Strategic acquisitions represent one of Pursuit's four key growth levers. Our Vision 2030 target assumes over 40% of near-term growth comes from acquisitions, with plans to invest $500+ million over the next 5 years, generating $65+ million of new EBITDA. We have a proven acquisition strategy that focuses on (1) buying in new iconic locations to build a unique collection of experiences and (2) buying tuck-in experiences to leverage economies of scale and scope.

The Director of Corporate Development will strengthen and scale Pursuit's acquisition strategy through increased pipeline volume and management, transaction execution capabilities, capital allocation discipline, and Executive-level written and oral communication as Pursuit continues to acquire a portfolio of iconic attraction and hospitality assets.

Compensation: The salary range for this Denver based role is $180,000/year to $200,000/year. This role is eligible for a 20% STI bonus and an annual $10,000 RSU (Restricted Stock Unit) grant. Pursuit offers a full suite of benefits, including discounts at our hotels, restaurants, and attractions, flexible time off, and a 401k contribution matching plan.

Responsibilities

The Director of Corporate Development role is structured to be execution-oriented, with clear accountability for pipeline development, communications and transaction quality/rigor. This role provides day-to-day leadership and guidance to the Manager of Corporate Development.

Build and manage the acquisition pipeline

• Develop and actively manage a robust acquisition pipeline aligned with Pursuit's growth strategy, investment criteria, geographic priorities, and capital allocation framework.
• Conduct market, industry, and geographic assessments to identify attractive destinations, sectors, businesses, and acquisition themes.
• Develop clearly articulated target lists and prioritized outreach strategies based on strategic fit, financial attractiveness, ownership dynamics, and transaction feasibility.
• Initiate and maintain direct outreach to business owners, executives, investors, brokers, bankers, and other intermediaries to originate proprietary and marketed opportunities.
• Maintain a strong external network across the hospitality, travel, leisure, attractions, experiential, and investment communities.
• Manage pipeline activity, relationship development, next steps, and probability-weighted outcomes through consistent and disciplined pipeline-management processes.
• Lead recurring pipeline reviews with executive leadership, clearly communicating progress, priorities, resource requirements, risks, and recommended actions.

Lead transaction evaluation and execution

• Own acquisition opportunities from initial evaluation and relationship development through diligence, negotiation, approval, signing, and closing.
• Conduct preliminary assessments of strategic fit, value-creation potential, financial performance, market position, competitive dynamics, and transaction feasibility.
• Lead and contribute directly to financial modeling, valuation analysis, scenario planning, sensitivity analysis, return assessments, and financing considerations.
• Develop investment theses that clearly articulate the strategic rationale, principal risks, value-creation opportunities, integration considerations, and expected financial returns.
• Recommend transaction valuations and structures that appropriately balance strategic value, financial return, risk, and the interests of Pursuit and prospective sellers.
• Coordinate the development and negotiation of indications of interest, letters of intent, and other key transaction terms in partnership with executive leadership and legal counsel.
• Serve as Pursuit's primary day-to-day business contact with sellers, management teams, advisors, and intermediaries throughout the transaction process.
• Maintain transaction momentum while ensuring appropriate discipline, confidentiality, governance, and decision quality.

Direct due diligence and risk assessment

• Design and manage comprehensive, cross-functional diligence processes involving internal subject-matter experts and external advisors.
• Develop diligence scopes, workplans, timelines, data-room requirements, decision gates, and clear accountability across workstreams.
• Coordinate financial, commercial, operational, legal, tax, insurance, technology, cybersecurity, environmental, real estate, people, and other relevant areas of diligence.
• Evaluate the quality and sustainability of earnings, underlying business assumptions, capital requirements, operational performance, and potential liabilities.
• Synthesize complex findings into a cohesive assessment of the opportunity rather than relying solely on individual workstream conclusions.
• Identify material risks, issues, dependencies, and information gaps early and recommend potential mitigations, transaction protections, or changes to valuation and structure.
• Lead site visits and diligence trips, including preparing agendas, coordinating participants, documenting findings, and producing clear post-visit reports and recommendations.
• Escalate critical issues promptly and provide leadership with a balanced, fact-based assessment of whether and how an opportunity should proceed.

Drive investment decision-making and governance

• Prepare comprehensive investment committee, executive leadership, and Board materials, including strategic rationale, valuation, transaction structure, financial returns, diligence findings, key risks, and management recommendations.
• Translate complex transaction concepts into clear, concise, and decision-oriented written and verbal communications.
• Present opportunities and recommendations to executive leadership and the Board of Directors with confidence, credibility, and limited supervision.
• Maintain consistent standards for opportunity evaluation, financial analysis, investment memoranda, diligence reporting, and transaction documentation.
• Support enterprise capital allocation discussions by comparing acquisition opportunities against strategic priorities, return thresholds, available capital, and alternative uses of funds.
• Maintain accurate transaction records, approval documentation, financial assumptions, and supporting materials in accordance with Pursuit's governance requirements.

Support transaction closing and integration readiness

• Coordinate transaction closing activities across internal teams, sellers, legal counsel, lenders, and other advisors.
• Partner with business and functional leaders to identify integration priorities, critical dependencies, leadership considerations, and Day 1 readiness requirements before closing.
• Ensure transaction assumptions, diligence findings, identified risks, and value-creation opportunities are clearly documented and transferred to the teams accountable for integration.
• Support the development of integration objectives, synergy commitments, performance measures, and post-close accountability.
• Participate in post-close reviews to compare actual performance against the original investment thesis and apply lessons learned to future acquisitions.
• Help continuously improve Pursuit's corporate development playbooks, tools, processes, evaluation standards, and transaction capabilities as acquisition activity scales.

Education & Ideal Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Accounting, Business, Engineering, or a related analytical discipline.
• MBA, CFA Level III designation, or other relevant advanced qualification preferred.
• 8+ years progressive experience in corporate development, private equity, investment banking, transaction advisory, or related fields.
• Experience in hospitality, travel, leisure, attractions, consumer experiences, real estate, or asset-intensive businesses.
• Demonstrated experience leading acquisitions, divestitures, or strategic investments from initial evaluation through close.
• Experience preparing executive and Board-level investment materials.

Skills & Abilities

• Advanced financial modeling
• Management of diligence workstreams
• Strong written and verbal communication, including in communicating to executives

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