Investment Banking Senior Associate/Vice President | Broker-Dealer & Capital Markets

Business Unit:
Corporate Finance
Industry:
Financial Institutions
Overview
Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) is a leading global investment bank recognized for delivering independent strategic and financial advice to corporations, financial sponsors, and governments. With uniquely deep industry expertise, broad international reach, and a partnership approach rooted in trust, the firm provides innovative, integrated solutions across mergers and acquisitions, capital solutions, financial restructuring, and financial and valuation advisory. Our unmatched transaction volumes provide differentiated, data-driven perspectives that help our clients achieve their most critical goals. To learn more about Houlihan Lokey, please visit HL.com.
Corporate Finance
Houlihan Lokey has extensive expertise in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, activist shareholder and takeover defense, and other related advisory services for a broad range of U.S. and international clients. Our experience in M&A has earned us consistent recognition throughout the industry. In 2025, LSEG ranked our firm the No. 1 investment bank for all global M&A transactions.
Broker-Dealer and Capital Markets Coverage Group

Houlihan Lokey's Financial Services Group is seeking to support its quickly-growing Broker-Dealer and Capital Markets practice with an experienced Investment Banking Associate or Vice President.


The Broker-Dealer and Capital Markets coverage group offers its clients comprehensive investment banking advisory services, with a focus on sell-side M&A services for founder-owned and private equity-backed businesses.

We are one of the world's only investment banks with dedicated coverage for this subsector, which encompasses the following banking and markets business models:

Banking

• Investment Banking Advisory
• M&A advisory
• GP/LP advisory & fund placement
• Private capital advisory
• Asset & project finance advisory
• Full-Service Investment Banks
• ECM & DCM underwriting
• Leveraged & structured finance
• Public finance & muni underwriting
• Transaction Advisory Services
• Platform / asset valuation
• Fairness & transaction opinions
• Restructuring, turnaround & CRO
• Due diligence / M&A support

Markets

• Institutional Sales & Trading
• Research-led sales & trading
• High-touch & block execution
• Algorithmic execution & routing
• Depository / lender servicing & hedging
• Market-Making & Distribution
• Electronic execution & liquidity
• Product marketing & distribution
• Interdealer brokers
• Clearing & Securities Finance
• Correspondent clearing & RIA custody
• Portfolio financing & repo dealers
• Stock lending & locate agents
• Prime brokerage
• Liquidity Aggregators & Access
• ATSs & off-exchange marketplaces
• EMS & broker-neutral routing
• Quote aggregators & pre/post-trade reporting

We now consistently rank as the #1 most active advisor in the sector, with ~25 M&A transactions announced since 2020. We are currently a tight-knit team led by one MD and one SVP, and plan to leverage our newest team member to increase our portfolio of active mandates, and to expand coverage to new adjacencies.

Responsibilities

Experienced Associates or Vice Presidents in the Financial Services Group are expected to "quarterback" execution on M&A transactions, and support senior bankers' efforts to develop relationships and new business opportunities.

If you have not focused closely on the Broker-Dealer and Capital Markets sector in your previous roles, you will need to scale the learning curve on the industry's structure and competitive ecosystem extremely quickly. We rely more heavily on industry-specific metrics, understanding strategic synergies and qualitative positioning than on standard three-statement modeling.

Key contributions will include:

• Managing and advancing every stage of sell-side M&A processes: spanning initial information collection from a new client, all the way through to modeling the proceeds waterfall for closing wires
• Leveraging knowledge of the industry to effectively position clients' equity stories in presentation material and live discussion with prospective investors
• Drafting and overseeing the production of insightful, compelling marketing materials, including CIMs and pitchbooks
• Providing strategic insight into the analytics, models and comps that drive how our clients are valued - key issues in our sector include pro-forma compensation modeling, structuring deferred consideration and pipeline analytics
• Building sufficient credibility and rapport to serve as a daily point of contact with clients (most of whom are owner-operators), counterparties, and professional advisors
• Parsing legal and quasi-legal documents including engagement letters, NDAs, term sheets, purchase agreements and employment agreements
• Broadening our coverage of the sector and assisting in the sourcing of new business, by researching potential clients, preparing reports / coverage intro material, and participating in outreach / vetting calls with prospects
• Helping lead intern, lateral analyst and associate recruiting for the Financial Services Group, and serving as an ad hoc mentor for junior bankers on deal teams and within the broader group

Qualifications

• Experienced Investment Banking Associate or Vice President with direct sell-side M&A execution experience on lean, fast-moving deal teams
• Demonstrated multiple pitch-to-close deal reps across all core M&A workstreams
• Ability to operate with a high degree of independence, without day-to-day task direction or work-product validation
• Strong judgment and ownership mindset, with experience interfacing directly with clients and navigating ambiguity
• Comfortable taking initiative and making decisions in a small-team environment
• Experience in Broker-Dealer or Capital Markets is a plus, but not required
• Open to candidates from other sectors with M&A experience in human-capital-driven business models (e.g., financial or professional services)
• Must have completed at least one full title promotion (Analyst → Associate and/or Associate → VP) at a reputable, U.S.-based, M&A-focused investment bank
• Not intended for recent career-changers or MBA graduates without prior investment banking promotions

Compensation and Benefits
Houlihan Lokey is committed to providing its employees with an exciting career opportunity and competitive total compensation package, which may include other components such as discretionary incentive compensation. The firm's good faith and reasonable estimate of the possible salary range for this role at the time of posting is:
$200,000 - $250,000
Actual salary at the time of hire may vary and may be above or below the range based on various factors, including, but not limited to, the candidate's relevant qualifications, skills, and experience and the location where this position may be filled.
Houlihan Lokey provides a competitive benefits package. Our current benefits offerings can be found here:

2026 Benefits

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
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