Sr. Director - Business Development Americas

Johnson Controls; Milwaukee (WI); On-site; USD 165,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Paid time off

Benefits package

Job summary

Johnson Controls is seeking a Senior Director of Strategy Development & Origination to drive growth across core businesses, adjacent markets, and new lines of business. You will originate and qualify opportunities, build a proprietary pipeline, and lead diligence to validate strategic investments.

You will collaborate with business-unit leaders, Corporate Development, and cross-functional teams to move ideas from thesis to decision, shaping the enterprise value and long-term performance.

Qualifications

• Experience building and cultivating M&A pipelines with clear hypotheses and evidence.
• Rigorous market and competitive analysis, forecasting, and data-driven insights.
• Strong communication and project management skills for senior leadership presentations.

Responsibilities

• Shape enterprise and unit growth strategies across core businesses, adjacent markets, and new lines of business.
• Build and manage a proprietary pipeline of acquisition, partnership, and new-business opportunities.
• Lead commercial and business-model diligence including assessing revenue quality, unit economics, and deal structure.
• Partner with business-unit leaders and cross-functional teams to move opportunities from thesis to decision.
• Cultivate relationships with targets, partners, and industry experts and translate market intelligence into business cases.

Skills

M&A pipeline development

Market analysis

Strategic thinking

Executive communication

Project management

Education

B.S. + MBA

Job description

Johnson Controls, a global leader in thermal management, mission-critical building systems, energy efficiency, and decarbonization, helps customers use energy more productively, reduce carbon emissions, and operate with the precision and resilience required in rapidly expanding industries such as data centers, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, advanced manufacturing, and higher education. For more than 140 years, Johnson Controls has delivered performance where it really matters. Backed by advanced technology, lifecycle services and an industry-leading field organization, we elevate customer performance, turn goals into real-world results and help move society forward.

What we offer:

• Competitive salary
• Paid vacation/holidays/sick time
• Comprehensive benefits package including 401K, medical, dental, and vision care
• On the job/cross training opportunities
• Encouraging and collaborative team environment
• Dedication to safety through our Zero Harm policy

The Senior Director of Strategy Development & Origination sits within the Global Strategy group and operates at the intersection of enterprise strategy and M&A. This is neither a commercial sales role nor a traditional corporate development role focused on deal execution — it is a strategy-led business development position responsible for shaping where Johnson Controls should grow, across its core businesses, adjacent markets, and new lines of business, and building the proprietary pipeline of opportunities to get there.

The role advances JCI's long-term enterprise value by contributing to enterprise and business-unit growth strategy, originating and qualifying growth opportunities — including acquisitions, partnerships, and new lines of business — and validating them through rigorous commercial and business-model diligence. Reporting to the Vice President of Business Development, you will contribute to enterprise and business-unit growth strategies across core businesses, adjacent markets, and new lines of business. From those strategies, you will build and execute a proprietary pipeline of acquisition, partnership, and new-business opportunities — developing investment theses for priority ideas and leading the commercial and business-model diligence to pressure-test them.

You will partner with business-unit leaders, Corporate Development, and cross-functional teams to move opportunities from thesis through diligence, cultivate direct relationships with prospective targets, partners, and their leadership teams, and track market and competitor dynamics that inform executive decision-making.

How You Will Do It:

• Shape enterprise and business-unit growth strategies that define where Johnson Controls should compete across core businesses, adjacent markets, and new lines of business.
• Build and manage a proprietary pipeline of acquisition, partnership, and new-business opportunities — setting screening criteria, identifying targets, and developing investment theses that frame the strategic rationale and hypotheses to be tested.
• Lead commercial and business-model diligence — testing revenue quality, customer and channel dynamics, competitive positioning, unit economics, and, where relevant, deal structure, value exchange, and success criteria.
• Partner with business-unit leaders, Corporate Development, and cross-functional teams to move opportunities from thesis to decision — cultivating relationships with targets, partners, and industry experts, and translating market intelligence into executive-level business cases.

What We Look For:

• Rigorous market and competitive analysis — primary and secondary research, segmentation, and data-driven forecasting — with the judgment to turn findings into strategic action.
• Experience building and cultivating M&A pipelines — target identification, screening, and preliminary assessment — and framing investment theses with clear hypotheses and the evidence needed to prove or disprove them.
• Ability to evaluate a target across commercial, operational, and financial dimensions, forming independent views on value creation and risk while handling confidential information with discretion.
• Hands‑on operational line management experience — direct ownership of a P&L, product line, or function — with the operating credibility to judge how a business actually runs and whether growth and synergy assumptions hold.
• Strong communication and project management skills — able to influence stakeholders, present complex findings to senior leadership, and run concurrent workstreams both independently and collaboratively.

Education and Experience:

• B.S. plus Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from an accredited college in a related discipline
• Minimum 15 years of combined business & strategic development experience
• 3-5 Years in management consulting preferred
• 3-5 years of hands‑on operational line management in a functional role — direct ownership of a P&L, product line, or function such as sales, engineering, or manufacturing — preferred

HIRING SALARY RANGE: $165,000-$2250,000 (Salary to be determined by the education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant, internal equity, and alignment with market data.) This role offers a competitive Bonus plan that will take into account individual, group, and corporate performance. This position includes a competitive benefits package. The posted salary range reflects the target compensation for this role. However, we recognize that exceptional candidates may bring unique skills and experiences that exceed the typical profile.

To support an efficient and fair hiring process, we may use technology assisted tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), to help identify and evaluate candidates. All hiring decisions are ultimately made by human reviewers. For details, please visit the About Us tab on the Johnson Controls Careers site at https://jobs.johnsoncontrols.com/about-us

Johnson Controls International plc. is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, protected veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a qualified individual with a disability or any other characteristic protected by law. To view more information about your equal opportunity and non-discrimination rights as a candidate, visit EEO is the Law. If you are an individual with a disability and you require an accommodation during the application process, please visit here.

Johnson Controls: Enhancing the Intelligence of Buildings Your buildings have a purpose. They are places for people to live or work. Facilities for learning or healing. Venues for entertainment and shopping. Sites for the specialized storage of tangible goods or mission‑critical data. Your buildings have a huge variety of functions; they are central to your mission. This is where Johnson Controls comes in, helping drive the outcomes that matter most. Through a full range of systems and digital solutions, we make your buildings smarter. A smarter building is safer, more comfortable, more efficient, and, ultimately, more sustainable. Most important, smarter buildings let you focus more intensely on your unique mission. Better for your people. Better for your bottom line. Better for the planet. At Johnson Controls, we’ve been making buildings smarter since 1885, and our capabilities, depth of innovation experience, and global reach have been growing ever since. Today, we offer the world’s largest portfolio of building products, technologies, software, and services; we put that portfolio to work to transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play.