Director of Corporate Development

ABOUT ANDERCORE Andercore is the AI-native supplier of industrial materials for energy, infrastructure, and construction in wholesale and beyond. We trade with global suppliers and distribute to European customers on our own account. Our AI runs the full trade and distribution end-to-end: sourcing, quality, pricing, sales, logistics, and embedded financing. For the customer, it feels like buying from their preferred local supplier; for our partners, it is the most convenient and safe way to do business across borders. Behind it, our software and agentic AI do the heavy lifting that used to take an asset-intensive supply chain with four or five intermediaries and weeks of manual coordination. Where we are today: - Strong triple-digit-million euro turnover - Seven European markets live - 80+ people across Berlin (HQ), offices in London, Mumbai, and Shanghai $40M Series B just closed, $75M raised to date from Atomico, Project A, and Inven Capital, institutional financing from international banks. We are building the world's first and last industrial-grade AI operating system for materials, redefining how global trade works in one of the largest and most essential industries on earth. THE OPPORTUNITY This is not a traditional Corporate Development role. As Director of Corporate Development, you will work directly with the CEO and take responsibility for building Andercore's M&A engine from the ground up. You will help define our roll-up strategy, identify and approach acquisition targets, develop investment cases and execute transactions end-to-end. At the same time, you will work closely with our technology and operating teams to answer the question at the heart of our strategy: How can we acquire traditional industrial businesses and use technology and AI to make them dramatically better? This means thinking beyond financial engineering and traditional buy-and-build. You will help identify where AI, automation, centralized procurement, data, pricing, sales productivity, working-capital optimization and shared infrastructure can fundamentally improve the economics of acquired businesses. Your mandate is ultimately to build a repeatable acquisition and value-creation machine capable of executing multiple transactions every year. WHAT YOU WILL OWN M&A & ROLL-UP STRATEGY - Take Andercore's acquisition and consolidation strategy across Europe to the next level. - Identify attractive verticals, geographies and acquisition archetypes. - Build market maps and identify highly fragmented markets suitable for consolidation. - Develop the financial and strategic logic behind our roll-up thesis. - Determine where Andercore's technology and AI capabilities can create disproportionate value after acquisition. - Build a multi-year acquisition roadmap together with the CEO and Board. PROPRIETARY DEAL ORIGINATION - Build and continuously develop a proprietary pipeline of acquisition opportunities. - Identify and directly approach founders and owners of attractive businesses. - Build trusted relationships with entrepreneurs, often long before they consider selling. - Develop systematic, data-driven sourcing approaches. - Build relationships with investment banks, M&A boutiques, advisers and other intermediaries. We expect proprietary sourcing to become a core competitive advantage of Andercore's M&A strategy. DEAL EXECUTION Own transactions from first conversation through closing: - Initial assessment and strategic fit - Financial analysis and valuation - Investment cases - Deal structuring - LOIs - Negotiation - Commercial, financial, tax and legal due diligence - Financing - Board and shareholder materials - Signing and closing You will coordinate internal stakeholders and external advisers while remaining personally accountable for moving transactions forward. AI-DRIVEN VALUE CREATION Our ambition is not simply to acquire businesses. It is to transform them. Together with Andercore's technology and operating teams, you will identify opportunities to apply AI, automation and our central platform across areas such as: - Sales productivity and customer intelligence - Pricing and margin optimization - Procurement - Supplier management - Customer service - Finance and administration - Working capital - Logistics and fulfilment - Data and reporting You will incorporate these opportunities into acquisition theses and quantify their potential impact before we invest. INTEGRATION & PORTFOLIO VALUE CREATION - Develop Day-1 and 100-day plans before closing. - Translate investment theses into measurable operational initiatives. - Define integration priorities together with functional leaders. - Track acquisition performance against the original investment case. - Identify additional opportunities for technology deployment, synergies and operational improvement. The objective is not necessarily to integrate everything immediately. It is to determine what should be centralized, what should remain entrepreneurial and where Andercore's platform creates the greatest advantage. BUILD THE M&A MACHINE You will build the infrastructure required to turn acquisitions into a repeatable capability using the latest AI stack: - M&A playbook - Target database and pipeline - Valuation frameworks - Investment committee processes - Due diligence standards - Deal documentation - Integration playbooks - Portfolio reporting - Value-creation tracking As our acquisition pace increases, you will build and lead a dedicated Corporate Development team. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR We are looking for an exceptional investor and operator. The strongest candidates will likely come from: - Leading Private Equity funds, particularly buy-and-build or mid-market investing - Top-tier Investment Banking / M&A - Corporate Development at a highly acquisitive company - A combination of Investment Banking and Private Equity You will likely bring 5–10 years of relevant experience, including meaningful exposure to transactions. Experience in industrial distribution, business services, industrial technology or fragmented-market consolidation is particularly valuable. You combine: - Exceptional financial and analytical capabilities - Strong commercial judgment - Deep understanding of M&A - Excellent negotiation skills - Entrepreneurial instinct - High ownership and execution intensity - Ability to build relationships with entrepreneurs and business owners - Intellectual curiosity around AI and technology You do not need to be an AI engineer. But you should be deeply interested in understanding how AI changes businesses, cost structures and competitive advantages — and how those changes can create entirely new acquisition strategies. German and English fluency are highly preferred. WHO YOU ARE - You think like an investor but operate like an entrepreneur. - You enjoy understanding businesses quickly and identifying what makes them valuable. - You are comfortable calling a founder yourself, building the model yourself, negotiating an LOI and presenting the investment case to the Board. - You don't need an established process around you. You build the process. - You combine analytical rigor with speed and pragmatism. - And you are excited by the opportunity to help answer one of the most interesting questions emerging in private equity and technology today: What happens when you combine the traditional power of a roll-up with the transformational potential of AI? WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE Within your first 12 months, you will have: - Established Andercore's M&A and roll-up strategy. - Built a substantial proprietary acquisition pipeline. - Created a repeatable sourcing and transaction process. - Built Andercore's M&A playbook. - Developed a clear framework for AI and technology-driven value creation. - Led multiple transactions from initial contact through advanced negotiations. - Closed our first acquisitions. - Established the foundations for executing multiple acquisitions every year. Over time, you will build Andercore's Corporate Development organization and play a central role in building a new category of European industrial company. WHY ANDERCORE - This is an opportunity to build rather than inherit. - You will work directly with Andercore's founders, Board and investors and have significant responsibility from day one. - You will combine private equity, entrepreneurship, technology and AI in one role. - And rather than advising companies or investing from the outside, you will help build the platform itself. Our ambition is significant: to create Europe's leading AI-native industrial distribution platform through a combination of organic growth, acquisitions and technology-driven transformation. We are an equal-opportunity employer and welcome applicants from all backgrounds, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, or any other characteristic. We believe that diversity drives innovation, creativity, and collective strength.