Associate, Corporate Development - Kraken

About Kraken & Payward

Payward — the parent company behind Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services, and CF Benchmarks — has spent the last 15 years building one of the most modern and globally accessible financial infrastructure platforms in the industry, built to advance an open, global financial system.

Founded in 2011, Kraken is one of the world's longest-standing crypto platforms, trusted by over 10 million individuals and institutions across the globe. As a market leader in crypto, Kraken is expanding globally through M&A and strategic investments.

The Opportunity

As an Associate on our Corporate Development team, you’ll play a significant role in our global M&A and growth activities. The Corporate Development team helps Kraken stay nimble and opportunistic as we pursue leap-frog deals, strategic investments, and new sources of competitive advantage.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead due diligence across live transactions with cross-functional DRIs, organize and maintain data rooms, schedule diligence and debrief sessions, and draft consolidated diligence reports.
• Build initial operating models, trading comparables and precedent transactions, DCF and returns analyses, and accretion / dilution support.
• Produce first-pass screening memos and company teardowns on inbound opportunities.
• Support ownership of our venture investment portfolio: maintain deal-terms inventory (ownership, instrument, pro-rata, information rights, board / observer seats), collect quarterly portfolio-company KPI updates, and track valuation marks with IRR / MOIC per position.
• Support the M&A cash obligations backbone with rolling forecasts of deal-related cash outflows (consideration, holdbacks, earnouts) for FP&A and Treasury.
• Prepare executive deal materials, Board pages, and supporting data analysis.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree (BA or BS) in Business, Commerce, Finance, Actuarial Science, or a related field.
• 4+ years of experience at a leading investment bank, venture capital firm, private equity firm, management consultancy, or startup.
• Deep capability in understanding and scrutinizing business models (financials, mechanics, quality) within a financial institution.
• Excellent financial modeling and valuation skills.
• Demonstrated problem-solving skills, writing experience (deal memos), and storytelling ability on industry trends, implications, and pain points.
• Advanced Excel skills and experience with data analysis tools.
• Ability to work self-directed and fluidly across multiple live, high-priority transactions in parallel.

Nice to Haves

• Proficiency with SQL.
• Strong network in crypto and/or traditional financial markets.
• Technical background or strong knowledge of industry software products and services.