Senior Manager – Investments & M&A SpotTalent

The Corporate Institute; India; On-site; INR 2,400,000 - 3,600,000; Full time

Job summary

The Corporate Institute in India seeks a Senior Manager Investments & M&A to identify, evaluate and execute family-office investment opportunities. You will deploy capital intelligently, balancing strategic growth with risk management, and work closely with senior leadership to drive value across direct investments, acquisitions and strategic initiatives.

Responsibilities include building an investment pipeline, developing rigorous theses, leading due diligence and financial modelling, and

Qualifications

• Strong capability in financial modelling and valuation.
• Experience in evaluating investments, risk and returns.

Responsibilities

• Build a continuous pipeline of investment opportunities and assess potential acquisitions.
• Develop and articulate an investment thesis for each opportunity.
• Lead and coordinate commercial, financial and legal due diligence across deals.
• Value opportunities using financial and scenario analyses and robust modelling.
• Prepare Investment Committee materials and board recommendations.

Skills

Financial analysis

Financial modelling

Valuation

DCF

Due diligence

Education

Chartered Accountant (CA)

MBA Finance

CFA

Tools

Excel

Financial databases

Job description

Senior Manager Investments & M&A:

Family Office | Direct Investments, Acquisitions & Strategic Opportunities:

The Senior Manager Investments & M&A will play a central role in identifying, evaluating and executing investment opportunities for the Family Office.

This is not a traditional finance or reporting role. The mandate is to deploy capital intelligently by finding attractive businesses, developing an independent investment view, assessing downside risk, valuing opportunities, supporting negotiations and helping ensure that investments ultimately create value.

The individual will work closely with the Principal / CEO and senior leadership, acting as a key analytical and commercial partner on:

• Direct investments
• Majority and minority acquisitions
• Strategic investments
• Platform and add-on acquisitions
• Partnerships and joint ventures
• New-sector and market-entry opportunities
• Portfolio-company growth initiatives

The role requires someone who can move comfortably between financial analysis, industry research, promoter conversations, valuation, diligence, negotiation and investment judgment.

Approximately 6070% of the role will involve investment and M&A activities, with the balance focused on portfolio strategy, new growth opportunities, capital allocation and other high-priority initiatives of the Family Office.

1. Build the Investment Pipeline:

Develop a continuous pipeline of businesses and investment opportunities rather than relying only on opportunities brought by intermediaries.

You will:

• Map sectors, value chains and emerging investment themes
• Identify companies that could become attractive acquisition or investment candidates
• Develop longlists and prioritized target lists
• Identify platform businesses as well as potential bolt-on acquisitions
• Track consolidation opportunities within fragmented industries
• Explore forward and backward integration opportunities
• Identify businesses providing access to new products, customers, capabilities or geographies
• Maintain an active investment opportunity funnel from origination through decision

Origination channels may include:

• Founders and promoters
• Investment bankers
• Industry participants
• Advisors
• Professional networks
• Sector research
• Proprietary outreach

A key objective will be increasing the proportion of opportunities that are proactively identified rather than passively received.

2. Develop the Investment Thesis:

For every serious opportunity, move beyond the numbers and answer: Why should the Family Office own this business?

Evaluate:

Business Quality:

• Revenue model
• Customer economics
• Competitive positioning
• Pricing power
• Margin structure
• Customer concentration
• Recurring versus transactional revenue
• Scalability
• Dependence on key customers, suppliers or individuals

Industry Attractiveness:

• Market size and growth
• Industry structure
• Fragmentation versus consolidation
• Entry barriers
• Competitive intensity
• Regulatory exposure
• Technology disruption
• Cyclicality
• Long-term demand drivers

Management & Promoter Quality:

• Track record
• Capital allocation discipline
• Governance standards
• Management depth
• Promoter dependence
• Succession risk
• Alignment with incoming investors

Convert the analysis into a clear investment thesis covering: Why invest Why now Why this company How value will be created What could go wrong.

