Head of Corporate Development

Mesh is hiring its first dedicated Corporate Development lead, a foundational role with a direct impact on the company’s trajectory. This role sits at the intersection of strategy, finance, and technology, you'll need to be as comfortable in a data room as you are interrogating an API integration or stress-testing a settlement architecture with an engineering team. This is an opportunity to build and own our M&A and strategic partnerships function from the ground up. You’ll define how we identify, evaluate, and execute high-impact opportunities, working closely with leadership to shape where Mesh goes next. From setting strategy to building a pipeline to closing deals, you’ll operate across the full lifecycle, expanding our capabilities, licensing footprint, and distribution through thoughtful, well-executed partnerships and acquisitions. We’re looking for someone who thrives in early, unstructured environments, takes initiative, and is excited to turn ambition into action. What You'll Do - Build and own a high-quality pipeline of M&A opportunities and strategic partnerships across the crypto payments ecosystem - Lead deals end-to-end: from first outreach through diligence, negotiation, and close - Run rigorous diligence across financials, product architecture, API integrations, and commercial viability, you'll go deep enough on the technical stack to assess build-vs-buy tradeoffs, evaluate integration complexity, and identify engineering risk before it becomes a deal problem - Develop investment theses, deal frameworks, and scoring models; present insights directly to the CEO, SVP, and board - Partner closely with Legal and Finance to structure and negotiate deals that actually get done - Stay on top of the competitive landscape, tracking key players, emerging trends, and whitespace opportunities - Build and manage relationships with investment banks, advisors, and potential targets, becoming a go-to player in the ecosystem Who You Are - Bachelor’s Degree in Business or Finance or related field - 5+ years of experience in investment banking, growth, venture capital, product, or strategy roles, or in-house corporate development at a fintech or crypto company - You actually run deals, leading M&A or strategic partnerships from first conversation through close - Deep understanding of the fintech and payments industry (on-ramps, off-ramps, PSPs, acquirers, banking partners) and how money actually moves, including working knowledge of EMI / MSB / money transmitter licensing and the regulatory side of the stack - Strong grasp of crypto payments infrastructure (stablecoins, on/off-ramps, exchange integrations, custody, compliance),  you know how the pieces fit together in the real world - You've evaluated or worked closely with crypto infrastructure at the API layer, whether that's exchange integrations, wallet SDKs, stablecoin settlement rails, or on/off-ramp architecture, and you understand how these systems connect in a real production environment - Comfortable getting into the weeds with crypto APIs and exchange integrations (or quick to ramp if you haven’t yet) - Sharp financial instincts with the ability to build models from scratch and pressure-test assumptions like a skeptic - Technically fluent enough to evaluate a target's API architecture, assess integration complexity into Mesh's stack, and hold a credible diligence conversation with an engineering team, you don't write code, but you know what questions to ask and what the answers mean - Clear, concise communicator who can turn complexity into compelling, board-ready narratives