Director Corporate Development

JOB PURPOSE

The Director, Corporate Development supports Taylor's Education Group's growth agenda by sourcing, evaluating, and advancing M&A, strategic partnership, and affordable education venture opportunities. The role provides the commercial and execution capability between senior leadership direction and detailed workstream delivery.

This requires strong financial judgement, external presence, negotiation capability, and the ability to convert ambiguous growth priorities into clear business cases, diligence inputs, commercial structures, and decision-ready recommendations for leadership, Exco, Investment Committee, or Board review.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Corporate Development, M&A & Inorganic Growth

Accountable for building and progressing a structured pipeline of acquisition, partnership, and inorganic growth opportunities for Taylor's Education Group.

• Source, screen, and maintain a structured pipeline of school, platform, education asset, partnership, market-entry, or adjacent growth opportunities relevant to Taylor's Education Group.

• Lead or co-lead early conversations with founders, owners, investors, advisors, intermediaries, and strategic counterparties, while building trust without overcommitting Taylor's Education Group.

• Develop initial acquisition theses, opportunity-screening memos, partner-comparison papers, commercial summaries, and investment cases for leadership, Exco, Investment Committee, or Board review.

• Challenge valuation logic, strategic fit, execution complexity, risk profile, required leadership time, and expected financial and non-financial returns.

• Support LOI, SPA, SHA, lease, partnership, revenue-share, JV, and related transaction-documentation processes together with legal counsel, finance, advisors, and relevant internal stakeholders.

Affordable Education Ventures

Accountable for sourcing and advancing viable affordable education venture opportunities in Malaysia and other markets relevant to Taylor's Education Group's growth agenda

• Source and build a pipeline of township, campus, brownfield, greenfield, asset-light, partnership, JV, lease, revenue-share, and acquisition opportunities for affordable education ventures.

• Lead or co-lead early discussions with developers, landlords, township owners, school owners, strategic partners, intermediaries, and advisors.

• Assess whether each opportunity fits the affordable education model, including catchment, affordability, pricing, capex, school size, speed to market, brand fit, operating complexity, regulatory considerations, and downside risk.

• Shape commercial structures and key terms with counterparties while working with the Divisional CFO, President, legal counsel, finance, and the relevant operating team.

• Translate expansion options into clear business cases, decision papers, risk assessments, and recommendations for leadership approval.

Corporate Finance, Investment Analysis & Commercial Challenge

Accountable for ensuring that investment opportunities are evaluated with strong financial judgement, commercial discipline, and appropriate challenge.

• Work with finance colleagues, operating teams, and external advisors who build detailed financial models; the role does not need to be the primary model builder but must be able to interrogate models and explain what they really say.

• Challenge assumptions relating to enrolment, pricing, staffing, capex, rent, working capital, EBITDA, valuation, payback, IRR, cash flow, lease structures, debt, equity, integration costs, and downside scenarios.

• Prepare clear investment cases, Board / IC materials, opportunity-screening memos, partner-comparison papers, and decision papers that translate complex analysis into practical recommendations.

• Identify key value drivers, commercial sensitivities, affordability constraints, downside risks, integration implications, and critical decision gates for each opportunity.

• Support budgeting, forecasting, vendor cost review, and financial governance for relevant corporate development and expansion workstreams.

External Partnerships, Negotiation & Stakeholder Management

Accountable for representing Taylor's Education Group credibly with external counterparties and coordinating the internal stakeholders required to move opportunities forward.

• Represent Taylor's Education Group professionally with acquisition targets, school owners, developers, universities, pathway providers, advisors, government-linked stakeholders, landlords, and strategic partners.

• Understand counterparty motivations, shape commercial structures, test economics, progress discussions, and protect Taylor's Education Group from unsupported optimism or premature commitments.

• Negotiate scope, fees, commercial terms, and engagement structures with third-party providers, including law firms, market consultants, diligence advisors, real estate advisors, and other vendors.