3. Decode Financial Performance:

Develop an independent view of the company’s real economic performance rather than accepting reported numbers at face value.

Analyse:

• Revenue quality and sustainability
• Gross and EBITDA margin trends
• Balance-sheet strength
• Debt obligations
• Working-capital requirements
• Cash conversion
• Capital expenditure requirements
• Return on capital
• Contingent liabilities
• Related-party transactions
• Off-balance-sheet risks
• Tax and compliance exposures

Particular emphasis will be placed on reconciling: Reported EBITDA Normalised EBITDA Cash EBITDA Free Cash Flow.

Identify unusual accounting treatments, one-offs, aggressive assumptions and earnings that may not be repeatable under new ownership.

4. Value the Opportunity:

Build and challenge financial and valuation models to determine what the business is economically worth.

Expected capabilities include:

• DCF valuation
• Trading comparables
• Precedent transaction analysis
• Scenario and sensitivity analysis
• Acquisition models
• Return modelling
• Debt and financing scenarios
• IRR / MOIC analysis where relevant

For each opportunity, establish:

• Base-case valuation
• Upside valuation
• Downside case
• Appropriate valuation range
• Target transaction price
• Walk-away price
• Expected investment returns

The objective is not simply to calculate valuation but to understand which assumptions actually drive the investment outcome.

5. Lead Commercial & Investment Due Diligence:

Take ownership of the investment question behind diligence: What must be true for this investment to work, and what evidence would prove us wrong?

Coordinate and evaluate:

• Commercial diligence
• Financial diligence
• Legal diligence
• Tax diligence
• Operational diligence
• Management assessment
• Customer and supplier references where required

Work with:

• Investment bankers
• Legal advisors
• Accounting firms
• Consultants
• Tax specialists
• Industry experts
• Internal business leaders

Maintain a structured diligence tracker separating: Deal breakers Material risks Negotiable issues Post-investment actions.

Ensure that diligence findings meaningfully influence valuation, deal structure and investment decisions.

6. Assess Strategic Fit & Value-Creation Potential:

For strategic acquisitions and portfolio investments, evaluate how ownership can create value beyond simply acquiring earnings.

Identify potential:

Revenue Synergies:

• Cross-selling
• New customers
• Geographic expansion
• Product expansion
• Distribution leverage
• Channel access

Cost & Operating Synergies:

• Procurement
• Manufacturing
• Supply chain
• Shared infrastructure
• Technology
• Corporate overheads

Strategic Advantages:

• Technology acquisition
• Intellectual property
• Manufacturing capability
• Customer access
• Talent
• Distribution
• Market position

Evaluate not only potential upside but also the probability and complexity of actually capturing it.

7. Support Deal Structuring & Negotiations:

Work alongside the Principal / CEO, promoters, bankers and advisors in structuring transactions.

Evaluate alternatives involving:

• Full acquisition
• Majority investment
• Minority investment
• Primary versus secondary capital
• Earn-outs
• Deferred consideration
• Seller financing
• Debt
• Equity
• Performance-linked structures
• Joint ventures

Use valuation, diligence findings and downside scenarios to support commercial negotiations.

The successful candidate should understand that a good business can still become a poor investment at the wrong price or under the wrong transaction structure.

8. Prepare Investment Committee / Board Recommendations:

Convert complex information into concise decision material for senior stakeholders.

Prepare:

• Initial Opportunity Note: Should we spend further time on this opportunity?
• Investment Evaluation: Is the business attractive and strategically relevant?
• Investment Memorandum: Should we invest, at what valuation, and under what conditions?
• Final Transaction Recommendation: What are the economics, risks, protections and expected returns?

Investment recommendations should clearly articulate:

• Investment thesis
• Key assumptions
• Valuation
• Expected returns
• Downside case
• Principal risks
• Diligence findings
• Deal structure
• Value-creation opportunities
• Reasons not to invest

The ability to make a clear Go / No-Go / Continue Diligence recommendation will be critical.

9. Portfolio Value Creation & Post-Investment Monitoring:

Investment responsibility does not end when the transaction closes.

