Overview
Associates assist on engagements with our clients across asset classes, including private equity, private credit, and growth equity. This often takes the form of ESG due diligence reviews for prospective acquisitions. Associates think creatively about material ESG issues, systematically examine business practices, effectively communicate findings to the team, and develop strong, business-cased recommendations for tangible improvement and quantifiable value creation or protection during the hold period. In many aspects of their jobs, Associates are relied upon to function in an unstructured work environment and take ownership over their work from an early stage in their careers.
Responsibilities
- Due Diligence Engagements: Evaluate a company's exposure to material ESG risks and its capacity to mitigate those risks for a client considering acquisition. Assisting with ESG due diligence reviews is the core responsibility (at least 80% of total time) of all Associates on the Responsible Finance team within SLR.
- Gain a rapid and deep understanding of a company's core operations through a review of publicly-available information and extensive primary-source document review (policies, contracts, litigation, etc.).
- Identify all potentially material ESG issues and develop tailored questions to be asked of key stakeholders to further assess the company's risk exposure, management capacity to mitigate risk, and value creation opportunities.
- Listen in on live calls (led by more-senior team members) with the management team at the company and take notes on their responses about the company's ESG risk exposure, risk mitigation practices, and value-creation opportunities.
- Synthesize information from various sources into a cohesive narrative outlining the company's current state and recommendations for tangible ESG improvements; assist in the drafting and editing of ESG due diligence deliverables.
- Monitoring Engagements: Assist in regularly checking in with portfolio companies to understand progress on key initiatives and identify changes in risks or opportunities, helping to update recommendations based on the latest insights and industry practices.
- Collect and organize ESG data from portfolio companies to support ongoing monitoring and reporting efforts.
- Review updated ESG-related documents and information from portfolio companies to identify key changes or developments.
- Assist in preparing refreshed annual ESG reports by compiling data and summarizing progress under the guidance of senior team members.
- Fund Advisory: Assist in the development of private equity clients' ESG strategies, supporting senior members on the Responsible Finance team.
- Help prepare materials for ESG projects, like surveys, reports, and training sessions, by gathering information and organizing content.
- Support daily client communications by assisting with requests and helping with urgent tasks when needed.
Qualifications
- Skills: Project management/organization, communication, presentation, teamwork, and attention to detail will be key to success in this role. Strong writing, PowerPoint, research, organization, qualitative reasoning, financial modeling, and business acumen are preferred. Language fluency in French, German, or Spanish is a plus.
- Experience: Top candidates will have 1-2 years of experience in management consulting or a similar field. Previous experience working with private equity or in ESG/Sustainability is preferred but not required.
- Education: Candidates who have demonstrated a track record of success in rigorous academic environment.
- Other Traits: In addition to being highly motivated, candidates must be passionate about solving business problems. Candidates must be self-starters, critical thinkers, highly organized, able to work independently, able to multitask, and enjoy working in an informal work environment.
