Director, Corporate Development

At Pursuit, we offer more than just a place to visit, we create opportunities for our guests to truly connect with iconic destinations. Our experiences include world-class attractions and distinctive lodges, all designed to highlight the unique beauty of each location. Beyond that, we offer thoughtfully crafted restaurants, retail, and transportation services that help our guests immerse themselves fully in the experience.

What ties it all together are the friendly faces you'll find along the way, the thoughtful amenities, and the delightful details that make every visit feel personal and unforgettable. 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.

• 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.
• 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 work streams. 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…