Partner, Mergers & Acquisitions, Data Centers & Digital Infrastructure

ERM; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 200,000 - 258,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

Parental leave

Medical insurance

Dental

Vision

Life insurance

Disability

AD&D insurance

401(k)

Job summary

ERM seeks an experienced Partner in Mergers & Acquisitions, Data centers & Digital Infrastructure to own equity and drive growth in North America. The role focuses on selling and delivering ESG M&A advisory services for datacenter campuses, power, water, and interconnection projects.

Ideal candidates have 15+ years in ESG consulting, deep M&A transaction knowledge, and a strong network with private equity, lenders, and hyperscalers. Location in major markets is preferred.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in engineering or related field; professional registration preferred.
• 15+ years in ESG consulting, with datacenter/digital infrastructure exposure.
• Strong M&A transaction knowledge and NA deal network.

Responsibilities

• Lead client development, sales and delivery across ERM’s ESG M&A advisory.
• Grow ERM’s ESG M&A advisory for datacenter and energy infrastructure.
• Oversee site selection, land screening, and permitting considerations.

Skills

Leadership

Business development

M&A knowledge

Client relationship management

Strategic thinking

Education

B.S. in engineering or related field

Job description

As part of the continued growth and innovation of our Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Advisory services, ERM has an opportunity for an experienced leader to join our global consulting firm as a Partner, Mergers & Acquisitions, Data centers & Digital Infrastructure and become a true owner and shareholder in a business with Sustainability at its heart. Candidates will ideally be located proximate to major markets including New York, NY, Boston, MA, Houston, TX, Washington, DC (including Northern Virginia), Chicago, IL, Dallas, TX, Atlanta, GA, Phoenix, AZ, or San Francisco area, CA. We are looking for an established leader interested in being part of this thriving global community – outstanding professionals who combine strong consulting and business development skills with a strong technical foundation – to foster and expand a network of excellent client relationships with hyperscalers, datacenter developers and operators, infrastructure and private equity funds, project finance lenders, utilities and independent power producers, and M&A law firms. We seek individuals to help us drive the continued growth of ERM’s business through selling and delivering world-class services, recruiting and developing our next generation of leaders, and further advancing our reputation for Mergers & Acquisitions transaction solutions. This role will be focused on mergers, acquisitions, and financings associated with the rapid scaling and buildout of datacenters and related power and energy infrastructure in North America. Key transaction issues include site selection and land acquisition, power availability and grid interconnection, on-site and behind-the-meter generation, water availability and cooling, air permitting for backup generation, environmental and land-use entitlements, community acceptance, and clients’ decarbonization commitments. Recognizing that Sustainability has become a business-critical issue for many enterprises, ERM, as the world’s leading sustainability consultancy, is uniquely qualified to advise leading Private Equity and Infrastructure funds, hyperscalers, datacenter developers, Fortune 500 companies, lenders, and Investment Banks on EHS and Sustainability liabilities, risks, and opportunities. Our ESG M&A Advisory practice is the market leader, providing highly innovative advisory services across the full breadth of acquisition, ownership, divestiture and capital raising deals. Our integrated, global advisory services monetize liability and provide high-end deal advice by embedding sustainability, climate change and analysis of costs across time and post-merger integration programs. With annual global sales in excess of $100 million, the service offering is one of the fastest growing in a business with annual double-digit growth. This is a Partner-level opportunity for a Principal/Director/VP-level professional looking to further their career with an equity stake in a global environmental leader that aims to lead the field in sustainability consulting. A career as an ERM Partner is unique. Our partnership model offers unparalleled opportunities for leaders with ambition, vision and proven expertise, providing: The opportunity to contribute significantly to key decisions, including the overall strategic direction of our organization. Meaningful equity ownership with significant financial and intangible rewards. The ability to provide “thought leadership” on a wide range of technical and business issues impacting our core markets. An extension of ERM’s market position and reach with your established relationships to further drive our growth.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Primary focus on client development, sales, and delivery of the full spectrum of ERM’s consulting services to deliver strategic value to our clients.
• Play a key role in growing ERM’s ESG M&A Advisory across its broad portfolio of service offerings: EHS and Sustainability due diligence for Mergers & Acquisitions, focused on datacenter campuses and associated power, water, and transmission infrastructure
• Site selection and pre-acquisition land screening (power, water, wetlands, protected species, cultural resources, and flood risk)
• Lender and investor ESG due diligence for project and construction financing (e.g., Equator Principles, IFC Performance Standards)
• Post-investment sustainability value creation
• Post-merger integration
• IPO and Exit Readiness
• Deal negotiation support
• Actively develop commercial strategies to pursue and win new business opportunities that result in significant revenue growth with target clients aligned with ERM’s global strategy.
• Provide business value selling at the top levels of client organizations, raising the profile of ERM’s capabilities within key client organizations, to identify and shape clients’ needs for ERM services.
• Develop new client relationships and expand existing relationships by delivering strategic consulting advice, excellent value, and quality service.
• Maintain pulse on datacenter, digital infrastructure, power transactions and capital flows and prioritize sales efforts toward high potential, top opportunities.
• Manage capture efforts utilizing technical understanding to develop proposals, including written content, pricing, presentations, and contracting.
• Lead complex due diligence consulting engagements involving multi-site portfolios and multi-person project teams locally, nationally, and globally.
• Work with clients to find solutions to transaction-driven environmental issues, including EHS compliance, remediation, permitting and entitlement risk, power and water constraints, community and stakeholder opposition, portfolio issues, sustainable value creation, and liability cost estimating.
• Build, grow, and manage a high-performance team, serving as a leader and mentor to consultants.
• Identify emerging talent and work with them to reach their full potential; ensure rising stars are nurtured, developed and given new areas of responsibility.
• Support the growth and development of ERM’s global EHS and Sustainability M&A solutions and actively collaborate with colleagues across the globe.
• Drive innovation within the business to stay ahead of client needs and to differentiate ERM in the market.
• Work in a collaborative, cross-functional team environment to build ERM’s global business, as well as to lead client and technical teams.
• Leverage the Mergers & Acquisitions role to provide services related to site remediation, EHS compliance, management systems, outsourcing, and integration support, among others.
• Meet business financial targets, overall project budget and schedule, client satisfaction/expectations, and internal and contract requirements.

