Sr Director, Corporate Development

Upwork Inc.’s (Nasdaq: UPWK) family of companies connects businesses with global, AI-enabled talent across every contingent work type including freelance, fractional, and payrolled. This portfolio includes the Upwork Marketplace, which connects businesses with on-demand access to highly skilled talent across the globe, and Lifted, which provides a purpose-built solution for enterprise organizations to source, contract, manage, and pay talent across the full spectrum of contingent work. From Fortune 100 enterprises to entrepreneurs, businesses rely on Upwork Inc. to find and hire expert talent, leverage AI-powered work solutions, and drive business transformation. With access to professionals spanning more than 10,000 skills across AI machine learning, software development, sales marketing, customer support, finance accounting, and more, the Upwork family of companies enables businesses of all sizes to scale, innovate, and transform their workforces for the age of AI and beyond. Since its founding, Upwork Inc. has facilitated more than $30 billion in total transactions and services as it fulfills its purpose to create opportunity in every era of work. Learn more about the Upwork Marketplace at upwork.com and follow on LinkedIn , Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , and X ; and learn more about Lifted at go-lifted.com and follow on LinkedIn . We are seeking a Senior Director of Corporate Development who is passionate about MA, investments and shaping the long-term strategy of a category-defining company. This senior role will help set, influence and implement inorganic growth opportunities through creative idea generation and disciplined execution, lead and manage the full deal lifecycle—identifying, evaluating and structuring MA and investments as well as integrating acquisitions—and partner closely with the executive team to ensure each transaction can unlock innovation, accelerate growth and drive long-term shareholder value. This role reports to the VP of Strategy, Corporate Development Partnerships and offers a high degree of executive visibility, partnering closely with leaders across the company. Responsibilities: Lead End-to-End MA and Investments Execution: Support Upwork’s growth strategy through identification, assessment and execution of potential mergers, acquisitions, investments, and joint ventures including sourcing, valuation, due diligence, commercial and legal document negotiations, and post-merger integration. Financial Modeling Business Case Development: Build and oversee detailed evaluation exercises (Build/Buy/Partner), valuation models, ROI frameworks, and scenario analyses to evaluate deal economics and to prepare acquisition and investment business cases. Executive Board Engagement: Translate complex market insights into actionable recommendations and prepare investment / MA memos and presentations for leadership and the Board of Directors to secure buy-in on major initiatives. Integration Leadership: Drive post-deal integration in partnership with cross-functional leaders to maximize value capture and ensure acquired capabilities are successfully scaled within Upwork’s platform by setting KPIs and milestones to measure integration success and drive value realization. Competitive Market Intelligence: Partner with Corporate Strategy team to build and advance a disciplined approach to market, competitive, and ecosystem intelligence to identify white spaces, disruptive trends, emerging opportunities and prospective companies to partner with, invest in or acquire. Team Leadership Development: Provide strategic direction and mentorship to a high-performing Corporate Development team, driving a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous learning. Oversee workload prioritization, professional growth, and performance management to ensure the team consistently delivers at the highest standard across all phases of MA and investment execution. Ecosystem Relationships: Cultivate relati ... (truncated, view full listing at source)