Manager, Corporate Development and Strategy

Role summary

Appodeal is looking for a hands-on corporate development professional to help identify, evaluate and execute acquisitions, investments and strategic partnerships across mobile apps and advertising technology. The role combines rigorous transaction execution with commercial judgment: building the investment case, challenging assumptions, coordinating diligence and turning analysis into a clear recommendation for the executive team and Board.

This is an execution role, not a presentation-only strategy position. The successful candidate will work directly with the CFO and business leaders from initial market mapping through signing, closing and value delivery.

Much of the first pass in deal work — market mapping, company research, comparable sets, a first read of diligence documents — is increasingly done with AI tools. This role is expected to use them, and to know where their output cannot be trusted.

Core responsibilities

• Build and maintain a focused pipeline of acquisition, investment and partnership opportunities aligned with company and business-unit priorities.
• Develop financial models, valuation analyses, returns cases and downside scenarios; reconcile strategic logic with the economics of each opportunity.
• Lead early-stage target assessment, including market attractiveness, product fit, competitive position, customer concentration, technology differentiation and management-team quality.
• Prepare concise decision materials for the executive team and Board, with a clear recommendation, key assumptions, risks, sensitivities and unresolved questions.
• Coordinate cross-functional due diligence across finance, tax, legal, product, technology, data, privacy, commercial and people workstreams; maintain accountability for issues and deadlines.
• Support transaction structuring and negotiation of indications of interest, letters of intent, purchase agreements, earn-outs, retention arrangements and other key terms alongside internal and external advisers.
• Own transaction process management, including data-room readiness, workplans, valuation updates, approvals and signing and closing deliverables.
• Translate the deal thesis into a measurable integration and value-delivery plan, with named owners, milestones, financial outcomes and post-close tracking.
• Produce targeted market and competitor analysis to support build, buy or partner decisions and broader capital-allocation priorities.
• Develop repeatable corporate development tools, templates and governance so that decisions are faster, evidence-based and auditable.

What success looks like

• A qualified opportunity pipeline tied to explicit strategic priorities rather than opportunistic deal flow.
• Decision-ready investment cases that expose the real value drivers and risks instead of relying on headline revenue multiples.
• Disciplined, well-run diligence processes with no material issue discovered late because ownership or scope was unclear.
• Transactions move through defined governance gates with clear accountability, informed challenge and timely decisions.
• Post-close performance is measured against the approved deal case, with corrective action when value delivery slips.

Experience and capabilities

• 5–8 years of relevant experience, including at least two years in investment banking, private equity, growth equity, transaction advisory or an established corporate development team, and meaningful in-house corporate development experience.
• Direct involvement in at least two completed M&A transactions, from initial analysis through diligence, documentation and closing; direct ownership of major workstreams is expected.
• Advanced financial modelling and valuation skills, including operating models, DCF, comparable-company and precedent-transaction analysis, acquisition financing, purchase-price mechanics and returns analysis.
• Strong commercial judgment and the ability to assess product, technology and go-to-market questions rather than treating a deal as a purely financial exercise.
• Ability to reduce complex or incomplete information to a concise, defensible recommendation for senior decision-makers.
• High standards for accuracy, pace and follow-through, with the confidence to challenge assumptions and escalate material issues early.
• Demonstrated AI experience: practical hands-on use in modelling, research or diligence, with the ability to describe the workflows improved, the results delivered, and how the output was validated.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to work effectively across functions, geographies and levels of seniority.
• Experience in software, mobile apps, advertising technology, gaming or adjacent digital markets is strongly preferred.
• Bachelor's degree in finance, economics, accounting, mathematics, engineering or another directly relevant quantitative discipline, with a strong academic record.

Working style

• Hands-on: willing to build the model, interrogate the data and drive the process personally.
• Independent: forms a view from evidence and states it clearly, including when the answer is to walk away.
• Commercial: understands how technology, customers, pricing, distribution and execution determine value.
• Structured: converts ambiguity into explicit questions, owners, decision points and measurable outcomes.
• Low ego: works through influence and brings in the right experts without losing ownership of the result.