SVP – Corporate Development — Urban Infrastructure Platform

The mandate

A Canadian urban-infrastructure platform faces several concession renewals while pursuing a board-approved inorganic agenda. Municipal counterparties expect credible reinvestment, service continuity and community benefit; shareholders expect each renewal or acquisition to clear a disciplined return. Existing teams evaluate these decisions separately, obscuring common exposure to demand, construction, regulation and operating capability. The board needs one SVP Corporate Development to join the choices before irreversible positions are taken.

The remit covers approximately C$20,650 million in project and operating assets and influences 1,550 employees and material partners. It includes corporate development, transaction execution, portfolio strategy, commercial diligence, valuation, integration planning and post-deal value tracking. Operating executives retain asset performance, and bid teams own submissions. The SVP owns the portfolio logic, investment evidence and accountable passage from opportunity to realised value.

The first test is not simply whether a concession can be renewed. Each asset must be examined against renewal obligations, alternative capital uses, competitive behaviour, residual value and the platform capabilities it consumes or creates. Where an adjacent acquisition could strengthen operating density, technical capacity or customer relevance, the comparison must use the same risk-adjusted basis. Familiar assets will not receive a lower evidence threshold.

Municipal relationships require candour before a formal process. The SVP will coordinate engagement on service expectations, affordability, climate resilience, workforce commitments and asset condition without pre-empting authorised negotiations. Assumptions gathered through relationships must be documented and tested. Political access is useful context, not investment evidence.

Why this seat is open

The role was not in the approved hiring calendar. A renewal timetable accelerated as the acquisition programme reached decision stage, leaving split teams unable to reconcile capital and capability demands. The appointment is urgent and unplanned, with a four-to-six-week target from qualified shortlist to offer. Interim committees protect live deadlines but do not replace a single accountable executive.

What you will own

• Create one renewal, acquisition, partnership and disposal decision architecture.
• Build a proprietary pipeline linked to urban-system needs rather than broker volume.
• Direct commercial, technical, regulatory, tax and operating diligence.
• Set valuation ranges, walk-away conditions and downside ownership.
• Design integration or separation before final transaction approval.
• Track value realisation and intervene when the investment thesis changes.

The pipeline will be qualified by strategic adjacency and right to win. District energy, mobility interfaces, public-realm services, utility connections or data-enabled asset operations may be relevant, but only where the platform can add value beyond capital. Every opportunity will identify the customer problem, control position, capability burden, likely competitors and route to proprietary access. Volume will not be rewarded if opportunities cannot reach a defensible decision.

Diligence must describe how an asset actually behaves. Demand forecasts will be reconciled with local development, service alternatives and contractual protections. Engineering condition, lifecycle expenditure, labour arrangements, technology dependency, insurance and community commitments will flow into the valuation model. The SVP will ensure downside cases show correlated failures rather than treating each risk as independent.

Renewal decisions will include a fully costed service proposition and negotiating perimeter. The team will distinguish mandatory investment from elective improvement, test indexation and performance regimes, and quantify the value of extension length or risk transfer. If a municipality's required outcome cannot meet the platform's capital threshold, the SVP must recommend restructure, partnership or orderly exit early enough to preserve credibility.

Transaction approval will carry an executable first hundred days. Leadership, governance, systems, procurement, customer commitments and capital controls will have named owners before signing. Synergies will be attributed to actions and baselines rather than broad percentages. Where autonomy creates more value than integration, the operating model will specify interfaces and reserved matters instead of forcing organisational uniformity.

The first 12 months

During the first 75 days, the SVP will re-underwrite the renewal calendar and ten highest-value inorganic opportunities. Immediate outputs include capital conflicts, decision dates, evidence gaps and recommended withdrawals. The executive sponsor will receive a single portfolio map and an assessment of the corporate-development team.

By month seven, the two most advanced renewals should have approved negotiating perimeters, three priority opportunities should pass or fail a common diligence gate, and integration designs should accompany any binding offer. The board expects at least one proprietary route created through a municipal, operator or strategic partnership rather than an auction intermediary.

At year-end, 95% of committed transaction and renewal spend should remain within approved stage gates, with no late bid caused by an internal decision delay. At least two portfolio decisions must release or redirect capital, forecast value leakage must be identified within one reporting cycle, and every completed transaction should carry validated owners for 90% of first-year benefits.

What the board will measure

• Renewal choices that balance public-service credibility and capital return.
• Proprietary opportunities arising from a clear platform advantage.
• Investment cases whose downside remains useful after approval.
• Integration and value ownership established before completion.
• A corporate-development bench able to challenge sponsors independently.

The person

You are an SVP Corporate Development, M&A Director or strategy executive with 22–28 years of relevant experience. Your record includes infrastructure concession renewal, acquisition or partnership decisions where operating evidence changed the price, structure or recommendation. You have carried at least C$12,000 million of accountable portfolio and led no fewer than 1,075 people.

The board will probe two completed examples: one opportunity you stopped despite senior sponsorship, and one transaction whose value you tracked through operational delivery. You should be able to separate your judgement from adviser work and explain the evidence available at each gate. Canadian public-infrastructure experience is valuable, although comparable regulated or concession environments will be considered.

This is an onsite Toronto appointment with travel to assets, municipalities, partners and diligence locations. The role requires constructive challenge, commercial stamina and respect for public counterparties.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is C$330,000–440,000 plus annual incentive. Measures include decision quality, proprietary pipeline, capital discipline, integration readiness, value realisation and succession. Final terms will reflect the confirmed transaction perimeter; a notice period of up to six months may be accommodated.

Confidentiality

The client, municipalities, concessions, counterparties and live opportunities are confidential. Identifying information will follow qualification and mutual confidentiality. Values and context are rounded or combined so the platform cannot reasonably be inferred.