Investment Banking Business Development Analyst, Sponsor & Upmarket Coverage

Company: The Advisory Investment Bank

Location: Remote or Hybrid

Employment Type: Full-time

Compensation: Base salary range + performance-based commission

The Advisory Investment Bank is a FINRA-licensed M&A firm and America's leading lower middle market investment bank focused exclusively on essential services businesses, from HVAC and plumbing to landscaping, pest control, and fire safety. We run competitive sell-side processes that get founders Wall Street-level outcomes. We closed 81 deals and $630MM+ in transaction volume in 2025 and are on pace to surpass $1 billion in 2026.

As a Business Development Representative on our Sponsor & Upmarket Coverage team, you'll source and book meetings with owners, sponsors, and capital providers connected to essential services businesses generating $5MM+ in EBITDA. You'll build and work targeted lists, run outbound calls and email campaigns, and hand qualified meetings to our deal team.

This is a high-activity, high-visibility role for someone who is confident speaking with MDs, principals, and CEOs, understands how private capital works, and wants a front-row seat to lower-middle-market M&A.

• Search funds nearing exit: Searchers who acquired their businesses 4–7 years ago and are entering the typical hold window, sourced through Searchfunder, Stanford GSB and IESE search fund studies, and investor portfolios such as Pacific Lake, Relay, Anacapa, and Search Fund Partners.
• Established business owners in our core sectors: Build and maintain proprietary target lists of business owners positioned to sell, screened by sector, size, ownership profile, and other deal criteria, and lead direct outreach to originate new sell-side mandates.
• PE portfolio companies in years 4–6 of their hold: Add-on-heavy platforms that are now sellable themselves.
• Independent sponsors: Deal-by-deal holders who need an exit or recapitalization.
• Debt funds and lenders: Private credit, mezzanine, SBIC funds, and BDCs, who often know which borrowers are over-levered, refinancing, or heading toward a sale.
• Family offices: Holding companies with essential services assets.
• Founder-owned businesses with $5MM+ EBITDA: Direct outreach to owners of larger companies.
• Referral partners: QoE firms, M&A attorneys, and wealth managers serving owners with $50MM+ in net worth.
  

• Build and maintain target lists across each of the coverage segments above.
• Make 60–80 dials per day, supported by email and LinkedIn sequences.
• Track fund vintages and hold periods to time outreach effectively.
• Monitor acquisition announcements from 4–7 years ago to identify future sellers.
• Log all activity in HubSpot and deliver weekly pipeline reports.
• Book qualified meetings and prepare a one-page brief on each target before handing off to the deal team.

Responsibilities may evolve as the team and business grow.

• Qualified meetings booked per week 
• Meetings that convert to signed engagements
• Dials, connects, and connect-to-meeting rate
• New sponsor and lender relationships added each quarter
• List quality and CRM hygiene

KPIs may be adjusted over time.

• 1–3 years of outbound sales or SDR experience with a track record of measurable quota attainment.
• Confidence calling senior decision-makers (MDs, principals, CEOs) and holding a credible conversation.
• Working finance literacy: EBITDA, valuation multiples, hold periods, and the difference between a recap and a sale.
• Strong CRM discipline, ideally in HubSpot.
• Solid research skills, with the ability to build lists from PitchBook, Grata, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, press releases, and fund websites.
  

• Background in PE fund operations, private credit, or investor relations.
• Experience at a lower-middle-market investment bank, business brokerage, or deal-sourcing platform (e.g., Grata, SourceScrub, Axial).
• A degree in finance, economics, or a related field.
• Someone with a highly coachable background.
  

• Work at one of the fastest-growing M&A firms in the country, focused on a sector the rest of Wall Street overlooks.
• Build relationships with private equity, private credit, and family office professionals early in your career. xhyhwjd
• Help shape a new upmarket coverage function from the ground up.
• Join a mission-driven team that works for business owners and is committed to getting Main Street a fair deal.
• Benefits: health, dental, vision, 401(k), unlimited PTO