Director, Investor Relations & Corporate Development (AI)

Location: Full-time hybrid role based in the San Francisco Bay Area, United States.

Salary: $230,000–$310,000 USD annual base salary, plus variable compensation, equity, and additional benefits.

Company

AI company working with frontier AI labs and Fortune 500 enterprises to create datasets, reinforcement learning environments, research benchmarks, and end-to-end agentic AI systems for software engineering, enterprise knowledge work, and advanced STEM reasoning.

What you will do

• Build the investor relations function and investor narrative, including positioning, metrics, messaging, financing-round support, cap-table strategy, and board and shareholder communications.
• Lead IR programs across finance, legal, and operations and prepare leadership and management for investor scrutiny.
• Own the full M&A and strategic-investing lifecycle, including thesis development, sourcing, valuation, modeling, diligence, negotiation, and closing.
• Build and codify a repeatable M&A playbook and pipeline.
• Partner with product, engineering, and go-to-market leaders on build-buy-partner decisions and post-close integration.
• Work with the CFO and Strategic Finance on companywide planning, capital allocation, strategic initiatives, and market and competitive intelligence.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience across fundraising and M&A, with foundations in investment banking, private equity, or growth-stage venture.
• Track record of sourcing and closing multiple M&A transactions at high-growth technology companies.
• Direct experience with corporate venture or strategic investing.
• Hands-on exposure to investor relations and IPO readiness, either in-house or while advising through an IPO process.
• Strong financial modeling, valuation, and deal-struchirify.global judgment, combined with executive- and board-level communication skills.
• Experience sourcing, leading, and closing multiple transactions and readiness to own a full function, including building IR and ventures from scratch.
• Background in investment banking, private equity, or growth-stage venture applied in-house at high-growth technology companies.
• Ability to communicate clearly and credibly with executives and the board.

Nice to have

• M&A experience at a company undergoing pre-IPO hyper-growth.
• Experience in AI/ML, developer tools, data infrastructure, or marketplaces.
• Prior BizOps or strategic-finance experience at a company that scaled through an IPO.
• Established network across AI founder, venture capital, and banking ecosystems.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid work model in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• Opportunity to work on frontier AI research, expert datasets, reinforcement learning environments, and advanced benchmarks.
• Opportunity to bring frontier AI innovation into enterprise workflows and contribute to leading-edge AI research.
• Collaboration with colleagues experienced at major technology companies and an environment emphasizing speed, ownership, and impact.
• Variable compensation, equity, and additional benefits.

Hiring process

• Submit a resume and a brief note describing a sourced, led, or structured deal and its outcome.
• Process typically includes an introductory conversation, executive interviews, a working session, reference checks, and an offer.