Business Development Specialist - Chicago - Aramco

Description

Aramco energizes the world economy.

Aramco occupies a special position in the global energy industry. We are one of the world's largest producers of hydrocarbon energy and chemicals, with among the lowest Upstream carbon intensities of any major producer.

With our significant investment in technology and infrastructure, we strive to maximize the value of the energy we produce for the world along with a commitment to enhance Aramco's value to society.

Headquartered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and with offices around the world, we combine market discipline with a generations' spanning view of the future, born of our nine decades experience as responsible stewards of the Kingdom's vast hydrocarbon resources. This responsibility has driven us to deliver significant societal and economic benefits to not just the Kingdom, but also to a vast number of communities, economies, and countries that rely on the vital and reliable energy that we supply.

We are one of the most profitable companies in the world, as well as amongst the top five global companies by market capitalization.

Overview

We are seeking a Business Development Specialist who has a background in Transaction Execution to join the Divestment Department.

The Divestment department is responsible for optimizing the corporate portfolio through the strategic divestment of assets and securing specialized partners to manage the assets in the future. Operating under the corporate development mandate, this function is responsible to lead the end-to-end execution of complex divestment transactions, from identifying optimization opportunities to sourcing world-class partners and negotiation high-value exists.

Your primary role is to lead complex transactions, often valued at $500MM or larger.

Key Responsibilities

You will be required to perform the following:

• Implement the company's portfolio optimization strategy by identifying, screening, and evaluating assets for potential divestment.
• Leads the development of the Investment Memorandum and overall transaction strategy for each divestment, including: valuation, structuring, and defining key value levers.
• Leads the entire divestment process, ensuring robust analysis and adherence to the corporate stage-gate process to secure internal approvals.
• Support the negotiation of key commercial terms and definitive agreements. 
• Development of negotiation strategies, aiming to optimize commercial terms and mitigate risk.
• Scrutinize and contribute to the drafting and analysis of all commercial and legal documentation, including: Sale and Purchase Agreements (SPAs), Transition Services Agreements (TSAs), Head of Terms, and Memorandums of Understanding ( MoUs).
• Drives consensus and coordinates with senior internal stakeholders (e.g., Law, Finance, Strategy, HR) to ensure seamless deal alignment and progression.
• Prepares and delivers high-impact briefings, analyses, and recommendations to corporate committees and executive management to secure mandate and transaction approvals.
• Acts as the central liaison for all transaction-related activities, ensuring clear communication and efficient resolution of complex issues.
• Provides administrative direction to Business Development staff including job performance appraisals, job promotion recommendations, and relevant human resources development roles. 
• Represents Saudi Aramco, its affiliates, and/or the Kingdom in professional societies, committees and conferences.
• Actively guide and develop junior team members, providing hands-on technical coaching, constructive performance feedback, and mentoring.
• Support and foster a high-performing team by sharing expert knowledge and best practices learned from live transactions and prior experience.

Minimum Requirements

As a successful candidate you hold a:

• Bachelor degree in Engineering, Business and Management or related discipline from an accredited university. Advanced degree is a plus. 
• Minimum of 12 years of experience in corporate development: transaction end to end deal management, portfolio strategy and optimization, commercial structuring, negotiation, carve-out planning, corporate finance and valuation
• Professional certifications such as: Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Management Accountant (CMA), or Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is a plus.
• Industry expertise and knowledge of specific business transaction and venturing activities, such as: operational or financial carve out, commercialization, joint venture development and management, project development and execution, valuation and economic/financial modeling, business operations and maintenance, and strategy development and execution.
  
• Expertise in financial analysis or companies and transaction valuation.
• Focused knowledge and experience in one or more of the following; carve-out divestment, financial re-structuring, or initial public offering (IPO).
• Experience in dealing with local or Industry specific best practices as well as regulatory and governmental mandates.

Work Location and Work Schedule

Work Location: Within Saudi Arabia – To be specified in Job offer 
Work Schedule: Full Time - To be specified in Job offer

Posting Duration

Posting Start Date: 12/21/2025

Posting End Date: 12/31/2026

Working environment

Our high-performing employees are drawn by the challenging and rewarding professional, technical and industrial opportunities we offer, and are remunerated accordingly.

At Aramco, our people work on truly world-scale projects, supported by investment in capital and technology that is second to none. And because, as a global energy company, we are faced with addressing some of the world's biggest technical, logistical and environmental challenges, we invest heavily in talent development.

We have a proud history of educating and training our workforce over many decades. Employees at all levels are encouraged to improve their sector-specific knowledge and competencies through our workforce development programs – one of the largest in the world.