Investment Associate

Who We Are Emergence is a thematic holding company backed by the Pritzker Organization focused exclusively on acquiring and scaling category-defining software businesses. We organize investments into focused portfolios with deep domain expertise and proven operational playbooks. We combine permanent capital with a growth equity mindset — partnering closely with leadership teams to drive sustainable ARR growth, profitability improvements, and industry-leading customer outcomes. The Mission Own the investment execution process end to end - from first look through close - on majority buyout transactions in enterprise software. What You'll Do Lead financial and operational due diligence on acquisition targets, owning the workstream from kickoff to IC. Build comprehensive financial models covering unit economics, SaaS KPIs, valuation, and operating leverage. Run quality of earnings analyses and own the net working capital bridge and indebtedness definitions. Write and present Investment Committee memos with clear diligence findings and a defensible point of view. Assess and synthesize deal terms and majority buyout structures, identifying risks in negotiated positions. Collaborate with legal, finance, and operations teams to drive clean deal execution and post-close integration planning. Develop retention analyses and customer cohort work to evaluate pipeline health of acquisition targets. What We're Looking For Must-haves 3 to 5 years of experience in private equity, growth equity, or investment banking with direct deal execution exposure. Has run a full diligence process and contributed directly to a closed transaction. Deep understanding of enterprise software and SaaS business models - can assess a business independently. Strong financial modelling skills across LBO, DCF, and SaaS-specific KPI frameworks. Can write a clear, concise IC memo that stands on its own without being walked through. Nice-to-haves Experience with majority buyout structuring and complex transaction terms. Prior exposure to post-acquisition integration planning. Software-focused PE or growth equity background. Who you are You have run a data room without being told what to look for. You have pushed back on a deal and explained why with numbers. You write things once and they are right. You pull problems toward yourself instead of waiting for someone to assign them. You have changed your view on a business because the data said something different and you said so out loud. What We Offer Direct ownership of deal execution with exposure to the full lifecycle from sourcing through close and post-acquisition integration. Competitive base with bonus and meaningful carry participation. #J-18808-Ljbffr