Corporate Development Manager

Job Title:

Corporate Development Manager (Origination & Relationship Leadership)

Company: Solen Software Group
Location: Toronto, Canada (hybrid)
Employment Type: Full-time

About Solen Software Group

Solen Software Group is an evergreen holding company that acquires and operates proven vertical-market software businesses with meaningful long-term growth potential. Solen compounds value over decades, not quarters, and partners with founders to build enduring category leaders across HR tech, fleet telematics, asset management, e-health, document management, and other mission-critical software verticals.

About the Role

The Corporate Development Manager (CDM) is a senior origination and people-leadership role responsible for building durable acquisition pipelines across Solen's priority verticals.

You will own market coverage, outbound strategy, founder engagement, and relationship development for a defined set of verticals and high-priority accounts. The CDM will lead and develop a Toronto-based team of 5+ Corporate Development Associates, while also serving as a hands-on individual contributor—personally building deep, long-term relationships with Solen's most strategic founder and advisor accounts.

Success in this role comes from combining high-tempo outreach and disciplined operating rhythms with authentic founder credibility—compounding trust over time and consistently producing high-quality, well-qualified opportunities.

Core Responsibilities

1) Origination Strategy & Market Coverage

• Own origination strategy for assigned verticals and priority account lists, aligned with Solen's acquisition theses.
• Define ICPs, personas, account universes, and coverage models (founder-owned, sponsor-owned, carve-outs).
• Design and run multi-touch outreach programs (email, phone, Linked In, events, conferences, in-person) tailored to founder audiences.
• Build long-term nurture programs (content, check-ins, founder events) that compound trust and readiness over time.
• Translate market learning into sharper targeting, messaging, and segmentation.

2) Team Leadership & People Management (Toronto Hub)

• Directly manage, coach, and performance-manage 5+ Corporate Development Associates, with responsibility to scale the team over time.
• Set clear expectations on activity quality, messaging standards, discovery fundamentals, and qualification discipline.
• Run weekly 1:1s, pipeline reviews, call coaching, and skill-building sessions; deliver direct, high-candor feedback.
• Partner with the Head of Corporate Development and People team on hiring profiles, onboarding, and career progression paths.
• Build a culture grounded in accountability, learning, and continuous improvement.

3) Individual Contributor – Priority Relationships

• Personally own and develop relationships with Solen's highest-priority founder and advisor accounts.
• Act as a senior Solen representative in founder conversations, building credibility, trust, and long-term alignment.
• Lead complex discovery conversations focused on founder goals, succession, growth constraints, and partnership fit.
• Maintain momentum and engagement over long relationship arcs, positioning Solen as the preferred partner.
• Develop “why Solen” narratives tailored to priority accounts based on their context, objectives, and constraints.

4) Pipeline Management, Metrics & Operating Rigor

• Own pipeline health and reporting for your team: coverage, outreach, connects, first meetings, qualified opportunities, and progression.
• Enforce CRM rigor and data quality as a non-negotiable operating standard (hygiene, stage definitions, required fields).
• Run structured weekly and monthly reviews focused on conversion, quality, and learning—not just volume.
• Surface insights on objections, market signals, and winning talk tracks; institutionalize learnings through playbooks.

5) Cross-Functional Partnership

• Align with internal stakeholders on vertical priorities, messaging, qualification standards, and handoff criteria.
• Coordinate timely, structured handoffs of qualified opportunities once mutual fit and readiness thresholds are met.
• Provide market feedback loops to refine theses, positioning, and outreach programs.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• 5+…