Private Equity Infrastructure Jobs
As the institutionalization of Alternative Investments continues to grow especially with Private Equity firms and Hedge Funds, professionals in the space are seeing numerous career opportunities/paths emerge. This growth is happening at the large billion dollar funds as well as the smaller shops, especially those with an operational focus.
As is the case with Hedge Funds, it is the Institutional Investors who are driving the changes concerning infrastructure roles within the Private Equity space. Both Alternative Investment strategies have some similar infrastructure roles, especially within Accounting and Administration, but it is their differences which are very interesting. While both types of strategies have concerns within risk management, the underlying risk is usually different which creates for the need for special infrastructure roles.
Whether Hedge Fund or Private Equity firm, the senior roles within Accounting such as CFO and controller have become very important to the Institutional Investors. In most cases the individuals being placed into these roles have worked with the Hedge Fund or Private Equity practice at a Big 4 firm. Although not required many of these individuals also have their CPA accreditation.
In many cases these Senior Accounting officials must have the skill set to effectively communicate with the Partners and Limited Partners of a fund. Within the Private Equity world these senior accounting individuals have taken on an Investor Relations role, perhaps not a full time role but definitely a supporting role.
As assets have become harder to gather and Institutional Limited Partners have become increasingly hands on with their investments we have seen an increase in full time Investor Relations roles within PE firms. These professionals are not responsible for gathering the assets, but rather servicing the assets once in the fund and making sure all of the proper paperwork and communications are received by the Limited Partners in a timely manner.
One of the big differences between the strategies is that more and more Private Equity funds, especially operational focused funds, are hiring experienced Executive Recruiters to bring their recruiting knowledge and rolodex base in-house. The main responsibilities of these Executive Recruiters are two fold:
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Assess the Human Capital need of any potential investments: including reviewing and considering the need for new management team members
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To help source, identify, and hire those new team members as required
In the past this job was done through the fund’s network of relationships and although the fund’s network is still a major contributor to this search it is only one of many channels used. Both Partners and Institutional Investors are placing a real value on this role and want to see this role separated into a sole position. To further express the significance of the Human Capital role, many firms are steering these individuals on a partnership route immediately upon joining the firm.
Furthermore technology continues to offer more ways for these firms to run and communicate effectively; many firms are defining technology departments within their firms. In some cases these technology departments hold a second role and that is from a Due Diligence standpoint when investments are being vetted by the Investment team. This skill set/responsibility has been proven in many transactions to be a contributing factor to the success of the transaction.
Overall these infrastructure roles are becoming more in demand everyday, as is demonstrated by their career paths. The roles are now taken very seriously by the funds and hence their Limited Partners. Over the last few years we have seen the sum of these roles grow tremendously, both in regards to their presence in the marketplace and the respect they have garnered in and among funds.
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I couldn’t agree more.
In my job search I’m seeing quite a few “Private Equity Investor Relations Associate/Analyst” listings. Is there a clearly defined career path for these roles? Do the infrastructure roles enjoy the same “carry” opportunities as the investment side?