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What is a corporate development director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

Corporate development directors are responsible for implementing and developing long-term business strategies for their corporations. You will oversee a large staff, including employees in various departments, such as finance, strategic development, and long-term planning. Your job is to direct and perform market analysis, build market landscape, identify opportunities and resources, and supervise potential client relationships. You will also need to provide guidance and problem resolution and present strategic analysis to assist in developing business objectives and strategies. To do this, you must participate in strategic planning meetings and build relationships with the business unit to keep an ongoing flow of ideas that is aligned with the objectives.

A bachelor's degree in business management or a related field and at least ten years of experience in a supervisory position is required for this job. You should be well-spoken and professional, have excellent management and leadership skills, and maintain knowledge of strategic planning. Your average annual salary is $125,051.

ScoreCorporate Development DirectorUS Average
Salary
9.2

Avg. Salary $159,614

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level
7.5

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity
3.1
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 8.15%

Black or African American 3.04%

Hispanic or Latino 8.67%

Unknown 5.32%

White 74.58%

Gender

female 30.32%

male 69.68%

Age - 38
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38
Stress level
7.5

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level
9.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance
3.5

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Corporate development director career paths

Key steps to become a corporate development director

  1. Explore corporate development director education requirements

    Most common corporate development director degrees

    Bachelor's

    66.8 %

    Master's

    24.4 %

    Associate

    4.7 %
  2. Start to develop specific corporate development director skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Corporate Development17.81%
    Project Management9.98%
    Financial Models7.73%
    Business Development7.03%
    HR5.58%
  3. Complete relevant corporate development director training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New corporate development directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a corporate development director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real corporate development director resumes.
  4. Research corporate development director duties and responsibilities

    • Create a competitive advantage by streamlining the RFP, sales and contract processes.
    • Lead restructuring/divestiture analysis of underperforming and strategically challenge traditional and digital business units helping to dramatically decrease EBITDA and market declines.
    • Overhaul and optimize sales strategy, targeting, tactics, CRM, value proposition, training.
    • Work with sales teams to translate customer needs to winning solutions, RFP responses and deal structuring.
  5. Get corporate development director experience

    Generally, it takes 8-10 years to become a corporate development director. The most common roles before becoming a corporate development director include vice president, director team lead and manager.
  6. Prepare your corporate development director resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your corporate development director resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a corporate development director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose from 10+ customizable corporate development director resume templates

    Build a professional corporate development director resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your corporate development director resume.
    Corporate Development Director Resume
    Corporate Development Director Resume
    Corporate Development Director Resume
    Corporate Development Director Resume
    Corporate Development Director Resume
    Corporate Development Director Resume
    Corporate Development Director Resume
    Corporate Development Director Resume
    Corporate Development Director Resume
  7. Apply for corporate development director jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a corporate development director job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first corporate development director job

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Average corporate development director salary

The average corporate development director salary in the United States is $159,614 per year or $77 per hour. Corporate development director salaries range between $110,000 and $230,000 per year.

Average corporate development director salary
$159,614 Yearly
$76.74 hourly

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Corporate development director reviews

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A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2019
Pros

B2B Communication and Building Relationships, Product\Strategy Development and Implementation, Solving Problems


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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