Corporate Development Lead

Paxos; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Paxos is rebuilding the world’s financial system by enabling the instant movement of any asset, anytime. We are seeking a Corporate Development professional to own the full M&A lifecycle and support end-to-end fundraising efforts, reporting to the CFO.

You’ll source, evaluate, and close acquisitions, manage investor relations, and partner with executives to shape strategic direction. You will lead cross-functional diligence, build financial models, and develop investment theses while scaling

Qualifications

• Proven track record of executing M&A or investment transactions.
• Strong financial modeling and valuation skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management.
• 7+ years of work experience.
• Entrepreneurial, analytical and comfortable operating in ambiguity.

Responsibilities

• Own the M&A process end-to-end: develop investment and M&A theses by researching trends and Paxos priorities.
• Source, evaluate, and execute acquisitions - lead cross-functional diligence, drive structuring, negotiation, and close.
• Build and maintain a live pipeline of targets aligned to Paxos’s priorities across infrastructure, distribution, and regulated capabilities.
• Conduct analysis of operating performance, lead market diligence, and prepare investment memos with rigorous financial models.
• Own fundraising process and investor relations: drive equity fundraises, prepare materials, manage data rooms, coordinate diligence.

Skills

M&A execution

Financial modeling

Fundraising

Investment theses

Investor relations

Strategic partnerships

Cross-functional collaboration

Excellent communication

Crypto/fintech familiarity

Independent contributor

Job description

About PaxosToday’s financial infrastructure is archaic, expensive, inefficient and risky — supporting a system that leaves out more people than it lets in. So we’re rebuilding it.We’re on a mission to open the world’s financial system to everyone by enabling the instant movement of any asset, any time, in a trustworthy way. For over a decade, we’ve built blockchain infrastructure that tokenizes, custodies, trades and settles assets for the world’s leading financial institutions, like Mastercard, Visa, Robinhood, and PayPal.

About the role

We are looking for a Corporate Development professional to drive Paxos’s inorganic growth strategy - identifying, structuring, and executing acquisitions and owning the process management for our fundraising efforts as we scale. Reporting to the CFO, you will own the full M&A lifecycle. In addition, you will support the CEO and CFO on the end-to-end fundraise processes, working closely with the executive team to tell the Paxos story to the right capital partners at the right time.This is a role that requires extreme ownership. You will be expected to bring a point of view on where the market is going, develop investment theses working with the executive and product leadership, source independently, move deals forward to execution with conviction, and work cross functionally to ensure successful outcomes post close. Your job is to make sure we’re always looking around corners and that the right opportunities don’t pass us by.

You will:

• Own the M&A process end-to-end:Develop Investment and M&A theses by researching and monitoring emerging trends and disruptive companies and deeply understanding Paxos product strategy and overall priorities
• Source, evaluate, and execute acquisitions - lead cross-functional diligence, drive structuring, negotiation, and close
• Build and maintain a live pipeline of targets aligned to Paxos’s strategic priorities across infrastructure, distribution, and regulated capabilities
• Conduct analysis of operating performance, lead market diligence, and prepare investment memos. Develop rigorous financial models and valuation frameworks
• Own fundraising process & investor relations:Lead end-to-end equity fundraise processes - drive workstreams, prepare investor materials, build and manage data rooms, coordinate diligence, and control the process timeline; serve as the day-to-day owner ensuring nothing falls through the cracks and the CFO and CEO are focused where they matter most
• Maintain ongoing relationships with current and prospective investors between raises providing regular investor updates
• Be a strategic partner to the executive team: Bring an informed external view - on competitors, market structure, and emerging opportunities - into our strategic planning process; translate what you’re seeing in the market into clear, actionable recommendations for leadership
• Continue to scale Paxos Ventures. To date, Paxos has made over 25 venture investments across the digital asset space
• Source, evaluate and recommend early stage venture investments that further Paxos strategic priorities
• Partner cross-functionally across the company to support founders and portfolio companies
• Help build our founder community by planning programs and events that convene portfolio companies, investors, and others in the ecosystem
• Build the corp dev muscle at Paxos: Establish repeatable processes for deal sourcing, evaluation, and integration planning; develop the templates, frameworks, and institutional knowledge that make us faster and sharper with every transaction

About you

We’re looking for someone who is entrepreneurial, analytical and very comfortable operating in ambiguity. You help bring focus and structure to ambiguous situations to chart a clear path forward. You might come from investing (Banking, PE, VC) or a Corp Dev team at a fast-growing (fin)tech company.

• Demonstrated track record of executing M&A or investment transactions - you have closed deals, not just supported them
• Strong financial modeling and valuation skills
• You enjoy building relationships
• Proven ability to own a fundraising process end-to-end - managing workstreams, materials, and investor relationships with minimal oversight
• Familiarity with the blockchain infrastructure, digital asset, or fintech space is a plus
• Excellent communication skills - you can present a nuanced deal thesis to a CFO and explain a term sheet to an engineer
• Comfort operating as an IC in a fast-moving environment; you don’t need a team to be effective, and you know how to pull in the right internal stakeholders at the right moment
• You default to AI and take pride in your work. You are building agents, vibe-coding apps, and more.
• You likely have 7+ years of work experience