Senior Associate Investment Banking in London

Company Description

The most consequential investment decisions of the next decade sit at the intersection of government intent and strategic capital. SG& Capital Partners was built to operate in this environment. We are a founder-led merchant bank advising CEOs, boards, and investors on cross-border transactions where policy is integral to the deal. We originate, advise, and selectively co-invest across our primary sectors: defence and dual-use technology, sovereign infrastructure and energy transition, and strategic AI and deep technology. These are some of the arenas where geopolitical forces most directly shape capital flows, deal viability, and transaction outcomes.

We operate cross-border — UK, US, GCC, and Europe — and we focus specifically on transactions where the intersection of government intent, regulatory dynamics, and private capital create unique opportunity. The firm is headquartered in London and operates under the regulatory framework of the UK Financial Conduct Authority through its appointed representative structure. Applicants will join a growing platform at the nexus of finance, policy, and global strategy.

Our intelligence platform, the Geopolitics of Business, reflects how we think about the world. Guests have included a former President of the European Commission, the Chair of the NATO Innovation Fund, and senior figures across defence, sovereign capital, and strategic technology. It is an example of the intellectual seriousness we bring to the intersection of geopolitics and capital. The founding team brings together Cabinet-level government experience and deep cross-border transaction capability. There are no layers between you and the principals.

Role Description

This is a full-time, on-site Vice President Investment Banking role based in the London Area, United Kingdom. You will be in front of clients from the outset — carrying relationships, leading analytical work, and contributing to origination as a credible member of a small and growing senior team. There is no structured waiting period before responsibility. If you are ready to own work, you will own it immediately.

This role requires genuine intellectual agility — the ability to move fluidly between geopolitical analysis, financial structuring, and client dialogue, and to learn fast in unfamiliar territory.

Client Coverage

• Represent the firm in client meetings, working sessions, and counterparty engagements — carrying the relationship and advancing the process with the authority and judgement that senior clients require.
• Manage active client relationships across the lifecycle of a mandate: from initial scoping through to close, maintaining momentum and ensuring every interaction reflects the firm’s standards.
• Support the CEO in BD contexts — preparing for and following up network engagements, and converting warm relationships into scoped mandates.

Origination

• Identify transaction opportunities through market monitoring, policy analysis, and commercial pattern recognition — spotting situations where capital, government intent, and strategic need are converging before they become visible processes.
• Develop and present well-reasoned transaction theses — scoping the opportunity, the likely structure, the relevant counterparties, and the political dynamics — to a standard that can be taken directly into a client conversation.
• Support the conversion of the firm’s network relationships into scoped mandates: preparing the commercial framing, anticipating client questions, and ensuring every engagement is set up to move forward.

Execution

• Lead the analytical and structuring work on live mandates: financial modelling, valuation, capital stack analysis, cap table curation, counterparty selection, and process management across capital raises, minority investments, M&A, strategic partnerships.
• Manage transaction processes end-to-end, coordinating legal, technical, and government advisers across multiple jurisdictions.
• Produce all client-facing output to the standard that boardrooms and investment committees require: transaction documentation, strategic briefings, investor materials, and viability frameworks.

What we are looking for?

• 4–6 years in investment banking, development finance, or transaction-focused strategic advisory — with evidence of real mandate responsibility and genuine client exposure, not just process support.
• Financial fluency: you can own a model, structure a capital stack, and present both to a CFO or investment committee without a layer above you.
• Demonstrated ability to carry a client meeting independently — you have been the person in the room, held it, and moved things forward.
• Commercial judgement: the ability to read a situation quickly, identify where value lies, and frame an engagement in terms that resonate with founders, CFOs, and boards.
• Intellectual agility: the capacity to absorb unfamiliar territory fast, connect analysis across disciplines — financial, political, strategic — and adapt your approach as situations evolve.
• Cross-border fluency: comfort operating across jurisdictions where regulatory, political, and cultural dynamics all affect transaction outcomes.
• Strong written communication: complex, multi-dimensional situations synthesised into clear arguments for senior audiences.
• Genuine interest in the geopolitical forces shaping capital and commerce.
• Bachelor’s degree in finance, economics, business, or a related field; advanced degree or professional qualification (e.g., CFA, MBA) is advantageous.
• High level of integrity, sound judgment, and comfort working on-site in a dynamic, fast-paced setting in London.