Private Equity Associate

Private Equity Associate - Services | Full-time | South Florida | 2-3 Years of Experience

About the Company

Our client is an entrepreneurial independent sponsor investing in lower middle market private companies, with a focus on complex services businesses across business services, financial services, and healthcare services. The firm's principals have collectively invested over $1 billion across dozens of private transactions. Rather than operating from a committed fund, the firm partners deal-by-deal with a deep network of capital partners. That gives it the flexibility to pursue control buyouts, minority investments, recapitalizations, management-led buyouts, and growth equity. The firm targets cash-flow-positive businesses with strong margins, proprietary elements, and the ability to use technology to drive growth and efficiency.

The firm is opening a new in-person office in South Florida and is investing heavily in proprietary technology to scale its deal sourcing.

About the Role

As an Associate, you'll be one of a small number of investment professionals working directly with the firm's partners across the full deal lifecycle. The work runs from screening and pricing new opportunities through diligence, execution, and portfolio support. The firm reviews thousands of opportunities each year and is building a proprietary private equity operating system designed to roughly double its annual deal flow. That means there is more live work than the current team can cover.

This role is built for someone who already knows how to execute. The ideal candidate is a banker or private equity associate who can build an accurate model without supervision, takes pride in error-free work, and is energized by the ownership that comes with a lean, entrepreneurial deal team.

Key Responsibilities

Deal Execution

• Screen and evaluate new opportunities from a large, technology-enabled pipeline, helping prioritize which deals merit serious review.
• Build and maintain financial models, valuation analyses, and returns scenarios to price opportunities and support LOIs.
• Lead diligence workstreams, coordinate with advisors, and synthesize findings into clear recommendations for the partners.
• Prepare investment memos and materials for the firm's investor network as capital is raised for each transaction.

Portfolio & Firm Support

• Support the firm's active platform investments with monitoring, add-on acquisition analysis, and value creation work.
• Help shape the firm's new deal-sourcing technology and internal processes as the firm scales.
• Build relationships with intermediaries, management teams, and co-investors alongside the partners.

Professional Experience & Qualifications

• 2-3 years of investment banking experience at a reputable bulge bracket, middle market, or elite boutique bank; prior private equity experience is a plus.
• Strong financial modeling skills. You can independently build three-statement and LBO models from scratch and stand behind every number in them.
• Exceptional attention to detail. The firm's work product goes straight to partners, investors, and counterparties, so accuracy is non-negotiable.
• Fluency in standard banking and private equity workflows: reading and synthesizing CIMs and public information, building comps, and preparing investment materials.
• Entrepreneurial mindset and genuine interest in the independent sponsor model, including the deal-by-deal capital raising process.
• Located in, or committed to relocating to, South Florida, with the ability to work on-site (commutable from Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale).

Find your fit - view all open positions at Soul Equity Solutions.

About Soul Equity Solutions
Soul Equity is a retained executive search firm dedicated exclusively to guiding middle market private equity firms and their portfolio companies to best-in-class talent. Our boutique recruiting experience is highly bespoke and curated to our clients' needs. This firm is an equal opportunity employer and considers all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.