Director of Corporate Development at CloudLinux

CloudLinux is a global, remote first company dedicated to providing high volume, low cost Linux infrastructure and security products. Our core principles are doing the right thing, prioritizing employees, and embracing a remote first culture. We foster a supportive environment where every team member contributes to collective success.

Position Overview: Director of Corporate Development

Reporting directly to the CFO, the Director of Corporate Development is responsible for driving CloudLinux's inorganic growth agenda. This includes managing the entire acquisition pipeline, from initial origination and rigorous evaluation through post close integration coordination. The role also encompasses strategic alliances, joint ventures, and major commercial partnerships that achieve similar strategic objectives without a direct purchase.

You will collaborate with the CFO on multi year strategic planning and capital formation activities, including debt and equity financing. A primary focus will be on sourcing and screening, establishing a consistent flow of qualified targets, and ensuring a comprehensive understanding of financial implications for every opportunity presented to the leadership team.

Due diligence in this role extends beyond financial statements; it involves critically assessing the leadership, culture, and potential post close alignment of a target company's principals. You will act as a safeguard against deal momentum, scoring every opportunity against a standardized methodology to ensure recommendations are data driven rather than based on internal enthusiasm. Additionally, you will manage transaction related financial planning, including acquisition and integration budgets, working in conjunction with the corporate FP&A process.

This is a hands on position requiring you to build pipelines, frameworks, and models independently. Target acquisitions are typically tuck in software and hosting adjacent businesses with enterprise values between USD $1 million and $5 million, funded through operating cash flow. We anticipate closing 1 to 2 transactions annually, maintaining a pipeline of approximately 2 qualified opportunities under active review at any given time.

Partnership, alliance, and joint venture opportunities will undergo the same rigorous screening and scoring process as acquisitions, allowing for a unified comparison of build, buy, and partner strategies.

This role is fully remote, offering flexible hours, empowering you to plan your workday and operate from anywhere in the world.

Key Responsibilities

• Origination: Develop and sustain a robust pipeline of acquisition targets aligned with strategic priorities through market mapping, competitive analysis, and thesis driven identification. Cultivate relationships with investment bankers, brokers, and industry advisors to ensure early access to relevant opportunities. Conduct direct outreach and develop early stage relationships with prospective target founders. Maintain meticulous pipeline records, including rationale for passed opportunities, to continuously improve the pipeline process.
• Screening and Evaluation: Design, implement, and maintain a leadership approved, standardized screening and scoring methodology. This methodology will consistently evaluate opportunities based on strategic fit, financial thresholds, return on investment, technology/product considerations, integration complexity, and counterparty risk. No opportunity will advance without a score, which will accompany the deal throughout its lifecycle. Ensure recommendations align with scoring methodology and are evidence backed. Document rationale for decisions that deviate from scores, outlining specific assumptions required for success. Prepare concise initial evaluations detailing costs, returns, core thesis assumptions, and potential risks. Build comprehensive valuation and deal models, including scenario/sensitivity analysis, synergy assessments, and financing considerations. Coordinate financial due diligence and collaborate with legal, technology, and functional leaders on cross functional workstreams. Lead counterparty diligence on target principals (reference checks, background verification within legal limits, litigation/reputation review) and assess post close behavior. Translate findings into deal structure recommendations (retention, earnout, indemnification, escrow) with legal counsel. Support deal structuring and negotiation, preparing leadership and board materials by anticipating and addressing questions. Track completed transactions against original theses and report variances to facilitate organizational learning.
• Acquisition Budgeting and Financial Planning: Develop complete transaction budgets covering purchase consideration, advisory fees, diligence costs, financing, and working capital. Create integration budgets with phased synergy realization and cost phasing. Integrate acquisition impacts into the company's financial forecast and annual operating plan in collaboration with the finance team. Support capital allocation analysis across competing cash uses, including scenario and sensitivity analysis for investment decisions.
• Integration Coordination: Oversee post close integration plans for acquired companies, including the 100 day plan, workstream coordination across functional leaders, and executive escalation for blockers. Lead financial integration, covering reporting onboarding, budget incorporation, and systems transition in partnership with the accounting team. Track realized synergies and integration costs against the deal model, reporting variances to leadership.
• Strategic Alliances, Joint Ventures, and Commercial Partnerships: Identify and structure strategic alliances (commercial, marketing, or technology sharing) that achieve objectives without acquisition, presenting them to leadership using the same scoring basis as a purchase. Evaluate and structure joint ventures for shared markets or products, including economics, governance, contribution, exit terms, and financial modeling. Lead financial and commercial evaluation of major distribution, supply, and OEM agreements (pricing, exclusivity, minimum commitment) in partnership with Sales and Product. Maintain a partnership pipeline with records and rationales similar to the acquisition pipeline.
• Long Term Strategy: Collaborate with the CEO, CFO, and CPO to maintain the company's 3 to 5 year growth blueprint, refreshed annually before the operating plan. This includes market landscapes and competitive analyses that inform acquisition, partnership, and organic investment strategies. Translate this blueprint into strategic priorities guiding acquisition and partnership pipelines, ensuring efforts align with strategy.
• Capital Formation: Support the CFO in raising debt or equity as required by the growth plan (private placements, secondary transactions, credit facilities). This involves financial model and use of proceeds analysis, investor materials, data room preparation, and coordination with counsel/advisors. Maintain relationships with lenders and prospective investors.
• Corporate Development Function Building: Establish comprehensive playbooks, screening criteria, deal templates, and pipeline infrastructure to build a robust corporate development capability. As the function scales, hire, coach, and develop team members, acting as a collaborative business partner across the organization.

