Where are people finding Corp Dev / Strategy Ops?

Take this with a grain of salt as I am no expert but given no valid responses, I can share my POV.

As someone who gets outreach for IB & PE and Corp Dev, the recruitment pipelines are quite different. The same recruiting teams targeted by investment banks and PE funds are distinct from that of corp dev roles, similar to VC in that regard. Corp dev is more complex because the recruitment pipeline can be broken out into three distinct strategies: 

1. Corp Dev / FP&A hybrid recruitment firms: these guys frankly suck and are the worst to deal with. The mandates they represent also usually suck. To them, Corp Dev is a niche but not dissimilar segment of FP&A, and the roles reflect this. Lower comp, but easier roles to get your foot in the door with. Think of these firms as the Robert Half type players. Again, expect comp for these roles to be lower and experience to be worse. 

2. In-house recruitment: Its hard to say what each experience is like here, but as the name suggests, these are internal F500 recruiters who tackle all sorts of roles. Many companies dont outsource recruitment for their high profile roles, but use a shotgun approach via LinkedIn interview requests. This is how I landed my current role, and once you have Corp Dev in your current title, you get a lot of new outreach. Before Corp Dev I never really got this sort of outreach. However, if you do, recruiters likely understand what Corp Dev is and have a better understanding of how it differs from FP&A (in terms of comp, hours, travel, etc.) - this is important because they will likely understand you're coming from banking so having a higher base floor is likely more acceptable. 

3. Lower-tier IB / PE recruiting firms: at last we arrive at the PinPoint Partners of the world. Sometimes brought in to handle Corp Dev requests, these firms shoot out invites to gauge interest from anyone who has ever sniffed an M&A / Cap Markets role. They likely better understand the role and what it entails, but dont really have any incentive to help you get the role, they just want to bring forth as many candidates as possible. 

I've posted about it before, but entering into Corp Dev is harder than most people think. Not in the same way that PE is, as that is more challenging due to the quantitative modeling exams and thorough background screens, but in the sense that there simply arent a lot of roles out there, and turnover is low. One other thought - your IB at a BB may make you seem over qualified for many Corp Dev roles, so recruiters may not even think of you. On your LinkedIn page, make sure you indicate you are targeting corp dev and strategy roles. This should make a big difference. If you want specific people to follow on LinkedIn, PM me and I can send you profile links of people who have regular Corp Dev openings. 

Hope this helps!