Corporate Development Manager
We are looking for a Corporate Development Manager who would partner closely with our growth, financial, and operations teams to support Sylvan’s programmatic M&A strategy and other growth initiatives. This person will be active in all aspects of Sylvan’s deal execution activities, with a heavy focus on supporting equity and debt capital markets initiatives to optimize Sylvan Group’s capital structure on an ongoing basis. This individual will work closely with Sylvan Group’s VP of Corporate Development, our institutional investors, third party advisors, and internal leadership to support our growth initiatives.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
- Capital markets & financing initiatives:
- Serve as a day-to-day workstream owner supporting Sylvan’s debt and equity capital markets activities. Build, maintain, and update the internal financing model (sources & uses, pro forma capital structure, covenant compliance, credit metrics, sensitivities) and iterate with the VP of Corporate Development, CFO and financial team, sponsors, and third-party advisors.
- Own preparation of lender- and investor-facing materials in partnership with our third-party advisors – confidential information memoranda, lender and investor presentations, ratings agency materials, and ongoing capital-partner updates. Translate operational diligence findings and M&A pipeline activity into a coherent credit and growth story tailored to each capital market interaction.
- Support execution of financing transactions alongside arranging banks and sponsors: manage data room build-outs and refresh, track diligence and Q&A, and support negotiation of key financing documents (pricing, covenants, baskets, incremental capacity) in partnership with our internal financial team and third-party advisors.
- Support long-term capital structure readiness initiatives, including ongoing financial reporting and KPI build-out / stratification & governance workstreams designed to position Sylvan for a broader set of financing alternatives over time.
- Integrate the M&A pipeline, organic capex, and working capital needs into a rolling view of liquidity, leverage, and capacity under existing and prospective facilities. Surface financing implications of pipeline decisions to the internal Sylvan team and sponsors over time.
- Monitor public and provide market activity, developing and enhancing a trading and transaction comps database. Provide regular market intelligence to the Sylvan Group Leadership team and sponsors.
- M&A deal execution support:
- Own the financial analysis and forecast model for each acquisition – from initial historical financial analysis through post-close growth plan – with particular focus on how each transaction is funded and its impact on pro forma capital structure, leverage, and covenant headroom.
- Support the preliminary add-on assessment against Sylvan’s target criteria and contribute to the “what we thought vs. what we bought” post-close feedback loop. Document and present captured synergies on an ongoing basis.
- Contribute to lighter-touch sourcing activities as capacity allows – maintaining the add-on target universe list, refreshing pitch materials, and incorporating “in-the-trenches” anecdotes from completed deals into outreach
- Other activities:
- Contribute to M&A and financing updates for the Board, Sylvan Leadership, our financial sponsors, lenders, and other current and prospective capital partners
- Special, high-impact operational project support to enable Sylvan’s broader growth plans
Required Skills & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree required. MBA optional.
- 2-6 years’ experience in investment banking (preferably a mix of buyside and sell-side activity), private equity, and/or corporate development roles.
- Experience with multi-location services business with POC accounting. MEP / construction focus is a plus.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills – trusted to represent Sylvan in a variety of contexts, including with current and potential investors + acquisition targets.
- Comfort creating presentations and financial illustrations designed to tell a story.
- Experience leveraging AI as a tool, willingness to grow and learn how to deploy on an ongoing basis.
- High emotional intelligence.
- Ability to travel up to twice a month.
- You’re naturally collaborative: you see the importance of bringing internal and external stakeholders along and proactively engage and communicate to drive the best results.
- You’re entrepreneurial: You bring a builder’s mindset to an evolving platform – comfortable operating without a playbook, taking ownership of ambiguous problems, and identifying opportunities to improve how we work as the business scales.
Apply Today
Send your resume to abloom@sylvan-inc.com
