Senior Director, Corporate Strategy and Development

Vonage, now a subsidiary and business division within Ericsson AB, is looking for a seasoned professional in investment banking, principal investments, or private equity to be a senior / lead M&A professional within our Corporate Strategy and Development team and to help build out our cloud communications business.  

The role will focus on the full range of M&A undertakings–from opportunity origination and identification through valuation / price determination, deal negotiation, execution, structuring and financing.  As such, the role will involve working on traditional US and cross-border cloud technology / telecom acquisitions, divestitures and mergers and include: identifying, evaluating and diligencing potential acquisition opportunities, vetting their financials and building forecast models, undertaking valuation and pro forma merger analyses and coordinating with investment bankers and legal counsel on deal structuring and execution.  In connection, the role will involve regularly developing, presenting and discussing comprehensive power-point style presentations to apprise colleagues (at both Vonage and Ericsson), executive management, and the board on these undertakings.  It also will involve a high level of collaboration across multiple expert constituencies across strategy, corporate M&A, finance, R&D, product and sales within Vonage and Ericsson.

The role will also involve leveraging industry M&A and industry insights to help build out our M&A strategy and ensuring its alignment with our strategic priorities.

What you will do:

• Industry Reconnaissance and Ecosystem Dialogue
• Develop and help manage an active dialogue with investment banks, PE/VC funds and industry analysts and establish pipeline of M&A opportunity flow
• Analyze and discuss trends, industry developments, market & equity research and peer/competitor strategic activity in cloud communications; examine industry relevant M&A and assess implications for Vonage and Ericsson
• Provide input from garnered industry/M&A insights into corporate strategy planning process
• Maintain responsive dialogue with inbound opportunities

• M&A Target Screening and Identification

• Work closely with strategy colleagues and internal teams, including product, technology and business units, as well as senior management and internal M&A vetting committees to prioritize areas for M&A and/or divestiture
• Proactively identify M&A targets (or buyers) that are aligned with strategic priorities by leveraging internal resources and relationships as well as banker and PE/VC introduced opportunities
• Screen and respond to inbound acquisition opportunities; undertake next level screening diligence and bring in other senior executives as relevant
• Develop powerpoint style presentations re target evaluation 

• M&A Analysis, Valuation & Execution
• Build (manage build out of) financial analysis and valuation models for various situations, including acquisitions, strategic investments, acqui-hires, disposition of assets, etc., coordinating with FP&A, Accounting, and other groups
• Develop situation specific, bespoke, ad-hoc financial analysis addressing unique issues and situations; help probe on M&A diligence and financial analyses through self-built (bespoke), tailored analytic constructs and modeling  
• Develop (manage development of) traditional financial and valuation analyses (eg, DCF, build vs. buy analysis, pro forma accretion / dilution analysis)
• Drive deal due diligence through close interaction with key leaders in internal business units and functions, from introductory management meetings and preliminary diligence through full scale deal due diligence
• Develop presentation materials for ad-hoc analysis on special situations such as strategic actions of competitors, execution of financings, and approval for critical steps in active M&A processes

• Management and Board Presentations
• Help synthesize analysis, findings and recommendations into executive powerpoint style presentations with appropriate financial supporting analyses; presentations tailored for varying levels of detail vs abstraction: eg for detailed diligence vs board-level presentations 

 Compensation is highly competitive.

 What is required:

• 8-12 years work experience in investment banking, private equity, or principal investments
• Strong powerpoint-style presentation framing and development skills
• Complex problem-solving skills; innovative with ability to create differentiated analysis based on the situation
• Strong analytical and financial modeling skills; proficiency in Excel
• Working familiarity in reading financial statements and with M&A related accounting principles
• Background in technology, cloud and/or communications 

Key qualities

• Self-driven and able to work independently with limited oversight
• Ability to lead and drive dialogue across varied constituencies and stakeholders: eg, product engineering, finance, 3rd party investment banks and legal advisors, deal counter-parties
• Ability to train junior resources
• Professional maturity and ability to coordinate with multiple, senior stakeholders and drive teams towards outcomes

What is in it for you:

• In addition to providing exciting work, career advancement opportunities, and a collaborative work environment, Vonage provides competitive pay and benefits including unlimited discretionary time off and tuition reimbursement.

Note:

The purpose of this profile is to provide a general summary of essential responsibilities for the position and is not meant as an exhaustive list. Assignments may differ for individuals within the same role based on business conditions, departmental need or geographic location.