For relevant portfolio businesses, support development of:

• 100-day plans
• Integration roadmaps
• Synergy plans
• Growth initiatives
• Capital allocation priorities
• Operating performance dashboards

Track:

• Performance versus investment case
• Revenue and EBITDA development
• Cash generation
• Return on capital
• Synergy realization
• Strategic milestones
• Emerging risks

Identify early when the original investment thesis is not playing out as expected.

10. Strategic & Capital Allocation Initiatives:

Support the Family Office in evaluating broader questions around where capital should be deployed.

Projects may include:

• New-sector evaluation
• White-space analysis
• Industry landscaping
• Portfolio reviews
• Diversification opportunities
• Strategic partnerships
• New business models
• Competitive intelligence
• Market-entry opportunities
• Portfolio-company expansion opportunities

Compare competing uses of capital and help leadership decide: Where can the Family Office generate the most attractive risk-adjusted returns?

Key Outputs:

The Senior Manager will be expected to develop and maintain:

• Investment opportunity pipeline
• Sector and market maps
• Target-company longlists and shortlists
• Preliminary investment notes
• Detailed investment memoranda
• Financial models
• Valuation models
• Return scenarios
• Due-diligence trackers
• Risk assessments
• Deal-comparison frameworks
• Synergy assessments
• Transaction recommendations
• Portfolio-performance reviews
• 100-day / integration plans
• Investment Committee / Board presentations
• Capital-allocation recommendations

What We Are Looking For:

Investment & Financial Capability:

• You should be highly comfortable analysing businesses through their financial statements and underlying economics.
• Strong capability expected in:
• Financial statement analysis
• Financial modelling
• Valuation
• DCF
• Comparable-company analysis
• Transaction analysis
• Working-capital analysis
• Cash-flow assessment
• Return modelling
• Due diligence

Commercial Judgment:

• Financial modelling alone will not be sufficient. You should be able to evaluate:
• Whether an industry is structurally attractive
• Why customers buy from a company
• Whether margins are defensible
• Where bargaining power sits in the value chain
• Whether growth is sustainable
• Whether management is credible
• Whether an acquisition genuinely creates strategic advantage
• Whether expected synergies are realistic
• Whether a seemingly attractive investment contains hidden downside

Investment Mindset:

We are looking for someone who naturally asks: What is the downside? What assumptions are embedded in the valuation? What would have to go wrong for us to lose capital? What evidence contradicts the investment thesis? What is already reflected in the price? Why is this opportunity available to us? What is our edge as an owner?

The ability to prevent a poor investment can be as valuable as identifying a successful one.

Stakeholder Profile:

• Promoters and founders
• CEOs and senior management teams
• Investment bankers
• Private equity professionals
• Consultants
• Lawyers
• Auditors
• Tax advisors
• Industry experts
• Board members

Qualifications:

Preferred educational backgrounds include:

• Chartered Accountant (CA)
• MBA Finance / Strategy
• CFA
• Equivalent backgrounds with strong demonstrated transaction and investment capability may also be considered.

Experience:

612 years of relevant professional experience, ideally within one or more of:

• Investment Banking
• Private Equity
• Family Office / Principal Investments
• Corporate Development / M&A
• Transaction Advisory
• Strategy Consulting with significant transaction exposure

Candidates who have personally participated in multiple stages of a transactionfrom opportunity identification through diligence, valuation, negotiation and closingwill be particularly relevant.

Exposure to manufacturing, chemicals, industrials, specialty materials or related B2B sectors would be strongly preferred.

The Ideal Candidate:

The ideal candidate sits at the intersection of three capabilities:

• Investor: Can evaluate businesses, risk, valuation and returns.
• Strategist: Can understand industries, competitive advantage and long-term value creation.
• Deal Professional: Can move transactions forward while coordinating promoters, bankers, advisors and internal stakeholders.

They should be equally comfortable spending one day building a detailed financial model and the next discussing industry economics with a promoter or presenting an investment recommendation to the Principal.