Corporate Development Lead

Join Aikido as the Corporate Development Lead, where you will drive strategic growth through M&A, investment, and partnerships. You will source and build a pipeline of targets, lead early-stage conversations, coordinate diligence, and support post-close integration planning. This remote-friendly position offers flexible working hours and the opportunity for rapid career growth.

• Sourcing and building a pipeline of M&A, partnership, and investment targets aligned to Aikido's strategy.
• Leading first-contact outreach and early-stage conversations with target founders/CEOs, qualifying opportunities, and building the initial business case.
• Coordinating diligence and deal workstreams across founders, General Counsel, CFO, and Chief of Staff, and maintaining deal trackers and pipeline reporting.
• Highly structured project manager capable of keeping complex, multi-stakeholder workstreams moving fast
• Deep industry knowledge (AppSec, dev tools, or the cybersecurity space) is a huge plus
• Proven maturity and commercial gravitas to comfortably lead peer-to-peer discussions with external CEOs and founders
• Experience in Corporate Development, M&A, Venture Capital, or Strategic Partnerships
• Strong financial/analytical foundation to qualify deals, evaluate valuations, and assess strategic fit quickly
• Ideally based at/near Ghent HQ to work closely alongside our founders
• Fluent in English with strong communication and a proactive "get stuff done" attitude