Harris’ Public Safety portfolio is looking for a Manager, Business Development responsible for building and leading our M&A origination capability while remaining personally accountable for sourcing, engaging and developing potential acquisition targets. This is a player-coach role: the successful candidate will help develop a high-performing origination team, build the systems and operating cadence that support it, and personally create acquisition opportunities for our high-velocity M&A organization. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to join a prolific acquirer and learn from the highly successful acquisition culture of Constellation Software.
We don’t believe there is a ‘one size fits all’ profile for this position, but are particularly excited to speak with candidates who have progressive experience in one or a combination of the following functions:
Nice to have
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M&A sourcing/origination or corporate development
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Public safety background/SME
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Private equity, growth equity or other investing roles
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Outbound SaaS / enterprise software sales
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Investment banking or transaction advisory
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Growth/GTM, strategy or entrepreneurial roles (early/growth stage or sponsor-backed)
Key Responsibilities
Build and lead the origination team
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Develop, coach and mentor business development team members across founder outreach, market research, relationship development and opportunity qualification.
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Establish clear expectations for performance and progression; create a culture of curiosity, persistence, accountability and continuous improvement.
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Allocate markets and verticals across the team, run regular pipeline and relationship reviews, and help team members prioritize the highest-value opportunities.
Market mapping and acquisition strategy
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Conduct detailed research on competitors, potential add-on offerings, new geographies and adjacent markets; translate market intelligence into actionable sourcing priorities for the team.
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Segment assigned markets and continuously refresh target lists using public and proprietary sources.
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Research industry dynamics to identify acquisition/investment news, competitive tenders, leadership changes, ownership transitions and other signals that can create acquisition opportunities.
Originate & qualify opportunities
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Remain personally involved in origination and set the standard for the team by executing thoughtful multi-channel outreach (cold calling, email, LinkedIn, trade shows and in-person meetings) with founders and executives.
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Attend conferences and regional events to build relationships, develop market intelligence and expand the acquisition pipeline.
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Create proprietary opportunities rather than waiting for companies to formally come to market.
Relationship management
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Build trust with CEOs, entrepreneurs, advisors and intermediaries; act as a long-term relationship manager for acquisition prospects in the public safety market.
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Maintain thoughtful communication over months and years, understand owner objectives and coach the team on when to advance a conversation, provide value or simply stay in touch.
Qualification and pipeline management
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Evaluate opportunities against strategic and financial criteria, including market position, revenue quality, growth, profitability, product fit, ownership dynamics and long-term attractiveness as a vertical software business.
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Own both your personal acquisition pipeline and the overall health of the team’s pipeline; use data to improve prioritization, coaching, market coverage and conversion.
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Maintain disciplined Salesforce/CRM processes, including relationship history, next steps, deal stages, pipeline reporting and KPIs for senior management.
Transaction support
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Organize management meetings, site visits and prospecting trips; coordinate initial information flow and provide market and relationship context as opportunities progress.
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Work closely with the M&A team throughout the process to ensure a smooth hand-off from origination to diligence while maintaining continuity with the founder or management team.
Qualifications and Skills
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Experience: progressive experience in M&A origination, business development, corporate development, investing, enterprise software sales or another relationship-intensive role; experience coaching or managing others is strongly preferred.
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Player-coach leadership: demonstrated ability to raise the performance of people around you while remaining willing to originate opportunities personally. Enjoys developing talent, giving direct feedback and building repeatable team processes.
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Commercial “hunter” mentality: demonstrable success in cold outreach, opportunity creation and relationship management. Comfortable navigating conversations and building rapport at the C-suite/founder level.
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Communication and interpersonal skills: articulate communicator with excellent writing and presentation skills, capable of clearly conveying our investment philosophy and value proposition.
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Financial literacy and analytical ability: ability to interpret financial statements, understand recurring-revenue software economics and discuss fundamental valuation drivers.
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Organizational discipline and judgment: strong planning and prioritization; rigorous CRM hygiene; proactive, resourceful and comfortable operating with significant autonomy. High E.Q., low ego and strong judgment.
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Tools and travel: comfortable using CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce), LinkedIn, email sequencing tools, Excel/PowerPoint and research platforms; willing to travel domestically/internationally (~10-20%) for founder meetings and industry events.
Measures of Success (Illustrative)
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Build, coach and develop a high-performing origination team with clear market ownership, performance expectations and professional progression.
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Steady cadence of high-quality founder/CEO conversations and new qualified acquisition targets generated personally and across the team.
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Conversion from outreach → meetings → qualified opportunities → letters of intent, with increasing contribution from proprietary sourcing.
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Quality and depth of long-term relationships, supported by strong market coverage, pipeline visibility, CRM discipline and adherence to agreed sourcing KPIs.
What We Offer
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Competitive base salary plus performance-based bonus.
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Comprehensive medical, dental and vision benefits.
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Opportunity to build and lead a growing M&A origination function with exposure to the full deal lifecycle.