Possible but likely pretty challenging because you don’t work on deals in most FP&A roles. Your best bet would be to find a corp dev role that is more about partnerships/JVs or one at more of a startup/growth company so you can show more of a skill set overlap.

I would imagine they are at least slightly higher now because this article is from a few years ago. But there’s no way they are on par with PE/IB pay if that’s what you’re asking. There’s less money to go around, promotions are slower, hours are much lower, etc.

It’s still possible to leave an IB Associate role and enter CD as a Manager, yes. I don’t know how likely/common it is.

I don’t think an MBA is that important for advancement in most CD roles. The job descriptions may say that, but if you have experience at a brand-name bank in IB, I don’t think an MBA would add much. It’s only worthwhile if it’s an actual requirement to advance or if everyone above a certain level in the CD team has it.

I saw your response from a few years back to another commenter saying that someone can exit out of an associate role in IB into Corporate Development as a manager. I was just wondering if that is still likely/common.

I was also wondering how important an MBA would be in moving up the hierarchy to become a corporate development director and beyond if you have that IB experience and transfer in. Some roles say MBA is “strongly recommended.” Thanks in advance!

It should be possible to go back into PE after doing CD since you’ve already done PE and VC (even if at smaller firms). In terms of your competitiveness, I don’t think CD will help a lot if your long-term goal is PE because you’ve already had PE experience. More deals will help on the margins, but it’s not the same as it would be for someone who has literally no deal experience. A top business school would actually be more helpful for the brand/network/access to recruiters, especially since your experience has been in emerging markets so far. So, if you can afford the time/money, a top MBA would be more useful in this situation. If you simply want to return to PE, though, I don’t really think you “need” either CD or an MBA to do it. It’s more that the MBA would be useful if you want to work outside your current geography and/or at larger firms.

It is definitely more difficult this way (strategy to corp dev rather than the reverse). I don’t think it’s especially common, but it should be doable at large companies (e.g., Fortune 500) because if you can prove yourself in one area, you should have a big advantage in internal recruiting for others. You will probably need some evidence of learning accounting/valuation/financial modeling and deal analysis to do it because that will be one of their key objections.

After 2-4 years in Strategy, I’m trying to build a strong case for jumping into corporate development. I’ve seen corporate dev to strategy before but it seems to be more difficult the other way around. Welcome your thoughts.