SVP – Corporate Development — Refining And Marketing System

The mandate

A multinational-owned UK refining and marketing system has a board-approved inorganic agenda across logistics, retail, low-carbon fuels, services and adjacent infrastructure. At the same time, the board must decide how much transition capital the core system deserves. Opportunities have been assessed individually, obscuring shared demand, integration, regulatory and capability exposure. The new SVP Corporate Development will create one comparative investment and transaction system.

The perimeter covers approximately £30,950 million in operated assets and portfolio and 1,925 employees and material partners. Accountability includes pipeline, M&A, partnerships, valuation, diligence, integration, separation and value tracking. Business leaders own operations and the committee approves capital. The SVP owns transaction evidence, portfolio logic and realised value.

Every inorganic choice must answer whether buying, partnering, building or exiting is superior to transition investment in the existing system. Familiarity cannot lower the evidence threshold.

Why this seat is open

The combined agenda emerged outside the hiring calendar, creating an urgent unplanned role with a four-to-six-week target. Interim teams protect live opportunities but cannot reconcile portfolio capital. There is no incumbent.

What you will own

• Build a proprietary pipeline tied to strategic capability.
• Compare acquisition, partnership, build and exit options.
• Direct technical, commercial, regulatory and operating diligence.
• Set valuation ranges, protections and walk-away conditions.
• Design integration or separation before signing.
• Track value and intervene when theses change.

Pipeline qualification will identify customer problem, strategic adjacency, right to win, capital and capability burden. Broker volume will not be rewarded. Each opportunity will show why the organisation adds value beyond funding and what would invalidate the thesis.

Diligence will reconcile asset condition, demand, margin, regulation, contracts, technology, people and environmental obligations. Transition assumptions such as customer premium, feedstock, emissions or policy support will be dated and owned. Downside will combine correlated failures rather than isolate each sensitivity.

Valuation will include enterprise support, integration, stranded cost and future capital. Contractual protections must align with the party able to control risk. Uncertain systemic exposure may require staged ownership, partnership or withdrawal rather than a simple price adjustment.

Integration planning will name leadership, systems, customers, operations, controls and synergy actions before final approval. Where autonomy creates greater value, interfaces and reserved matters will be explicit. Synergies need baselines and accountable actions, not broad percentages.

Post-deal reviews will track customer, cash, operational and transition results. Market movement will be separated from management value. The SVP will recommend restructure or exit when evidence changes, even after a publicly supported acquisition.

Partnerships and joint ventures will be treated as capital structures, not softer alternatives to acquisition. The team will define contribution, decision rights, funding, information, deadlock, change of control and exit. An alliance that provides access but prevents operating or customer action may destroy more option value than it creates.

Regulatory and stakeholder dependencies will enter diligence before exclusivity. Planning, environmental obligations, fuel standards, market conduct, consumer protection, workforce agreements and community commitments may affect timing and value. The SVP will distinguish approval risk from relationship optimism and identify which undertakings survive a later disposal.

The transition-investment comparison will use the same economic perimeter. Acquiring a lower-carbon or logistics asset and upgrading an existing refinery route must both include enterprise support, carbon or policy exposure, execution capacity, customer adoption and exit. Different discount rates cannot be used simply to make the preferred narrative win.

The corporate-development team will have independent authority to challenge sponsors. Deal leads, integration leaders and portfolio analysts need clear roles and rotation through operations. Incentives will recognise disciplined withdrawal and realised value, not only signed transactions. Adviser work must leave internal models, evidence and coached owners.

People and culture will enter the deal case before approval. Technical authorities, customer relationships, union or workforce arrangements and scarce operating knowledge may determine value but prove difficult to transfer. Retention plans require a defined purpose and duration. The SVP will ensure leadership selection, consultation and knowledge transfer are costed rather than left to integration teams after completion.

Financing and transaction structure will preserve future choice. Earn-outs, seller support, joint control, project debt, guarantees and environmental obligations can alter headline price and exit flexibility. The team will compare these on a full cash and control basis. A lower initial cheque will not be described as lower exposure when contingent support remains with the group.

The first 12 months

Within 75 days, the SVP will re-underwrite the ten largest opportunities and transition positions and assess leadership. The sponsor will receive pursue, reshape and withdraw decisions.

By month eight, three opportunities should pass common gates, two integration designs should accompany binding decisions and one proprietary opportunity should arise outside an auction. The largest transition dependency will be reflected in value.

At year-end, 95% of transaction spend should remain within gates, completed deals have owners for 90% of benefits and forecast leakage be identified within one reporting cycle. At least two choices should release or redirect capital, with ready cover for 70% of pivotal roles.

What the board will measure

• Inorganic choices compared with core transition investment.
• Diligence grounded in operating and regulatory evidence.
• Protections aligned with practical control.
• Integration ownership before completion.
• Corporate-development succession.

The person

You are an SVP Corporate Development, M&A leader or energy strategy executive with 22–28 years of experience. You have carried scope above £17,950 million and led at least 1,350 people. Your record includes refining, marketing, infrastructure or energy-transition deals.

The board will test a deal you stopped, a protection you structured and a transaction whose value you tracked. Adviser-only experience without ownership consequence will not qualify.

This onsite London role requires extensive asset, counterparty and investor travel.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is £210,000–280,000 plus annual incentive. Measures include pipeline, capital discipline, diligence, integration, value and succession.

Confidentiality

The company, opportunities, counterparties, assets and investment choices remain confidential. Further detail follows qualification and mutual confidentiality.