SVP – Corporate Development — Applied-AI Portfolio

The mandate

The board has approved an inorganic agenda for an applied-AI portfolio, but execution ownership is dispersed. Attractive targets are visible to the market, yet the enterprise lacks a sufficiently proprietary pipeline and a consistent answer to how acquired capability will create value after closing. The SVP – Corporate Development will turn strategic intent into disciplined transactions with integration designed before price is agreed.

The surrounding business represents approximately C$800 million in AI product and services revenue and around 425 employees and material partners across Canada, Toronto and the wider operating region. Potential deals may involve product, data, specialist talent, customer access or infrastructure capability. Each carries different technical diligence, retention, control and operating-model consequences. Simple revenue multiples do not capture those dependencies.

Enterprise trust is the immediate obstacle. The board needs confidence that assumptions have independent evidence, management teams understand integration demands and downside exposure is not deferred until ownership transfers. Targets need confidence that the buyer can preserve valuable talent and product momentum. The role therefore joins origination, diligence, negotiation, integration logic and post-close value tracking.

Why this seat is open

The requirement was not in the approved hiring calendar and became urgent when the trust gap exposed the cost of split ownership. Interim cover protects current discussions, but one accountable executive is needed before the next transaction gate. The board aims to progress from a qualified shortlist to offer in four to six weeks. This onsite Toronto role supports international relocation and reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive committee sponsor.

What you will own

You will translate portfolio strategy into clear acquisition theses. Each thesis should specify the capability sought, alternatives to ownership, target characteristics, value mechanism, integration requirements and conditions that invalidate the case. Relationship-led and data-led origination should create choices before formal processes begin. Advisers may extend reach but cannot own the strategic judgement.

Diligence must reflect applied-AI reality. You will coordinate product, technology, data, model, cyber, customer, financial, people, legal and regulatory work around the value thesis. Evidence on intellectual property, model dependency, technical debt, data rights, customer adoption and critical talent should affect price and structure. Unresolved matters require owners, quantified exposure and decision rights.

Integration logic begins before signing. Determine what remains autonomous, what combines, which customer or product changes must wait and how pivotal people will be retained. Synergies should connect to operational actions, timing, investment and accountable leaders. Day-one control and communication must protect business continuity while preserving the learning that justified acquisition.

Post-close value realisation belongs in the corporate-development system. You will establish baselines, track assumptions and return exceptions to the investment committee. The 425-person employee and partner perimeter needs leaders capable of working across transactions and operations, with succession and institutional knowledge that reduce dependence on advisers.

The first 12 months

During the first 90 days, review strategy, pipeline, earlier transactions and current integration performance. Test whether target theses have evidence and map internal decision bottlenecks. Assess the leadership team and align the board on screening, valuation, diligence and integration gates. Stabilise any live process without allowing urgency to bypass essential work.

From months four to nine, build proprietary target access, advance only cases clearing the gates and strengthen cross-functional diligence. For any signed transaction, mobilise integration leadership and baselines before close. Demonstrate one disciplined progression, renegotiation or withdrawal where evidence protected value more effectively than deal momentum.

At year end, the board should see a proprietary pipeline, explicit integration logic and credible value realisation across active assets. The next capital plan must distinguish committed deals, stage-gated opportunities and organic alternatives. Present downside scenarios for valuation, retention, product performance and regulatory delay.

What the board will measure

First-year transaction and portfolio delivery should stay within 10% of approved capital and outcome assumptions, with variance identified early. Three quarterly forecasts must reconcile pipeline, cash, portfolio performance, customers and integration capacity. A selected source of acquisition mistrust should show measurable improvement from a verified baseline.

Priority diligence and integration risks need closure by investment-committee dates with evidence that mitigation holds. At least 90% of critical deal and integration talent should remain, while ready-now succession covers 70% of direct reports. No severe transaction issue may remain ownerless or undecided beyond 30 days, and material facts cannot be withheld.

The person

You are an SVP Corporate Development, M&A Director or Strategy Executive with 22–28 years in AI, enterprise software, data infrastructure, cloud, analytics, applied research or a comparable technology enterprise. You have owned at least C$850 million of P&L, budget, transaction book or accountable portfolio and led a minimum of 300 people.

Your experience spans proprietary origination, diligence, negotiation, integration and value realisation. You can discuss deals declined or restructured as readily as transactions completed, and quantify post-close performance against the original case. The board will examine technical and talent assumptions you challenged. References should isolate your contribution from advisers and executive sponsorship.

Compensation and terms

The anticipated package is C$330,000–440,000 base plus annual incentive, calibrated to final scope and current mix. Any longer-term award follows standard vesting and performance terms. A notice period up to six months can be managed. The SVP has routine access to the chair, executive committee and principal capital sponsors.

Confidentiality

The enterprise, live targets, advisers and transaction assumptions remain confidential. Identifying details will be exchanged only after mutual relevance under an undertaking; the public facts are composite.