Fund Finance Senior Associate - Debt

Purpose of Position

Pantheon Ventures (“Pantheon”), a $70B multi-strategy investment firm, is seeking a Private Debt finance controller. The candidate will have meaningful participation across a wide range of job functions supporting the private debt investment platform. The candidate should appreciate the opportunity to play a key role in developing a relatively new strategy within a well-established, global investment firm.

The Product Control/ Fund Finance team was established in 2020 to act as a key interface between the Global Operations team and the rest of the Pantheon business.

The Product Control/ Fund Finance team is involved at all stages of the product/strategy life cycle to ensure that Pantheon delivers best practice operational service to those strategies. The ideal candidate would have experience in fund management, accounting, valuation, general finance and reporting oversight functions. The individual will join the Pantheon Product team based in New York.

Reporting to:  Senior Product Controller

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary interface between the Operations teams and the rest of the Pantheon Business.
• Build, develop and maintain good working relationships with the investment team and internal/external clients and suppliers.
• Apply quality oversight and controls on risk areas of the operational and financial process workflow from the investor/fund set up to the client reporting delivery.
• Ensure compliance with the internal Product Control policies through the product/client lifecycle.
• Oversee client deliverables, quarterly valuations including review and sign off direct lending valuations and financial statements of non-standard structures.
• Have responsibility from a Fund Finance perspective for new complex products, such as CLO type structures,

During the product design/concept stage of the product/client lifecycle support the Senior Product Controller to act as the key point of contact for the below workstreams:

• Acting as the key interface with the relevant investment teams to ensure that the investment opportunity is understood, and that the portfolio can be adequately monitored, reported on, and serviced
• Provide operational support for the set-up of new structures including working with our structuring team, internal counsel, external advisors, and Fund Managers to ensure that operating frameworks are set up appropriately and service providers are appropriately selected and appointed
• Working with Investor Relations to ensure that operational capabilities to service underlying clients are clearly defined, that ad hoc or “out of process” requirements are communicated and costed adequately and responding to client requests or other items that may arise as part of any client specific negotiations during the conceptual stage of the fund raise.
• Highlighting and communicating any complexities to the Global Operations Team and working with them to ensure adequate and sustainable service delivery.

During the fundraising and onboarding phase:

• Co-ordinate with internal operational teams and external fund administrators to onboard new products and clients ensuring any new requirements or complexities are identified and planned for from an internal control perspective.
• Review fund legal documentation (LPAs, offering memorandums, Administrator contracts) and provide input from an operational perspective identifying new requirements and any non-standard aspects that require additional operational oversight.
• Provide transaction support for acquisitions with potential tasks including assisting with the structuring advice, set-up of investment structures in accordance with tax advice, corporate finance activities, creation of new entities and close liaison with investment team to ensure transaction closing is achieved as planned.

During the investment and maturity phase:

• Act as the key central contact for any operational issues identified in relation to your specific product throughout the product lifecycle co-ordinating with the various Operations and broader Pantheon teams to ensure issues are correctly addressed and resolved by the appropriate team.
• Gain an understanding of the current deal pipeline, future potential transactions and any operational considerations.
• Provide an independent review and oversight of complex areas in respect of your product
• Working with Valuation Analytics to understand valuation specific considerations for the product, and to ensure that there is adequate and independent oversight to the valuations process, including considering any impacts for Valuation Committee to consider and other committees as may be necessary or relevant.
• Contributing to the framework for fund accounting reviews, external audits and the oversight of third-party administration

There will be opportunities to gain exposure to the wider product/client platform through team wide initiatives and to build bench strength in the team.

Knowledge and Experience Required

Technical

• Professional qualification, preferably a qualified accountant
• Strong CLO or securitisation knowledge
• Prior experience in an operations or fund finance role for a private debt investment management business an advantage
• Experience in an operations environment in private equity an advantage
• Experience of change management programs is desirable, but not a prerequisite
• 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 & procedures in simple, clear formats including data flows, controls matrices, etc.
• Ability to prioritise and manage own workload
• Experience in initiating and steering process change and improvement projects
• Excellent organisation and planning skills
• Proficient Excel skills
• Strong attention to detail

Individual

• Comfortable acting proactively and always with integrity
• Relationship building and an ability to influence others, both verbally and in writing
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal and the ability to develop meaningful partnerships with both internal and external teams
• Professional scepticism: an ability to view things holistically 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

This job description is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities, or requirements. You may be required to perform other job-related duties as reasonably requested by your manager.

Pantheon is an Equal Opportunities employer.