Profound is the fastest-growing AI marketing platform, used by 15% of the Fortune 500 including Comcast, Estée Lauder, and Walmart, and innovators like Ramp, MongoDB, and Figma. It is where marketing teams do the work: research, briefs, content, campaigns, reporting, all in one place, alongside agents that carry the load with them.
Built on 2B+ real user prompts and growing, Profound’s data shows you what people ask AI and what the models say back. Profound's AI Marketer joins that data with deep context about our customers to find the opportunities worth acting on, and then puts agents to work: automating reporting, drafting content, auditing pages for readability, running competitive research. It measures what works and gets better every day.
We are hiring a Corporate Development Lead to identify the highest-impact opportunities for M&A across the business, and to execute on them. You will work with leadership and teams across Profound to spot where acquiring product, talent, or data could move us faster, weigh build versus buy, and then own the deal end to end: sourcing, diligence, negotiation, close, and integration. This is not an origination-only seat. You will be in the room for every deal, from a small acquihire that closes in weeks to a larger bet that reshapes the product and the company.
You will work directly with the leadership team, alongside Product, Engineering, Legal, Finance, and People, and partner with Operations on integration planning once a deal is signed.
What you'll do
Identify where M&A could accelerate Profound’s business, from engineering to go-to-market, by working closely with leadership and functional teams, and turn them into clear acquisition themes and strategy
Evaluate whether each gap is best solved by building or buying, and make the case for when an acquisition is the right answer
Proactively source opportunities through founders, investors, bankers, and the broader AI ecosystem, running thesis-led outreach rather than waiting for inbound
Lead deals from first conversation through diligence, valuation, structuring, negotiation, signing, and close
Run the full range of deals, from fast-moving acquihires and tuck-ins to larger strategic acquisitions, matching process and rigor to the size of the bet
Structure and negotiate terms including price, equity, retention, and deal protections, working with outside counsel and advisors
Work with Operations to plan integration from signing through Day 1 and beyond, so acquired teams and technology are productive quickly
8+ years in corporate development, technology investment banking, venture, private equity, with several M&A or strategic transactions you personally led from sourcing through close and integration
Experience in corporate development a high-growth technology or AI company is strongly preferred
Strategic thinker who can diagnose where a business has gaps and translate them into a concrete deal thesis
Strong negotiator and deal structurer, comfortable with valuation, financial modeling, and the legal mechanics of a transaction
An established network of founders, investors, and bankers in the AI and software ecosystem
Executive-level communicator who can influence founders, the board, and leadership
High ownership and low ego, comfortable with ambiguity and a bias toward action, equally willing to build the model and run the negotiation
Integration experience is a plus, as is a background in marketing technology, analytics, or enterprise SaaS
This is an on-site role based in our NYC or SF office, designed for builders who thrive on speed, iteration, and meaningful impact.
For this role, the expected base salary range is $225,000 to $280,000 (NYC and SF). Profound's total compensation package is designed to be competitive and includes base salary, equity, and a full range of benefits and perks. Final compensation will depend on factors such as your skills, experience, qualifications, and location, and will be determined during the interview process. Our recruiting team will share more details about the full compensation package and benefits as you move through hiring.
Note: All official communication from Profound will come from a @tryprofound.com email address. If you're contacted by anyone using a different domain, please disregard and report it as spam.
Skills Required
- 8+ years of experience in corporate development, technology investment banking, venture capital, or private equity
- Several M&A or strategic transactions personally led from sourcing through close and integration
- Experience in corporate development at a high-growth technology or AI company
- Strategic ability to identify business gaps and develop concrete acquisition theses
- Strong negotiation and deal-structuring skills
- Experience with valuation and financial modeling
- Understanding of legal transaction mechanics
- Established network of founders, investors, and bankers in the AI and software ecosystem
- Executive-level communication skills and ability to influence founders, boards, and leadership
- Integration experience
- Background in marketing technology, analytics, or enterprise SaaS
- Ability to work on-site in the NYC or San Francisco office
Profound Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Profound and has not been reviewed or approved by Profound.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Compensation is presented as competitive, with posted salary bands for roles such as Workplace Strategy & Operations ($110,000–$200,000) and a senior product role ($200,000–$300,000). Public materials consistently highlight strong base salaries alongside equity and benefits.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is positioned as a meaningful component of total rewards, paired with strong base salaries. Open role descriptions and careers materials emphasize significant equity as part of offers.
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Strong & Reliable Incentives — Some sellers are described as far exceeding quota, indicating strong earnings potential from performance-based incentives. This points to substantial upside for high performers in sales.
Profound Insights
What We Do
Profound is an AI marketing platform where teams research, plan, create content, and measure results with AI agents. We help companies understand what people ask AI, how their brands appear in answers, and where they can improve. Teams bring those insights together with their company knowledge to create content and carry out marketing work with Aim, Profound’s AI Marketer. Our engineering, research, product, design, and marketing teams work on problems including how agents use business context, how to evaluate the quality of their work, and how to make them useful in a marketer’s daily workflow. We’re also expanding our applied AI labs in New York and San Francisco, where we research and evaluate AI for marketing. Profound has offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Singapore, and Buenos Aires.
Why Work With Us
Help build AI agents that do useful marketing work. You’ll tackle problems in business context, model evaluation, and product design alongside engineers, researchers, and marketers. We value clear communication, ownership, and care for the details, with applied AI labs growing in New York and San Francisco.
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