Investing & Portfolio Management - Private

The Value Accelerator (“VA”) is a critical component of the Asset Management Division investing strategy at Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs has a leading private equity franchise as part of its Alternatives platform which is focused on acquiring and growing middle-market companies across diverse sectors. In close partnership with the corporate, growth, infrastructure and credit investment teams, the VA contributes to the success of our portfolio companies throughout the investment lifecycle from pre-investment diligence, to scaling growth, to optimizing exit strategies.

The VA team works with experienced senior executives, best-in-class professional services providers, and innovative technology providers to deliver programs and services that add value to our portfolio companies in key areas including Finance & Strategy, Go-to-Market (GTM), Operational Excellence, Talent & Organizational Design, Sustainability Optimization and Technology, Data & AI. Our success is built on a foundation of rigorous financial discipline, strategic insight, and a commitment to fostering strong leadership within our portfolio companies.

The Sr. Associate within the Value Accelerator’s GTM Center of Excellence (CoE) will collaborate with GS portfolio company management teams to design and implement GTM value creation initiatives. These efforts will align to organic growth investment theses underwritten by our Investment Committee. The ideal candidate has 7-10 years of experience in managing and executing GTM transformative efforts as a full-time member of a Private Equity backed portfolio company. 1-3 years of previous experience (i.e., prior to taking on a portfolio company role) at a top management consulting firm is preferred. This role is based in our London office with a reporting line to our New York team; business travels (primarily Europe and New York) will be required.

Responsibilities

• Identify opportunities to directly support Sales, Marketing, Pricing, and Revenue Operations value creation efforts at high priority portfolio companies within the European Private Equity portfolio.
• Serve as a thought partner to Chief Revenue Officers (CRO) on how to accelerate initiative execution, leveraging operational experience and providing analytical and conceptual problem-solving support.
• Analyse key GTM operating and performance metrics across European fund to uncover thematic areas of under- or over-performance at portfolio companies.
• Provide regular updates to CoE GTM and Technology Leads, as well as global operating and investing leadership, on impact capture from current execution efforts or potential value creation opportunities for companies under diligence.
• Support the implementation of new technologies and digital tools to improve operational efficiency of portfolio companies.
• Manage vendor partnerships and relationships across the portfolio, particularly related to key GTM capability areas for Value Accelerator.
• Create “off-the-shelf” playbooks on thematic GTM topics for CROs to use to sustain value creation efforts.
• Stay up to date with emerging GTM digital trends and technologies relevant to our portfolio companies.

Qualifications

• 7-10 years of experience in advising and executing value creation initiatives as a full-time member of a Private Equity backed portfolio company.
• 1-3 years of previous experience (i.e., prior to taking on a portfolio company role) at a top management consulting firm preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to drive successful execution against go-to-market initiatives, delivering substantive EBITDA and Revenue impact.
• Expert-level understanding of commercial topics, including Sales, Marketing, Pricing, and Revenue Operations.
• Distinctive analytical and conceptual problem-solving abilities with senior, “client-equivalent” stakeholders.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.
• Experience and enthusiasm for developing and maintaining strong business partnerships with senior investors, operators, advisors, portfolio company leadership, and strategic vendors.
• Results-oriented individual comfortable with developing appropriate metrics and KPIs to measure business outcomes.
• Proven effectiveness and comfort with working independently in London with a U.S. based management team.
• Open, flexible, positive and proactive attitude. Detail orientation and high motivation to effectively contribute to the team’s success.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills. European language skills are a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, or a related field (MBA preferred).