Associate, Fund Finance

Purpose of Position

Pantheon Ventures (“Pantheon”), a $90B multi-strategy investment firm, is seeking an Associate, Fund Finance, for its Private Equity strategy.  The candidate will have meaningful participation across a wide range of job functions supporting the investment platform. The candidate should appreciate the entrepreneurial nature of the position and the opportunity to play a key role in the ongoing launching of new funds and products within a well-established, global investment firm. The candidate should be familiar with Private Equity Funds fund accounting, valuation, risk management, the role of third-party fund service providers and general finance and reporting oversight functions. The individual will join the Fund Finance team based in London.

The Associate, Fund Finance, working alongside the Senior Associate, Fund Finance, and the Pantheon Private Equity teams, will play a central role in the Private Equity Fund Finance team. This will include key fund finance activities such as fund administrator accounting oversight, fund audit, reporting, valuation procedures, and other operational processes that may be required.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with the Private Equity teams to provide financial and operational support to ensure that business objectives are met.
• Build, develop and maintain and develop good working relationships between the team and its internal/external clients and suppliers.
• Provide financial and operational support for the set-up of new structures or funds including working with the structuring team, internal counsel, external advisors, and Private Equity team to ensure that operating frameworks are set up appropriately.
• Fund accounting review for Private Equity Funds, ensuring that financial deliverables are of high quality and financial statements are accurate and complete.
• Review and approval of fund expenses – ensuring these are reasonable and understood.
• Review and approval of management/ performance fees, as required.
• Assist in the delivery for the funds’ reporting and any regulatory reporting that may be required.
• Oversight of third-party fund administration providers, depositaries, and other service providers in conjunction with the Third-Party Administration Management team. 
• Assist with external audits for Private Equity funds, which will include liaising with the funds’ external auditors and ensuring that audit queries are addressed and completed in line with deadlines.
• Review and approval of capital events such as calls, distributions and equalisations, as required.
• Ensure applicable control and risk frameworks and policies are adhered to and that existing procedures are refined to reduce operational risk.
• Complete other ad-hoc projects and tasks from time to time.
• Support the Private Equity and Investor Relations teams, as required.
• Provide transaction support for acquisitions and creation of new entities to ensure transaction closings are achieved as planned.
• Attending the relevant investment team meetings to understand the current deal pipeline, future transactions, new funds and anticipating and coordinating any operational requirements.
• Assist with any fund sales, extensions and, where necessary, liquidations related to Private Equity Funds.

Knowledge & Experience Required 

Technical 

• Recognised accounting qualification, with strong accounting skills
• Broad knowledge of private markets, preferably funds of funds or Private Equity, and the processes involved in servicing these funds 
• Customer focused, with a background in fund accounting/ operations and passion for quality and efficiency
• Experience in designing, monitoring and understanding the internal controls frameworks in place at each stage of a fund/product life cycle 
• The ability to lay out processes, controls and procedures in simple, clear formats including data flows, controls matrices, etc. 
• Ability to prioritise and manage own workload
• Experience in process change and improvement projects 
• Excellent organisation and planning skills 
• Proficient Excel skills. 

Individual 

• Comfortable acting proactively and always with integrity 
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal and the ability to develop meaningful partnerships with both internal and external teams  
• Professional scepticism: an ability to ensure that things are not taken at face value and always asking “does this make sense?” 
• Problem solver: an ability to, and an interest in searching for solutions to problems and establishing the root causes of any issues that arise.