Investment Analyst

Circeus; Milano; In loco; EUR 60.000 - 90.000; Tempo pieno

Descrizione del lavoro

Circeus, Milan-based AI-native holding, hires an Investment Analyst to cover the full acquisition cycle from initial founder outreach to signing and integration. You will build analyses, financial models, and diligence findings that feed the investment committee and portfolio strategy.

You will underwrite AI-driven improvements across product depth and cost structures, while staying close to assets post-close.

Competenze

• 1-3 years in M&A, investment banking, private equity, or corporate development.
• Strong financial modelling and valuation skills built from scratch.
• Ability to read a SaaS business quickly: recurring revenue quality, churn, expansion, gross margin, and cash conversion.
• Practical fluency with AI tools in your own workflow, with concrete examples of what you have automated or accelerated.
• Clear written analysis and the confidence to defend a recommendation concisely.
• High attention to detail under deal timelines, with sound judgement on what matters and what does not.
• Fluent English and Italian, written and spoken.
• Right to work in Italy.

Mansioni

• Source and qualify acquisition targets through outbound origination, broker relationships, and proprietary screening.
• Build and own financial models covering valuation, returns, cohort retention, and post-acquisition scenarios.
• Run commercial, financial, and product diligence, and pull the findings into a clear view on the asset.
• Write investment memos and screening notes that stand up to challenge at committee.
• Assess where our central AI platform can expand a target's product and margin, and build that into the underwriting case.
• Build AI-assisted workflows for origination, data extraction, and diligence, and leave the process better than you found it.
• Prepare valuation ranges and support structuring, LOIs, and negotiation with founders and advisers.
• Coordinate external advisers and internal workstreams to keep deals moving to timetable.
• Track portfolio performance against the original underwriting case and flag divergence early.

Conoscenze

M&A

Financial modelling

SaaS knowledge

AI tooling

English fluency

Italian fluency

Strumenti

SQL

Python

Descrizione del lavoro

Circeus is an AI-native holding that acquires and scales mission-critical B2B software businesses globally. We have raised $220m+ from leading global institutional investors and serve 200,000+ businesses across diverse verticals, focusing on high-retention, deeply embedded software.

Our model: acquire high-quality SaaS companies and accelerate their growth through a centralised AI platform, driving both revenue expansion and operational efficiency. We operate as long-term owners, continuously improving products through applied AI.

The Role

We are hiring an Investment Analyst in Milan to work across the full acquisition cycle, from first contact with a founder to signing and integration. You will build the analysis that decisions are made on: market and competitive work, financial models, diligence findings, and the investment memos that go to our investment committee.

This is a deal seat inside an operating company, not a fund. The businesses you underwrite become businesses we run, so the quality of your diligence shows up in the portfolio for years.

You will spend as much time on retention curves, pricing, and product depth as on multiples, and you will stay close to assets after close rather than handing them to someone else.

AI is not a side interest in this role. You will be expected to build your own screening, extraction, and analysis workflows with AI tooling, and to underwrite what AI can do to a target's product and cost base.

You will work directly with the M&A leadership team, our operators, and our central AI team, with regular exposure to founders and their advisers. It suits someone who wants ownership early, is comfortable reaching a view on incomplete information, and would rather run their own workstream than sit third on a deal team.

What You'll Do

• Source and qualify acquisition targets through outbound origination, broker relationships, and proprietary screening
• Build and own financial models covering valuation, returns, cohort retention, and post-acquisition scenarios
• Run commercial, financial, and product diligence, and pull the findings into a clear view on the asset
• Write investment memos and screening notes that stand up to challenge at committee
• Assess where our central AI platform can expand a target's product and margin, and build that into the underwriting case
• Build AI-assisted workflows for origination, data extraction, and diligence, and leave the process better than you found it
• Prepare valuation ranges and support structuring, LOIs, and negotiation with founders and advisers
• Coordinate external advisers and internal workstreams to keep deals moving to timetable
• Track portfolio performance against the original underwriting case and flag divergence early

What We're Looking For

• One to three years in M&A, investment banking, private equity, transaction services, or corporate development
• Strong financial modelling and valuation skills, built from scratch rather than from templates
• Ability to read a SaaS business quickly: recurring revenue quality, churn, expansion, gross margin, and cash conversion
• Practical fluency with AI tools in your own workflow, with concrete examples of what you have automated or accelerated
• Clear written analysis and the confidence to defend a recommendation concisely
• High attention to detail under deal timelines, with sound judgement on what matters and what does not
• Fluent English and Italian, written and spoken
• Right to work in Italy

Nice to Have

• Exposure to software, technology, or vertical SaaS transactions
• Experience in origination or direct founder outreach rather than process-only deals
• Working knowledge of SQL, Python, or data tooling for diligence and screening
• Experience building AI agents, scripts, or automations without engineering support
• Post-close integration or value creation experience

Why Circeus

• Exposure to a portfolio of software businesses rather than a single asset
• Deal responsibility and senior access from your first months, not after two years
• AI applied to real commercial problems, with impact you can measure
• Direct collaboration with our central AI team and portfolio operators
• One team across London, Milan and Sarajevo, operating as a single system
• Competitive compensation and a clear route to increased deal ownership