The posting
A Career at HARMAN
As a technology leader that is rapidly on the move, HARMAN is filled with people who are focused on making life better. Innovation, inclusivity and teamwork are a part of our DNA. When you add that to the challenges we take on and solve together, you’ll discover that at HARMAN you can grow, make a difference and be proud of the work you do every day.
What You’ll Be Part Of
HARMAN is seeking a Director-level M&A professional to identify, evaluate, and execute acquisitions, strategic investments, and partnerships focused on AI-enabled experiences.
As a senior individual contributor within the M&A team, this role will combine end-to-end transaction leadership with strong strategic and commercial judgment. The Senior Director will develop investment theses, identify emerging companies and capabilities, lead valuation and diligence, support negotiation and structuring, and translate changes in AI, markets, and user behavior into strategic opportunities for HARMAN.
The mandate spans opportunities that could reshape how people and organizations discover, communicate, interact with products and environments, consume and create media, access services, and move experiences across devices and spaces — across consumer, automotive, professional, and other B2B environments.
How You’ll Make An Impact
M&A Strategy & Origination
- Develop strategic acquisitions, investment, and partnership theses around emerging AI-enabled experiences and enabling capabilities.
- Identify companies, capabilities, and business models that could strengthen HARMAN’s products, services, customer relationships, or ecosystem position.
- Translate market, competitive, and user-experience shifts into build, partner, invest, or acquire opportunities.
- Build relationships with founders, venture capital firms, investors, strategic partners, and emerging technology ecosystems.
- Partner with HARMAN business, product, and strategy leaders to connect external opportunities with long-term strategic priorities.
Priority AI & Experience Domains
Evaluate opportunities across areas including:
- Conversational and agent-enabled experiences
- Voice, communication, translation, and intelligent interaction
- Personalization, identity, preferences, and contextual experiences
- Cross-device continuity and connected ecosystems
- Smart environments, ambient intelligence, and intelligent device orchestration
- AI-enabled media discovery, personalization, creation, and entertainment
- Hearing, accessibility, wellness, and assistive experiences
- AI-enabled search, discovery, recommendations, service, and commerce
- Professional and B2B experiences where AI can improve how customers interact with products, systems, content, or environments
- Emerging platforms and capabilities that could reshape connected-device and experience ecosystems.
The role is expected to identify new opportunity areas early and determine where they could create meaningful strategic or commercial advantage for HARMAN.
Transaction Leadership
- Lead transactions from strategic thesis and target identification through valuation, LOI, diligence, negotiation, approval, close, and integration planning.
- Develop financial models, business cases, scenario analyses, and value-creation frameworks for acquisitions, minority investments, and strategic partnerships.
- Coordinate cross-functional teams, external advisors, and counterparties throughout the transaction process.
- Prepare investment memoranda, executive recommendations, board materials, and risk assessments.
- Evaluate strategic value beyond standalone financial returns, including growth potential, new capabilities, customer access, ecosystem advantage, talent, and long-term strategic optionality.
Strategic & Commercial Diligence
- Assess the user or customer problem being addressed and the strength of the underlying value proposition.
- Evaluate market attractiveness, adoption potential, competitive differentiation, business-model sustainability, customer traction, and scalability.
- Determine whether an opportunity can create meaningful strategic advantage for HARMAN or risks becoming a broadly available capability.
- Evaluate how AI may shift industry structure, customer expectations, routes to market, business models, and value pools.
- Assess the role and influence of major technology platforms, device ecosystems, media companies, automotive players, professional technology providers, and other strategic partners.
- Evaluate global scalability and regional differences in customer needs, market structure, regulation, and ecosystem development.
- Identify potential dependencies on major AI or technology platforms and the implications for HARMAN’s customer relationships and strategic flexibility.
- Determine whether HARMAN should own, partner for, invest in, license, or monitor a capability.
- Partner with HARMAN product, engineering, legal, privacy, and other experts for deeper functional or technical diligence as required.
Deal Structuring, Negotiation & Integration
- Support negotiation of valuation, governance, earnouts, commercial commitments, strategic rights, exclusivity, and other transaction terms.
- Align senior business and functional stakeholders around transaction rationale, risks, and value creation.
- Support integration planning with focus on strategic fit, product roadmap, talent retention, commercialization, and partnership opportunities.
- Establish clear post-close milestones to track delivery of the strategic rationale and value-creation case.
What Makes You A Strong Fit
- 12+ years of relevant experience in corporate development, M&A, investment banking, private equity, venture investing, or a related strategy role.
- Proven ability to lead complex transactions end-to-end, including valuation, diligence, structuring, negotiation, and executive approval.
- Strong financial modeling, valuation, and analytical skills.
- Experience evaluating technology businesses, digital platforms, connected products, software, or technology-enabled services.
- Strong strategic and commercial judgment and the ability to connect emerging market developments to customer needs, competitive advantage, and enterprise value.
- Ability to rapidly develop an informed point of view on emerging AI markets, companies, business models, and competitive dynamics.
- Ability to engage credibly with founders, investors, business leaders, product teams, and senior executives.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including executive- and board-level materials.
- Ability to operate independently in fast-moving and ambiguous environments.
Bonus Points if You Have
- Experience evaluating or executing transactions involving AI, connected devices, consumer technology, automotive technology, professional technology, media, digital platforms, or adjacent sectors.
- Strong understanding of how AI is changing user expectations, customer journeys, business models, competitive dynamics, and industry value chains.
- Familiarity with emerging AI ecosystems, major platform players, startups, investors, and partnership models.
- Experience evaluating businesses where strategic value depends on differentiated experiences, customer adoption, ecosystems, data, intellectual property, or partnerships.
- Experience working with product and business teams to evaluate new capabilities and commercialization opportunities.
- Experience with minority investments, venture investments, or strategic partnerships in addition to traditional M&A.
- Global transaction experience and ability to evaluate opportunities across different markets and regions.
- MBA or other relevant advanced degree preferred; CFA or CPA helpful but not required.
Things To Know
- This role is based in Sunnyvale, CA, and follows a hybrid schedule, with regular in-office collaboration alongside engineering, product, and customer program teams.
- This position supports global teams, so occasional early morning or evening meetings may be needed to collaborate with teams in Europe and Asia.
- This role requires 25% domestic and international travel
- Successfully complete a background investigation and drug screen as a condition of employment (post-offer).
What You Can Expect
- A hybrid work environment that balances flexibility with in-person collaboration, with most office-based roles onsite three days a week.
- Access to employee discounts on HARMAN and Samsung products (including JBL, Harman / Kardon, AKG, and others)
- Learning and development opportunities through our award-winning HARMAN University programs
- Wellness benefits designed to support your overall well-being
- Tuition reimbursement support
- Access to the HARMAN campus fitness center and cafeteria, where available
- An inclusive and diverse work environment that supports both your professional and personal development
Salary Ranges:
$ 185,250 - $ 271,700
HARMAN is proud to be an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.
