Director

Emergence; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

Emergence is seeking a Director to lead sourcing and origination in New York and San Francisco. You will partner with senior leadership to identify, diligene, and close software investment opportunities, shaping the investment lifecycle from pre-LOI to closing.

In this foundational role, you will build the function, scale processes and systems, and recruit a small team as the firm grows, enabling scalable ARR growth and value creation for portfolio companies.

Qualifications

• 4–10+ years in private equity, growth equity or VC investing.
• Strong investment judgment and software sector knowledge.
• Ability to work fast in a startup-like environment and communicate with founders.

Responsibilities

• Source and evaluate software acquisition opportunities using your own investment judgment.
• Maintain and improve sourcing infrastructure: outbound systems, coverage models, intermediary relationships.
• Drive due diligence processes and coordinate cross-functional workstreams with advisors and stakeholders.
• Support deal structuring, negotiation, transaction execution, and overall dealmaking.
• Collaborate with portfolio company leadership on post-acquisition strategy and add-on acquisitions.
• Help hire and develop team members as Emergence grows.

Skills

Investment judgment

Enterprise software

Communication

Entrepreneurial mindset

Job description

Director, Emergence | New York / San Francisco | Onsite / Remote

Our Platform

We’re a thematic holding company backed by the Pritzker Organization focused exclusively on acquiring and scaling category-defining businesses. Our structure organizes investments into focused portfolios that function as specialized operating groups, each developing deep domain expertise, proven operational playbooks and long-term partnerships with founders and management teams. We combine operational rigor with permanent capital backing and a growth equity mindset - partnering closely with leadership teams to drive sustainable ARR growth, profitability improvements and industry-leading customer outcomes.

The Role

We’re hiring roles from the Associate to VP level to be a core part of our sourcing and origination function. You will partner with firm leadership to help lead pre-LOI activities, from identifying, diligencing, dealmaking, closing, and overall owning this stage of the investment lifecycle. You will be required to utilize your own investment judgment to decide what companies we should pursue, investment theses we should expand into, and where we should spend our time. You will be the first layer of investment judgement in our entire organization.

This is a foundational hire - you will work directly with senior leadership to build out this function, its team, and its systems. This includes thinking across processes, people, and technology in a scalable manner.

Key Responsibilities

• Source and evaluate software acquisition opportunities using your own investment judgment.
• Maintain and improve sourcing infrastructure: outbound systems, coverage models, intermediary relationships.
• Drive due diligence processes and coordinate cross-functional workstreams with advisors and stakeholders.
• Support deal structuring, negotiation, transaction execution, and overall dealmaking.
• Collaborate with portfolio company leadership on post-acquisition strategy and add-on acquisitions.
• Help hire and develop team members as Emergence grows.

Ideal Qualifications

• 4-10+ years of private equity / growth equity / VC investing experience preferred. All experience levels are open to apply
• Growth and sales roles at fast growing startups are also accepted
• Strong investment judgment, deep understanding of enterprise software, and exceptional communication skills with founders and management teams
• Ability to run through walls and thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment
• Genuine interest in helping grow and operate exceptional software companies
• A builder mentality - you’re energized by the opportunity to help shape something early and not just execute within an established playbook

We Offer

• Cash compensation very competitive, exceeds roles at other firms by high margin.
• Ability to participate in long-term carry programs aligned with seniority and performance.
• Meaningful upside for the right person — compensation structure designed to scale with you as firm and team grow.