Sr. Corporate Development Manager

About the role:

Forter is entering a phase of increased focus on inorganic growth, strategic partnerships and new value creation opportunities, as part of our broader strategy to become the trust engine for agentic commerce. As Senior Corporate Development Manager, you will own the end-to-end corporate development agenda – across acquisitions, strategic partnerships and emerging data monetization opportunities – working in close collaboration with business leaders across Forter.

This role serves as the central point of ownership and coordination for evaluating and executing strategic opportunities, while leveraging deep subject-matter expertise across Forter. You will partner closely with the SVP - Business Development, the executive team, and business unit leaders to ensure Forter consistently identifies, prioritizes, and executes high-impact opportunities that accelerate our long-term strategy.

What you’ll be doing:

• Collaborate with SVP - BD and business unit leaders across Forter to source and evaluate potential acquisition and partnership opportunities, aligning with Forter’s business objectives.
• Establish M&A Playbooks: Build Forter’s formal M&A infrastructure, including standardized frameworks for "build/buy/partner" decisions, due diligence process, and post-merger integration templates.
• Develop and maintain a clear build / buy / partner framework, aligned with Forter’s product roadmap, AI strategy, and long-term product vision.
• Maintain a deep understanding of the agentic commerce, fraud, identity, and payments ecosystems.
• Build and manage a prioritized pipeline of potential acquisitions, acquihires, and strategic partnerships, and work cross-functionally to develop strategic rationales and investment theses for opportunities.
• Collaborate with Finance on valuation, financial modeling, and return analysis to support disciplined decision-making.
• Drive the execution of M&A transactions, serving as the central coordinator across all workstreams (cross-functional due diligence, transaction documents, closing activities, etc.).
• Lead cross-functional post-acquisition integration planning, ensuring alignment on operating model, product and technology integration, data, security and compliance, and people and culture considerations.
• Ensure effective execution of integration plans, working with functional owners to track progress, resolve issues, and realize intended strategic value.
• Help define and execute a strategy to responsibly unlock value from Forter’s data network, evaluating new product, partnership, and acquisition opportunities while balancing regulatory, contractual, and reputational considerations.
• In collaboration with SVP - BD and the Forter AI team, represent Forter as a thought leader in agentic commerce through industry conferences, panels, and ecosystem forums, and build and maintain relationships with relevant founders, partners, investors, and strategic platforms.
• In collaboration with the Forter AI team, engage with regulators and policymakers to help shape the evolution of the ecosystem in which Forter operates.
• Travel to relevant markets for partner meetings and conferences as needed to effectively implement Forter’s corporate development strategy.

What you’ll need:

• 7+ years of experience in corporate development, strategy, investment banking, management consulting, private equity, venture capital, or a closely related role, with significant hands-on experience in and ownership of M&A and strategic partnership transactions.
• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• Demonstrated track record of leading end-to-end M&A and partnership processes, including sourcing, diligence, valuation, deal structuring, negotiation, and post-close integration.
• Experience operating in high-growth technology environments, preferably within fintech, fraud prevention, identity, payments, e-commerce, AI/ML, or data-driven platforms.
• Strong strategic thinking and analytical skills, with the ability to develop investment theses, build / buy / partner frameworks, and connect market insights to long-term product and company strategy.
• Advanced financial modeling, valuation, and business case development capabilities; experience partnering closely with Finance & Legal teams on return analysis and capital allocation decisions.
• Proven ability to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives, influencing senior stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Finance, Legal, Security, Data, and Go-To-Market teams.
• Powerful negotiation skills: ability to navigate high-pressure deal cycles while maintaining "founder-friendly" relationships and strategic integrity.
• Experience driving post-acquisition integration planning and execution, including operating model design, product and technology integration, and change management.

About us:

Digital commerce is built on trust. At every point along the eCommerce journey, businesses must make a critical decision: Can I trust this customer? Answering this simple question accurately and instantly is powerful—it can accelerate revenue growth and strengthen a company’s connection with its customers. How do we do it? Forter was founded on the insight that it's not about what is being purchased, nor where— but who is behind the interaction.

The Forter Decision Engine finds patterns across more than one billion identities in our dataset. We isolate fraudsters and protect customers—ensuring everyone gets the experience they deserve.  Given that trust is central to how we operate, Forter is very much driven by a defined set of values. We attract remarkable talent and have retention and engagement levels that are well above benchmarks. We’re meticulous about strengthening our culture as we grow and ensuring this is an environment where people can have outsized impact. 

Trust is backed by data –  Forter is a recipient of over 10 workplace and innovation awards, including: 

• Great Place to Work Certification (2021, 2022, 2023)
• Fortune’s Best Workplaces in NYC (2022, 2023 and 2024)
• Forbes Cloud 100 (2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024)
• #3 on Fast Company’s list of “Most Innovative Finance Companies” (2022)
• Anti-Fraud Solution of the Year at the Payments Awards (2024)
• SAP Pinnacle Awards “New Partner Application Award” (2023) 
• Fintech Breakthrough Awards – Best Fraud Prevention Platform (2023)

Life as a Forterian:

We are a team of over 500 Forterians spread across 3 different continents. Since 2013, we've raised $525 million from investors such as Tiger Global, Bessemer, Sequoia Capital, March Capital and Salesforce Ventures. We're on a mission to bring trust to global digital commerce so that companies like Nordstrom, Priceline, Instacart and ASOS can block fraud, drive revenue and improve customer experience.

At Forter, we believe unique people create unique ideas, and valuable experience comes in many forms. So, even if your background doesn't match everything we have listed in the job description, we still encourage you to apply and tell us why your skills and values could be an asset to us. By welcoming different perspectives, we grow together as humans and as a company.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary 
• Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
• Matching 401K Plan 
• Comprehensive and generous health insurance, including vision and dental coverage
• Home office allowance 
• Generous PTO policy 
• Half day Fridays

At Forter, we embrace a hybrid work model that blends in-person connection with the flexibility of remote work. Team members based near our key hubs are expected to work from the office at least three days per week. We believe that regular face-to-face collaboration fuels professional development, strengthens our culture, and builds the relationships that help teams thrive.

*Forter does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to Forter (or any related) jobs alias or directly to any Forter employees. Forter will not be responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.

Salary Range: $190,000 - $234,000 annually + bonus + equity + benefits
The referenced salary range is based on the Company's good faith belief at the time of posting. Actual compensation may vary based on factors such as geographic location, work experience, market conditions, and skill level.