Head of Corporate Development

Whatnot is the largest livestream shopping platform in North America and Europe to buy, sell, and discover the things you love. We’re re-defining e-commerce by blending community, shopping, and entertainment into a community just for you. As a remote co-located team, we’re inspired by innovation and anchored in our values. With hubs in the US, UK, Ireland, Poland, and Germany, we’re building the future of online marketplaces—together.

From fashion, beauty, and electronics to rare collectibles like trading cards, comic books, and even live plants, our live auctions have something for everyone.

And we’re just getting started! As one of the fastest growing marketplaces, we’re looking for bold, forward-thinking problem solvers across all functional areas. Check out the latest Whatnot updates on our news and engineering blogs and join us as we enable anyone to turn their passion into a business, and bring people together through commerce.

As Head of Corporate Development, you will own the full M&A, strategic partnerships, and inorganic growth agenda for Whatnot. Reporting directly to the executive team, you will drive high-impact initiatives that shape the company’s category leadership, geographic expansion, and long-term enterprise value creation.

You will serve as the principal architect of our external growth strategy, partnering closely with the CEO, CPO and General Counsel to identify transformative opportunities. You’ll bring an exceptional track record of dealmaking, a deep network across venture, commerce, and technology, and the judgment to evaluate, negotiate, and integrate businesses that accelerate our mission.

Key responsibilities include:

• Strategic Roadmap Leadership – Define and continuously refine Whatnot’s corporate development strategy in alignment with the company’s broader objectives.

• Deal Origination & Sourcing – Leverage your established network across founders, investors, and industry operators to proactively identify opportunities across geographies, categories, and capabilities.

• Executive-Level Deal Leadership – Lead all phases of M&A and strategic partnership processes: sourcing, diligence, valuation, structuring, negotiation, and execution.

• Integration & Value Realization – Partner with functional executives (Finance, Legal, Product, Engineering) to ensure seamless integration and maximize operational, cultural, and financial synergies.

• Market & Competitive Intelligence – Track industry trends, competitive dynamics, and adjacencies to inform executive decision-making and investment priorities.

• Leadership & Team Building – Build and lead a high-performing Corporate Development team, mentoring future dealmakers while fostering a culture of strategic rigor and execution excellence.

Team members in this role are required to be within commuting distance of our San Francisco or New York hubs.

Curious about who thrives at Whatnot? We’ve found that embodying a low ego, growth mindset, and high-impact drive goes a long way here.

As our next Head of Corporate Development you should have a proven corporate development track record with the vision, gravitas, and execution to lead a high-impact function at a late-stage, hyper-growth marketplace, plus:

• 12+ years of experience in corporate development, investment banking, private equity, or venture capital, with a strong preference for operating experience in technology, e-commerce, or marketplaces.

• Proven ability to source, negotiate, and close complex acquisitions, partnerships, and strategic investments.

• Demonstrated success presenting to and collaborating with CEOs on strategic initiatives.

• Exceptional financial acumen, with mastery in valuation, modeling, and transaction structuring.

• Deep and trusted network across technology founders, investors, and executives.

• Experience leading post-merger integration and delivering tangible operational and strategic synergies.

• Highly effective communication skills with the executive presence to influence across C-suite, board, and external stakeholders.

• A builder mindset—excited to grow Whatnot’s corporate development function into a strategic powerhouse.

• Flexible Time off Policy and Company-wide Holidays (including a spring and winter break)

• Health Insurance options including Medical, Dental, Vision

• Work From Home Support

  • Home office setup allowance

  • Monthly allowance for cell phone and internet

• Care benefits

  • Monthly allowance for wellness

  • Annual allowance towards Childcare

  • Lifetime benefit for family planning, such as adoption or fertility expenses

• Retirement; 401k offering for Traditional and Roth accounts in the US (employer match up to 4% of base salary) and Pension plans internationally

• Monthly allowance to dogfood the app

  • All Whatnauts are expected to develop a deep understanding of our product. We're passionate about building the best user experience, and all employees are expected to use Whatnot as both a buyer and a seller as part of their job (our dogfooding budget makes this fun and easy!).

• Parental Leave

  • 16 weeks of paid parental leave + one month gradual return to work *company leave allowances run concurrently with country leave requirements which take precedence.

Whatnot is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, parental status, disability status, or any other status protected by local law. We believe that our work is better and our company culture is improved when we encourage, support, and respect the different skills and experiences represented within our workforce.