Required Qualifications

Professional Experience

• Minimum of 8 years of combined experience in corporate development, investment banking, private equity, or transaction advisory, including direct origination experience (sourcing, outreach, and early stage negotiation with target companies).
• Proven experience conducting or coordinating due diligence across financial, legal, and human aspects of transactions.
• Demonstrated ability to construct institutional quality financial models from scratch, including three statement, valuation, and scenario models.
• Experience preparing and presenting analyses to executive or investment committee audiences, with the ability to defend recommendations effectively.
• Working knowledge of software or recurring revenue business models and their governing metrics.
• Exposure to post merger integration, either leading workstreams or supporting broader integration programs.
• Experience structuring strategic alliances, joint ventures, or major commercial agreements, and exposure to debt or equity financing processes (private placement, secondary transaction, or credit facility).
• Experience contributing to multi year strategy development with senior leadership, including market landscapes, competitive analysis, and growth planning.

Soft Skills

• Maintain an even temperament under pressure and friction, demonstrating composure and process driven judgment during negotiations, diligence challenges, or difficult counterparty interactions.
• Possess a low ego, finding satisfaction in proper execution of work rather than seeking recognition for tasks like pipeline records, diligence checklists, or budget reconciliations.
• Exhibit persistence through repetitive and detail heavy deal work phases, maintaining quality without cutting corners or requiring constant stimulation.
• Demonstrate sound commercial judgment, including the ability to decline attractive opportunities when numbers or counterparties are not aligned, and to clearly articulate the rationale.
• Strong attention to detail and a commitment to quality and data integrity.
• Effective communicator, able to convey and present information concisely, logically, and leading with conclusions.
• Strong interpersonal skills, fostering collaboration across the organization and partnering effectively with all levels of management, understanding their needs and perspectives.
• Exercise discretion in handling confidential and market sensitive information.
• Display integrity and accountability for actions and statements.

Other Valued Attributes

• An MBA is considered an asset.
• Experience in Big Four transaction advisory or the software industry is an asset.
• Prior experience as the founding or first hire of a finance or corporate development function is a significant asset.
• An established network among software sector bankers, brokers, or founders is a significant asset.
• Experience partnering with or operating within an FP&A function is an asset.

Benefits

At CloudLinux, we invest in our employees' professional growth and offer a supportive work environment:

• Fully remote work with flexible working hours, allowing you to schedule your day and work from any location worldwide.
• Generous paid time off, including 24 days of vacation per year, 10 national holidays, and unlimited sick leave.