Associate & Senior Associate, Mergers & Acquisitions

Job description

**Associate / Senior Associate, M&A, Emergence Software Technologies | Hybrid, Latin America | Full-Time** **Who We Are** Emergence Software Technologies is a software-focused private equity firm investing in operationally critical software businesses in the lower middle market. We are backed by TPO, the private investment firm chaired by Jason Pritzker. Our portfolio spans auto tech, healthcare software, cloud infrastructure, and procurement, and we operate on a long-hold ownership model built for sustained value creation. **The Mission** Own M&A workstreams end-to-end and carry responsibility for deal outcomes across qualification, underwriting, IC, close, and post-close value creation. **What You'll Do** - Qualify inbound and intermediary-led opportunities against Emergence's thesis on business model fit, vertical alignment, and financial profile. - Own the financial model end-to-end including LBO structuring, operating projections, scenario analysis, returns attribution, and net working capital normalization. - Lead commercial, financial, and operational diligence workstreams and coordinate third-party advisors across QoE, legal, technology, and market. - Develop investment theses on market sizing, competitive positioning, product stickiness, and management quality, and stress-test assumptions. - Prepare and present IC materials including investment memos, deal summaries, and risk-return analyses. - Manage deal execution from LOI through close, negotiate key terms, and quarterback legal and third-party workstreams to signing. - Support portfolio companies post-close on performance monitoring, value creation initiatives, and add-on acquisitions. - Occasionally support portfolio company finance functions on budgeting, cash flow forecasting, and board-level reporting. **What We're Looking For** Must-haves - 2 to 5 years of experience in investment banking, private equity, private markets, growth equity, or M&A advisory, including boutique advisory firms supporting PE-backed transactions with software or technology coverage preferred. - Strong LBO modeling and financial analysis skills with comfort across earn-outs, DDTLs, seller notes, and net working capital analysis. - Proven ability to operate on lean teams and manage multiple concurrent processes, ideally across simultaneous client engagements with attention to detail under time pressure. - Strong written and verbal communication, with the ability to draft IC memos and present to senior stakeholders. - Bachelor's degree in finance, economics, or a related analytical discipline. Nice-to-haves - Experience evaluating vertical SaaS or operational software businesses and fluency in ARR, NRR, CAC/LTV, and churn. - Lower middle market transaction experience on leaner deal teams. - Exposure to Office of the CFO workstreams including financial planning, operational reporting, or interim finance support at PE-backed companies. - CFA candidate or charterholder. - Demonstrated experience coordinating buy-side diligence across QoE vendors, outside counsel, and technical advisors across multiple concurrent workstreams. **Who You Are** You qualify deals against a thesis before committing team resources, not after. You build models that hold up under stress-testing and flag the assumptions most likely to break. You engage directly with founders and management teams and read them well. You hold a point of view in IC and update it when the data changes. You take ownership of workstreams end-to-end without waiting for handoffs. You think about what happens after close, not just what gets you to signing. You are genuinely curious about how operationally critical software builds and sustains moats. **What We Offer** - Performance-based bonus tied to deal outcomes and meaningful carry participation - Hybrid role based in Latin America - Full investment lifecycle ownership from day one with a clear pathway to Principal and Partner track