterprise software, recurring-revenue quality and technical diligence. You can resist deal momentum, preserve founder relationships and require functional leaders to own the assumptions they approve.

Compensation and terms

The base range is €240,000–320,000 plus annual incentive. The permanent appointment is onsite in Amsterdam, supports international relocation and is not remote. A notice period up to six months may be accepted.

Confidentiality

The client, targets, counterparties and transaction history are strictly confidential. Qualified candidates will receive identifying information after mutual fit and confidentiality are established; ranges and context are composite.