Senior Corporate Development & M&A Manager

Position: Senior Corporate Development & M&A Manager

Firm: Global Market Leader in Advanced Industrial Engineering & Plant Construction

Location: Düsseldorf Metropolitan Area, Germany (Hybrid)

Overview

Our client is a globally operating, multi-billion-euro powerhouse and the undisputed market leader in heavy industrial engineering, metallurgical plant construction, and advanced lifecycle technologies. As the industry undergoes a massive structural shift towards decarbonization, digitalization, and sustainable manufacturing, the group is aggressively deploying capital to future-proof its portfolio.

The Executive Board is seeking to appoint a highly rigorous Senior Corporate Development & M&A Manager to act as a principal dealmaker and strategic architect. Positioned at the central nervous system of the group, this highly visible mandate goes far beyond traditional M&A execution. The successful candidate will drive end-to-end global acquisitions, architect highly complex industrial carve-outs/divestitures, and spearhead transformational value-creation initiatives across the broader enterprise.

Key Responsibilities

• Holistic Deal Origination & Execution: Act as the primary architect for global M&A activities. Continuously monitor the industrial landscape to systematically screen targets, cultivate proprietary deal pipelines, and execute complex acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic partnerships from preliminary assessment to definitive closure.
• Complex Divestitures & Carve-Outs: Architect and execute highly technical divestment processes for non-core assets. Oversee the preparation of complex transaction perimeters, build specialized carve-out financials, draft institutional-grade Information Memorandums (IMs), and structure sophisticated transaction frameworks.
• Advanced Valuation & Underwriting: Construct, iterate, and defend highly granular financial models. Execute advanced valuation analyses (DCF, multiples, SOTP), complex scenario modeling, and risk-adjusted business cases to validate strategic investment theses.
• Due Diligence & Stakeholder Negotiation: Spearhead intensive, multi-disciplinary due diligence workstreams. Actively manage and challenge elite external advisors (investment banks, Big 4 FDD/TDD, legal counsel) while leading the commercial negotiation of transaction collateral (SPAs) alongside the internal Legal and Tax functions.
• Post-Merger Integration (PMI) & Value Capture: Drive the critical transition from deal closure to operational reality. Partner closely with specific Business Unit (BU) leaders to author highly actionable integration frameworks, define granular synergy targets, establish KPIs, and track the realization of modeled financial effects.
• Executive Board Advisory & Transformation: Synthesize complex commercial logic, highly technical engineering data, and financial analytics into compelling, structured executive pitches. Lead cross-functional corporate development initiatives, optimizing global organizational structures and driving enterprise-wide transformation programs.

Candidate Profile

• Experience: 5 to 8 years of rigorous, transaction-heavy experience originating from a top-tier Investment Bank (M&A or Industrials Coverage), a premier Private Equity fund, MBB Strategy Consulting, or the active Corporate Development team of a complex multinational corporation.
• Sector Acumen: While a flawless technical toolkit is paramount, a demonstrable track record or strong affinity for heavy industrial sectors—specifically plant engineering, mechanical engineering, advanced manufacturing, or the steel industry—is highly preferred.
• Technical Elite: Exceptional analytical processing capabilities. Must possess the absolute autonomy to build, deconstruct, and defend highly complex financial models, carve-out accounting structures, and operational business cases under intense Board-level scrutiny.
• Execution & Autonomy: An operationally mature, highly commercial leader with proven project management expertise. Must possess the executive gravitas to manage external advisors, negotiate credibly with counterparties, and lead matrixed, cross-functional internal teams without direct reporting authority.
• Temperament: High-agency, intellectually agile, and inherently pragmatic. Demonstrates the highest degree of confidentiality, integrity, and entrepreneurial judgment necessary to navigate a massive, globally matrixed organization.
• Languages: Absolute, negotiation-level fluency in both German and English is strictly mandatory. The candidate will be regularly drafting complex materials and negotiating in both languages.
• Education & Toolkit: Outstanding academic credentials from a leading tier-one university in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, or Engineering. Advanced degrees (Master’s/MBA) are highly advantageous. Advanced mastery of MS Excel and PowerPoint is required; exposure to BI tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau) is a distinct asset. Willingness to travel nationally and internationally for live deal execution.

This is an exceptional opportunity for a top-tier transaction professional to pivot into a highly entrepreneurial, high-impact corporate role, directly shaping the strategic trajectory of an industrial titan.