Corporate Development

Runway Ml
San Francisco, US
On-site

Who this role is best for

Aimed at mid-level corporate development professionals with 7-10 years in investment banking or M&A who thrive in fast-moving, ambiguous environments and have a curiosity about AI.

Best fit for

  • Experienced corporate strategists comfortable with ambiguity and shifting priorities.
    — “Comfortable operating in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment and shifting priorities fluidly
  • Finance professionals with deep knowledge of capital structures and investor relations.
    — “Familiarity with financing instruments across the capital structure
  • Strategic thinkers who can bridge technical and financial narratives.
    — “Ability to partner credibly with technical teams, such as engineers and researchers about product and technology

Things to consider

  • Role requires being based in San Francisco or willing to relocate.
    — “This role is based in San Francisco
  • Must handle end-to-end fundraising and complex deal execution.
    — “Support end-to-end fundraising and execution, from building high-fidelity materials to managing data rooms with operational excellence

How to stand out

  • Demonstrate a track record of leading M&A from thesis to close.
    — “Lead strategic M&A and complex deals from initial thesis to diligence, negotiation, and navigating varying stakeholders
  • Showcase your ability to translate technical milestones into investor narratives.
    — “Refine our investor narrative and define our position in the generative AI landscape, by translating our financial metrics, product milestones, and strategic bets into investor-legible content
  • Highlight experience with investor relations and market intelligence.
    — “Manage and deepen Runway's connection with current and prospective investors via investor education, events, and building key relationships
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · CompanyLevel · Senior

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • Drive M&A and fundraising
  • Refine investor narrative
Typical background
investment bankingM&A

Skills & requirements

Required

Corporate DevelopmentM&ACapital MarketsFundraising

Preferred

Investment BankingVenture Capital

Stack & domain

Investment BankingM&aPrivate EquityVenture CapitalCorporate DevelopmentFinancing InstrumentsCommunication SkillsTechnical TeamsFast-moving EnvironmentAICapital MarketsStrong Communication SkillsAbility To Navigate A Wide Variety Of StakeholdersAbility To Partner Credibly With Technical TeamsComfortable Operating In A Fast-moving, Ambiguous EnvironmentGenuine Curiosity About The Evolution Of AiFinanceInvestment

About the role

Original posting from Runway Ml via Ashby

We are building AI to simulate the world through merging art and science.

We believe that world models are at the frontier of progress in artificial intelligence. Language models alone won’t solve the world’s hardest problems – robotics, disease, scientific discovery. Real progress requires models that experience the world and learn from their mistakes, the same way that humans do. And this kind of trial and error can be massively accelerated when done in simulation, rather than in the real world.

World models offer the most clear path to general-purpose simulation, changing how stories are told, how scientific progress is made and how the next frontiers of humanity are reached.

Our team consists of creative, open minded, caring and ambitious people who are determined to change the world. We aspire to continuously build impossible things and our ability to do so relies on building an incredible team. If you are driven to do the same, we'd love to hear from you.

ABOUT THE ROLE

This role is based in San Francisco. We’re open to exceptional candidates across the US and also have offices in NYC and Seattle.

We are looking for a our first Corporate Development and Capital Markets hire to serve as a strategic and operational partner to the CFO and executive team. You will own Runway's M&A and external capital allocation strategy, lead investor relations, support fundraising, and drive the narrative for a broad range of capital and strategic initiatives. You will operate across internal and external stakeholders, including investors, Board members, potential partners and acquisition targets, and serve as a trusted generalist on special projects that shape Runway's future.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

  • Build a rigorous corporate development and capital markets function establishing best practices and frameworks for scale
  • Lead strategic M&A and complex deals from initial thesis to diligence, negotiation, and navigating varying stakeholders
  • Drive our capital structure and financing strategy, by remaining ahead of the curve on market dynamics, investor appetite, and creative deal structures
  • Support end-to-end fundraising and execution, from building high-fidelity materials to managing data rooms with operational excellence
  • Refine our investor narrative and define our position in the generative AI landscape, by translating our financial metrics, product milestones, and strategic bets into investor-legible content
  • Manage and deepen Runway's connection with current and prospective investors via investor education, events, and building key relationships
  • Own special projects from competitive intelligence to new market entry, monitoring shifting trends and technical breakthroughs to enable adjacent growth opportunities

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

  • 7-10 years of experience in investment banking, M&A, private equity, venture capital, or corporate development
  • Familiarity with financing instruments across the capital structure
  • Strong communication skills and ability to navigate a wide variety of stakeholders
  • Ability to partner credibly with technical teams, such as engineers and researchers about product and technology
  • Comfortable operating in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment and shifting priorities fluidly
  • Genuine curiosity about the evolution of AI and the creative industry, with an informed opinion on the generative AI and capital markets landscape
  • JD / MBA preferred

Runway strives to recruit and retain exceptional talent from diverse backgrounds while ensuring pay equity for our team. Our salary ranges are based on competitive market rates for our size, stage and industry, and salary is just one part of the overall compensation package we provide.

There are many factors that go into salary determinations, including relevant experience, skill level and qualifications assessed during the interview process, and maintaining internal equity with peers on the team. The range shared below is a general expectation for the function as posted, but we are also open to considering candidates who may be more or less experienced than outlined in the job description. In this case, we will communicate any updates in the expected salary range.

Lastly, the provided range is the expected salary for candidates in the U.S. Outside of those regions, there may be a change in the range, which again, will be communicated to candidates.

WORKING AT RUNWAY

Great things come from great teams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwmj4ato2kw&ab_channel=Runway We’d love to hear from you.

We’re committed to creating a space where our employees can bring their full selves to work and have equal opportunity to succeed. So regardless of race, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, origin, ability, age, veteran status, if joining this mission speaks to you, we encourage you to apply.

More about Runway

  • Universal World Simulator https://runwayml.com/world-simulator.html
  • GWM-1 https://runwayml.com/research/introducing-runway-gwm-1
  • Gen-4.5 https://runwayml.com/research/introducing-runway-gen-4.5
  • General World Models https://runwayml.com/research/introducing-general-world-models
  • Robotics SDK https://runwayml.com/research/introducing-runway-gwm-1#robotics-section
  • Conversational Real-time Agents https://runwayml.com/research/introducing-runway-gwm-1#avatars-section
  • Runway Studios https://runwayml.com/studios

We're excited to be recognized as a best place to work:

Crain's https://www.crainsnewyork.com/awards/best-places-work-2023 | InHerSight https://www.inhersight.com/companies/best/city/new-york-city-ny | BuiltIn NYC https://builtin.com/awards/new-york-city/2024/best-places-to-work | INC https://www.inc.com/best-workplaces/2024

Source: Runway Ml careers (Ashby)

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