Investment Associate

Grade and Salary: £50,400 - £55,000 based on experience

Contract: Full time; Permanent

Location: Hybrid - London, EC1Y and homeworking

About Better Society Capital

Better Society Capital (BSC) is the UK's leading social impact‑led investor. Our mission is to grow the amount of money invested in tackling social issues and inequalities in the UK; we do this by investing ourselves and enabling others to invest for impact too. Since 2011, we have helped the social impact investment market grow twelve‑fold to over £10bn. This capital has financed social purpose organisations tackling everything from homelessness to mental health and fuel poverty. BSC manages £634m of its own investments as well as acting as portfolio manager for the Schroder BSC Social Impact Investment Trust (SBSI) managing its £83m portfolio.

The opportunity:

We have a unique opportunity to accelerate your career in Social Impact Investment through Better Society Capital’s Investment Associate Development Programme. Whilst playing a key role as part of a dynamic and supportive team, you will develop your impact investment management skills, knowledge of social issues and your strategic and design thinking in order to help solve some of the UK’s most entrenched social issues. This is an exciting time to join BSC as we begin delivering our strategy for 2025‑30, building upon what we have learnt since we started our impact investing journey in 2012. Our team comes from a wide range of backgrounds, and are driven by transforming the way mainstream financial markets help deliver deep and lasting impact on people in the UK. If you are someone who shares our passion to improve people’s lives, and who is enthusiastic about designing and developing creative solutions to complex problems, we would love to hear from you.

What you will do:

• Help us make and manage investments through research and analysis, including:

• Undertaking research and detailed analysis to help us understand social issues and market gaps where social impact investment can help support a solution, within our market systems (social property, social lending, impact venture and social outcomes); synthesise and present these; and monitor relevant market data and update the team on relevant developments in the market systems, for example related to the issues, asset classes and policy areas.
• Undertaking supplementary analysis of performance, benchmarks and other research that helps enhance our understanding of performance of the portfolio.

• Undertaking detailed investment analysis, including of the market, the prospective investee, and the financial, social impact and systems change cases;
• Assisting in preparing and presenting investment recommendations to our Investment Committee;
• Project management such as ensuring the consistent application of our investment process and the tracking of new investment opportunities in the pipeline;
• Helping deal leads and legal team negotiate legal documents and close transactions. This will likely involve specialising in one market system for a period of time.

• Supporting and co‑ordinating fund manager reporting that helps BSC to assess the contribution of the investments to our systems change, impact and financial goals across our portfolio and in the relevant market system.
• Undertaking data gathering, aggregation and detailed analysis to evaluate impact and financial performance across portfolios of investments in our market systems, including working with fund managers on individual investments.

• Supporting delivery of key strategic projects in BSC’s market systems, including through project management.
• Supporting our engagement work with investors and with charities and social enterprises to deliver on our market system goals, for example helping to co‑ordinate networks and events in partnership with Investment Networks and Engagement teams.

• Helping to build a world class social impact investment team and approach at Better Society Capital, such as acting as a champion for our investment management approach or being part of a working group to deliver a strategic priority.
• Contributing to organisation‑wide initiatives that help us deliver our mission such as working groups to improve the way we work or how we engage with certain stakeholders.

What you will bring:

Skills, Abilities and Attributes

• Structured thinker - able to deal with complexity and uncertainty.
• Innovative, creative and strategic approach to problem solving.
• Solves problems with multiple stakeholders in an open and empathetic way.
• Collegial team player - Flexible and willing to work with and contribute to a team.
• Self‑starter - able to work under own initiative and source new opportunities.
• Relationship management – excellent interpersonal skills and able to build relationships at all levels.
• A confident and effective communicator when writing and speaking.
• Hunger for continued learning and development, including developing others.

Embody Better Society Capital core values:

• Purposeful - We are passionate and energetic in our work to bring about our long‑term vision of a thriving social investment market that enables positive social impact.
• Pioneering Spirit - We give our team the autonomy and flexibility to be entrepreneurial and creative. We have the courage to push boundaries and a restless drive for change.
• Openness - We listen, learn, experiment and collaborate. And we are adaptive and flexible in responding to what we learn.
• Rigorous - We take a rigorous approach in all we do. We expect the highest standards and continually strive for excellence.
• Respectful - We are genuine in both our approach and aspiration. We value each member of our team and our partners for what they bring.

Other terms

Location: We are a UK‑based business with an office in the Old Street area of London, accessible via a number of public transport links. Colleagues typically spend 40%‑60% of their working hours in the office, and the remainder from home. However, the exact requirements for this role can be discussed at interview. We hope that this working pattern encourages Better Society Capital employees to achieve a healthy balance between work and personal life, as we adapt to the needs of our diverse workforce.

Right to work: Unfortunately we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK at the time of application and for the duration of employment.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Better Society Capital is committed to being a diverse organisation that is truly representative of the communities we serve. We therefore welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds, particularly those under‑represented in the social impact investment sector (e.g. people from LGBTQIA+, racialised, disabled, or under‑served communities). We are an equal opportunities employer with an inclusive environment where all employees can contribute to their fullest potential. We want every colleague to be able to deliver their work with dignity, equality, comfort and independence. Our office is fully accessible with step‑free access and an open‑plan set up. We are open to accommodation requests regarding assistive technologies, accessibility tools, flexible working or any other reasonable adjustments that will make working or visiting here more accessible for you. If you have a disability or other access needs and require any support to assist you through the recruitment process, please get in touch with Krystle De Guzman (Talent Acquisition & Development Officer) on kdeguzman@bettersocietycapital.com.

Qualifications Experience

Experience (essential)

• A passion and demonstrable commitment to improving lives in the UK.
• Experience of undertaking detailed analysis of social issues and/or financial considerations.
• Work experience that faces the financial, social or public sector.
• Proven relationship building and influencing skills.
• Work experience in social impact investment.
• Knowledge of housing or real estate, venture investment, social outcomes contracts or lending.

Don’t meet every requirement? Studies have shown that women and people from racialised communities are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.