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor of Science in engineering, environmental or other science, or related discipline; professional registration preferred.
• 15+ years’ progressive experience in an ESG consulting environment, working at a high-level with corporate, financial, and legal clients; preferably with the datacenter, digital infrastructure, power generation, utility, and/or energy sectors.
• In-depth understanding of M&A transactions in the datacenter infrastructure industry, including existing relationships with private equity deal teams, corporate executives, attorneys and investment bankers that can be leveraged into new businesses.
• Business acumen to understand business risk and challenges and recognize corporate opportunities.
• Demonstrable track record in delivering multimillion-dollar sales results annually, including successfully winning large and strategic portfolios.
• Well-versed in ESG risks and opportunities as they relate to transaction agreements.
• Experience estimating costs of ESG issues/liabilities.
• Working knowledge of the datacenter development lifecycle (site selection, entitlement, power procurement and interconnection, construction, and operations) and the associated federal, state, and local permitting regimes (e.g., NEPA, Clean Water Act Section 404, Clean Air Act).
• Offer recognized technical expertise and an established reputation in the North American datacenter and energy infrastructure investment community.

For the Partner, Mergers & Acquisitions position, the anticipated annual base pay is $200,300 - $258,200 (USD). Actual pay will depend on factors such as education, experience, skills, location, performance, and business needs. In some cases, pay may fall outside this range. This role may be eligible for bonus pay subject to the sole discretion of ERM and its policies and procedures (casual and fixed term/flex force employees are not bonus eligible).

• paid time off (vacation, sick, and floating holidays)
• parental leave
• medical
• dental
• vision
• life
• disability
• AD&D insurance
• 401(k)
• other applicable benefits to eligible employees

Who We Are:

As the largest global pure play sustainability consultancy, we partner with the world’s leading organizations, creating innovative solutions to sustainability challenges and unlocking commercial opportunities that meet the needs of today while preserving opportunity for future generations. At ERM we know that creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive work environment is an essential part of making our company a great place to build a career. We also see our diversity as a strength that helps us create better solutions for our clients. Our diverse team of world-class experts supports clients across the breadth of their organizations to operationalize sustainability, underpinned by our deep technical expertise in addressing their environmental, health, safety, risk and social issues. We call this capability our “boots to boardroom” approach for its comprehensive service model that allows ERM to develop strategic and technical solutions that advance objectives on the ground or at the executive level.

ERM is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

Thank you for your interest in ERM!

At ERM, sustainability is our business. We are the world’s largest advisory firm focused solely on sustainability, offering unparalleled expertise across business and finance. ERM partners with clients to operationalize sustainability at pace and scale, through our unique combination of strategic transformation and technical delivery capabilities. Our diverse global team of experts works with the world’s leading organizations to help them set clear sustainability targets, measure progress and operationalize strategy through deep implementation and business transformation. With more than 50 years of experience, our ability to integrate sustainability solutions and our depth and breadth of technical knowledge are why organizations choose to partner with us as their trusted advisor. Every one of us firmly believes in the potential to create value for our clients through an integrated approach to sustainability (because we have personally seen it and professionally achieved it). Our team members are passionate about client service. We work closely with our clients to help them operationalize their sustainability goals and meet their environmental, health and safety objectives while advancing ERM’s purpose through delivering tangible progress in what the United Nations coined The Decade of Action. Organizing our people across globally integrated communities of technical and strategic talent positions ERM to be a “boots to boardroom” leader in bringing that value creation to our clients, partners, and the world. We recruit exceptional professionals with a personal and professional passion for sustainability and nurture them to even greater success as specialists. We prepare our consultants to bring integrated, innovative and sustainable solutions to our clients and provide opportunities for ongoing development across a variety of subject areas related to technical, business, and personal growth. At ERM, effort pays off and becomes career defining work that leaves a positive imprint on our planet.