Associate Director - Investments

Overview

This role sits within the Central M&A Team and supports an investment organization that deploys $50M+ of capital each year into niche, bootstrapped PLG software companies across North America and Western Europe.

The Investment Team operates as a principal investor. This position is designed to move quickly from opportunity qualification through deal execution and closing, with decision-making responsibility for where capital is allocated.

Responsibilities

• Capital allocation and underwriting: Underwrite deals you lead; develop a clear view on value, risk, and returns; write the investment memo; defend recommendations before the Investment Committee.
• Qualification and deal offers: Qualify new opportunities quickly, discontinue weaker ones early, and issue non-binding offers on opportunities worth pursuing; set the price and structure that guide the deal through LOI.
• Deal captaincy (end-to-end ownership): Own the process from first call and non-binding offer through LOI, diligence, SPA, and closing; set timelines, run workstreams, and ensure outcomes.
• Commercial due diligence (CDD): Lead in-house CDD; size the market, map competition, define “right to win,” and assess the quality and durability of revenue (retention, concentration, pricing power, and growth durability).
• Financial and commercial modeling: Build models from scratch, including ARR bridges, cohort and retention analysis, unit economics, scenario analysis, valuation, and returns.
• Negotiation: Lead negotiations with founders and their advisors on price, structure, and key terms; land deals that work for both sellers and investment returns.
• Diligence leadership: Run the full DD process across internal experts (finance, tech, product, marketing, legal, people) and coordinate with external legal, financial, and tax advisors; translate findings into decisions.
• Stakeholder leadership: Represent the organization to sellers, brokers, and advisors; work closely with the C-suite, leadership, and post-close operators.
• Coaching: Develop junior team members in a hands-on player-coach capacity.

Impact in the first 6–12 months

• Own early-stage qualification from first call to non-binding offer: move quickly, kill weak opportunities early, and produce IC-ready investment cases for the strongest.
• Build trust with founders, the C-suite, and the operating teams that will run acquired businesses.
• Serve as deal captain on early live transactions and drive deals from LOI to signed SPA.

Requirements

• 6+ years of professional experience after university, with a strong track record in transactions, strategy, or both.
• Training at a top-tier firm or team in one or more of:
  • Private equity (lower mid-market transactions; typically sub-$10M EBITDA), ideally in software or tech-enabled services.
  • Strategy consulting (MBB: McKinsey, BCG, Bain) or leading strategy firms including Roland Berger, Oliver Wyman, Kearney, L.E.K. Consulting, OC&C, Simon-Kucher, or Arthur D. Little.
  • Big Four strategy and deals, including Strategy& (PwC), EY-Parthenon, Deloitte (Monitor Deloitte / M&A), or KPMG Deal Advisory—especially commercial due diligence.
  • Corporate development / in-house M&A, ideally at a high-velocity aggregator or buy-and-build strategic.
  • Investment banking, M&A advisory at mid-market or tech-focused boutiques—ideally lower mid-market transactions with enterprise values below $50M.
• Investor mindset: think like an owner, form a point of view quickly, and support it with numbers.
• Live deal experience: understand what it takes to get deals over the line; ideally led workstreams or served as day-to-day deal lead.
• Strong financial modeling and valuation skills: build from a blank sheet and defend assumptions.
• Player-coach approach: experience developing junior talent and a genuine interest in doing so.
• Commercial due diligence experience: market sizing, competitive analysis, customer/expert interviews, and quality-of-revenue work.
• Negotiation and presence: negotiate with founders selling their life’s work and hold ground with the C-suite and advisors.
• Rigorous project management: keep multiple parties, timelines, and documents moving without losing momentum.
• Software and SaaS interest: genuine interest in software and SaaS business models; software background is an advantage but not required.
• English proficiency: fluent written and spoken English; additional European languages are a plus.
• AI fluency: already use AI tools (especially Claude) day to day and look for ways to accelerate research, analysis, modeling, and diligence workflows.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience aligned with any of the listed training/track backgrounds, especially those with commercial diligence responsibilities and lower mid-market transaction exposure.
• Demonstrated experience leading deal workstreams or serving as deal lead.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary ranges are location-adjusted, targeting local market medians for a remote-first environment, and will be shared in writing with potential future employees before the first interview.
• Flexible time off.

Location

• Fully remote.
• The organization invests across North America and Western Europe.