Head of Corporate Development | M&A and Real Estate | Digital Infrastructure (m/f/d) - xaverius

This is an origination role, not a transaction role. We are looking for someone who finds the targets, reaches their owners before a sales process exists, and carries the case through to a decision.

A newly created position, reporting directly to the CEO – with the mandate and the capital to build a European platform across Europe's interconnection markets.

We are a carrier-neutral operator of digital infrastructure. Our owners – two leading global infrastructure investors – are providing significant growth capital for a series of acquisitions. For this position we are seeking an entrepreneurial and commercially minded individual as Head of Corporate Development (m/f/d) .

About the Company

We provide mission-critical digital infrastructure to customers ranging from public authorities and research institutions to large corporations and mid-sized businesses. We focus on highly interconnected carrier hotels and connectivity hubs. Our highly qualified team delivers high availability and low-latency connectivity while continuously improving our customers' cost and energy efficiency. Innovation is embedded in our operations. We already meet future PUE requirements, use waste heat to supply a city-centre neighbourhood, and are trialling AI-assisted diagnostics in live operations.

We are now entering our next phase of growth: building a European platform. Alongside expanding our home site, we are entering additional European metropolitan markets with the ambition of establishing a leading interconnection hub in each.

Growth of this kind needs people who can identify the right opportunities, build trusted relationships with the owners behind them and turn those opportunities into transactions. As we grow, we intend to preserve what makes us successful: the culture of a mid-sized company, with flat hierarchies, short decision-making paths and an entrepreneurial mindset.

Your Role

As a member of the management team, you work closely with the CEO and CFO to deliver our growth strategy and expand our footprint across the European interconnection market.

1. Build and continuously develop our growth pipeline on your own initiative. This includes acquisition targets, powered land, purchase options, rights of first refusal and strategic partnerships. You create opportunities where no formal process exists and exercise sound judgement in filtering opportunities before bringing the strongest cases to the CEO and CFO.
2. Develop a network , proactively identifying and approaching relevant decision-makers, including those who may not currently be considering a transaction. You maintain a continuously updated view of target companies, sites, owners and relevant market developments.
3. Turn opportunities into investment-ready decisions . You personally develop business cases, financial models, board papers and management presentations, clearly articulating the risks, returns and strategic rationale. Your role goes beyond sourcing deals: you make them decision-ready.
4. Lead transactions end to end , from initial idea and origination through business case development, due diligence and negotiation to signing. You work closely with the CEO and CFO, our investors and external advisers, beginning with a number of investments already identified.

You report directly to the CEO and work closely with the board, as well as with your colleagues in business development and sales. You are also a strategic sparring partner to the CEO and CFO on strategy, special projects, and board and investor matters.

Your Profile

You are a self-starter, and you:

1. are curious, resourceful and persistent , comfortable preparing decisions on incomplete information and operating effectively in situations of high ambiguity.
2. have the confidence to form and defend a point of view , supported by facts and sound judgement, even when challenged. You are authentic, articulate and persuasive in person.
3. have successfully taken transactions through to signing , ideally through corporate development in digital or energy infrastructure, an infrastructure investment team, strategy consulting with an infrastructure focus, or a commercial role with a colocation, fibre or tower operator.
4. understand the commercial value of infrastructure assets and can assess what a site is worth at a given interconnection point . Buy-and-build experience is highly desirable. Data-centre expertise is advantageous but not essential.
5. are motivated by an international and entrepreneurial environment in which the technical mindset and agility of a mid-sized business meet the investment discipline and decision-making logic of institutional owners.

Given the size and culture of our company, this is a hands-on position. You should be equally comfortable developing the strategic case and working through the underlying analysis yourself.

Fluency in English and a good command of German are essential, as is a high level of mobility across Europe. Regular presence at our headquarters is expected.

Our Offer

This is an entrepreneurial role with significant scope to shape both the position and the future of the business.

The financial package reflects the seniority and significance of the position.

Further Information

Please send your application in English by clicking the Apply button. Dr. Jörg Heil will answer any questions beforehand on +49-221-2775660. Your enquiry is treated in confidence.

xaverius Unternehmensberatung Personalberatung GmbH

Dr. Jörg Heil

Große Neugasse 4a

D-50667 Köln

www.xaverius.de