• Coordinate effectively with the Divisional CFO, President, Group CFO, Taylor's Schools team, legal counsel, finance, People & Culture, procurement, operating teams, and external advisors.

• Maintain discretion and professional judgement when handling sensitive commercial, financial, people, and transaction-related matters.

Execution Governance, Diligence & Decision Support

Accountable for driving ambiguous workstreams to decision or outcome while maintaining strong governance, escalation discipline, and execution follow-through.

• Set workplans, identify blockers, establish decision gates, coordinate diligence inputs, and track progress across multiple corporate development and expansion workstreams.

• Lead or co-lead commercial, financial, operational, legal, and market diligence coordination, ensuring that key findings are converted into clear implications and recommendations.

• Escalate issues with judgement, distinguishing between matters that require senior leadership direction and matters that can be resolved through execution discipline.

• Prepare senior leaders for major meetings by developing briefing notes, negotiation positions, key questions, risk summaries, and recommended next steps.

• Build reusable templates and governance tools for investment papers, acquisition-screening memos, partner-comparison papers, Board / IC materials, and opportunity pipeline reporting.

MINIMUM ACADEMIC / PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION

• Bachelor's degree required, preferably in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, Accounting, Management, Strategy, Law, Real Estate, Education, or a related field.

• Master's degree, MBA, CFA, professional accounting qualification, or equivalent professional qualification is an added advantage.

• Strong corporate finance, commercial analysis, and investment evaluation capability, with the ability to challenge financial models, valuation logic, transaction structures, and operating assumptions.

• Sound understanding of M&A, transaction processes, commercial negotiations, diligence coordination, governance requirements, and stakeholder management.

• Education-sector exposure is highly desirable, particularly in K-12, private education, affordable education models, campuses, pathways, or regional education platforms.

RELATED EXPERIENCE

• 10-15 years of progressively senior experience in corporate development, M&A, strategic business development, transaction advisory, investment, strategy consulting, private equity, infrastructure, education, real estate, or adjacent sectors.

• Demonstrated experience sourcing, evaluating, structuring, negotiating, or executing commercial opportunities, partnerships, investments, acquisitions, JVs, leases, revenue-share arrangements, or market-entry initiatives.

• Experience working with senior leaders, founders, owners, developers, investors, advisors, legal counsel, finance teams, and operating teams in complex multi-stakeholder environments.

• Proven ability to convert strategic priorities into executable workstreams, decision papers, investment cases, negotiation positions, and practical recommendations.

• Experience in education, schools, real estate-backed expansion, campus development, or platform growth is strongly preferred; candidates without education experience must demonstrate exceptional M&A, finance, negotiation, and stakeholder management capability.

• Experience operating in Malaysia with regional exposure to Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, or other relevant Southeast Asian markets is an added advantage.

COMPETENCIES (KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Strong commercial judgement, with the ability to assess strategic fit, economic logic, execution complexity, downside risk, and practical value creation.

• Strong financial, analytical, and problem-solving capability, including the ability to challenge detailed assumptions around enrolment, pricing, capex, EBITDA, IRR, payback, cash flow, leases, debt, equity, and integration costs.

• Strong external presence and negotiation skills, with the maturity to represent Taylor's Education Group credibly with targets, partners, developers, advisors, and senior counterparties.

• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, including the ability to work effectively with senior leaders, finance, legal, operating teams, Group functions, and external advisors.

• High ownership, resilience, discretion, and accountability when handling ambiguous, sensitive, or commercially important matters.

• Strong execution discipline, with the ability to set workplans, force clarity, identify blockers, escalate with judgement, and drive initiatives to decision or outcome.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to prepare concise investment papers, commercial summaries, Board / IC materials, briefing notes, and recommendations.

• Intellectual curiosity, practical judgement, and willingness to get into operational detail where required, while maintaining a senior view of the commercial and strategic agenda.