Director, M&A Strategy

Director, M&A Strategy  

The opportunity 

Adobe's Creativity & Productivity (C&P) business is the creative platform for the world – Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Acrobat, and the products that professionals and creators depend on every day. It's one of the most strategically consequential businesses in enterprise software, and it's growing. 
 

This is a newly created role at the center of how that business grows inorganically. You will shape C&P's M&A agenda – building the strategic pipeline, developing deal theses, and ensuring that every acquisition is positioned to deliver real business impact. You will work directly with C&P's senior leadership and in close partnership with Adobe's Corporate Development and Corporate Strategy functions. 

What you'll own 
 

M&A strategy & pipeline 

• Define C&P's perspective on inorganic growth – a prioritized view of where acquisitions can accelerate the business strategy, developed in full collaboration with Corporate Development 

• Work with C&P's business and product leaders to surface capability gaps, market adjacencies, and strategic vectors that M&A could address – and bring that context into the pipeline process 

• Develop and maintain a sharp point of view on competitive dynamics and consolidation trends in the industry 

• Partner with Corporate Development to build and prioritize a target list grounded in C&P's strategic priorities 

Deal thesis & evaluation 

• Develop clear, compelling deal theses rooted in C&P's product strategy, competitive dynamics, and go-to-market priorities – giving Corporate Development the business context needed to evaluate targets effectively 

• Serve as the business voice throughout evaluation – translating product roadmap, customer impact, and market realities into inputs that sharpen the process 

• Synthesize complex inputs from across the business into crisp, senior-ready recommendations that enable fast, confident decisions 

Integration readiness & performance 

• Develop success metrics, integration KPIs, and post-deal scorecards in advance of close – as part of the deal thesis, not an afterthought 

• Work alongside the product, GTM, and finance teams within C&P to ensure integration planning is underway well before a deal closes  

• Monitor performance against the original deal thesis post-close; surface risks and escalate as needed 

• Provide clear, executive-level reporting on pipeline status, deal progress, and post-close outcomes to C&P leadership 

Leadership & influence 

• Build trusted, ongoing relationships with Corporate Development and Corporate Strategy – serving as C&P's credible strategic counterpart 

• Drive alignment across C&P's matrixed organization to keep deal momentum moving  

• Ensure C&P senior leadership are informed, aligned, and positioned to move quickly when opportunities emerge 

What we're looking for 

• 10+ years in corporate strategy, corporate development, strategic finance, or management consulting – with meaningful in-house experience at a technology company 

• Track record of shaping M&A strategy: building pipelines, developing deal theses, influencing decisions, and following through on integration outcomes 

• Deep familiarity with how M&A processes work – and how to operate alongside a Corporate Development function as a strategic business partner 

• Strong business instincts: you think in markets, products, and customers; you know when and how to engage the deal machinery 

• A builder mindset – comfortable creating structure in ambiguity, and energized by the chance to establish something new 

• Executive presence and credibility with senior stakeholders in complex, matrixed environments 

• Fluency in software, SaaS, or technology – prior experience in the creative or productivity software space is a plus 

• Bachelor's in Business, Finance, Economics, Engineering, or a quantitative field; MBA or