Investment Lead

Beacon Holdings; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Beacon Holdings in San Francisco seeks an investment professional to own end-to-end M&A processes, from sourcing to execution, including diligence and integration planning. You will collaborate with investment directors and the value creation team.

You will build financial models, evaluate targets, and manage relationships with owners, advisors, and bankers while upholding integrity and a growth mindset. This role blends startup agility with private equity discipline.

Qualifications

• Strong academic record from a competitive institution with a Business or Finance degree.
• Understanding of technology and software industries.
• 1–6 years in M&A in PE, IB, consulting, or corporate development.
• Familiarity with buy-and-build models and VMS/software knowledge is a plus.
• Expertise in building financial models and structured analysis.
• Excellent verbal and written communication at all levels.
• Ability to translate high-level goals into actionable plans.
• Highly organized with attention to detail and deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Deal execution from sourcing to closing.
• Lead and manage conversations with owners, advisors, and bankers.
• Prepare financial and operational diligence and investment memorandums.
• Drive the M&A process and coordinate across internal and external teams.
• Collaborate with investment directors and value creation team.
• Assist in finance, operations, and integration of acquisitions.

Skills

M&A experience

Financial modeling

Underwriting

Portfolio management

Sourcing & selling

Communication skills

Strategic finance

Growth mindset

Relationship building

Education

Business or Finance degree

Tools

Financial modeling software

AI diligence tools

Job description

Beacon is building the essential technology infrastructure for the everyday economy: the businesses, organizations, and services that make real life work, and that mainstream tech has largely left behind. We acquire, operate, and grow vertical market software companies — niche, founder-built businesses serving industries that are often overlooked and too profitable to ignore.

Our model is simple: we seek out founders who have built their business by spending years understanding their market and prioritizing their customers' specific needs. We buy great businesses, invest in their continued growth, and hold them permanently — accelerating that growth with an AI-native platform built specifically for vertical market software. No mandate to cut, flip, or roll up into something unrecognizable.

We are not a financial firm. We are technology entrepreneurs and operators who believe the most important businesses in the world are already running quietly in industries most people never think about. Our job is to find them, support the people who built them, and make them better.

Beacon is backed by a diverse base of investors, with $550M+ raised to date, including General Catalyst, Lightspeed, D1 Capital, CPMG, the family offices of the founders of Stripe, DoorDash, and Ramp, and evergreen funds built for the long game.

Responsibilities

Deal Execution - Start to Finish

At Beacon the investment process will provide you exposure to three parts of being an investor:

1. Sourcing & Selling (10%)

2. Underwriting and Execution (70%)

3. Portfolio Work (20%)

The other main functions of the role include:

• Building and scaling our proprietary M&A agents and AI product suite

• Collaborate with Beacon’s Investment Directors, executive team and value creation team to evaluate and close acquisitions.

• Lead and manage conversations and relationships with owners, advisors, and bankers.

• Prepare and analyze financial and non-financial information, valuation, and operational models.

• Drive the entire M&A process, including conducting detailed financial, sales, marketing, and operational diligence; drafting investment memorandums for the Investment Committee and crafting the integration strategy.

• Manage diligence processes and engage with internal/external advisors across legal, technology, HR, and tax.

• Assist in the finance, operations, and integration of newly acquired businesses.

Qualifications

• Strong academic record from a competitive institution with a degree in Business or Finance.

• A strong understanding of technology and a passion for the software industry.

• Minimum 1-6 years of M&A experience, working in private equity, investment banking, consulting, corporate development, or strategic finance.

• Familiarity with a buy-and-build model and experience/knowledge in VMS, software, and technology is a plus.

• Expertise in building financial models, and proficiency in preparing thoughtfully structured analysis.

• Strong ability to synthesize complex systems.

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills to be able to interact with stakeholders at all levels of the Company and targets.

• Ability to translate high level objectives into actionable work plans and strategies.

• High attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple priorities and meet tight deadlines.

• Extremely organized.

• Conduct interactions with a high level of integrity and trust.

• Advanced written and verbal communication skills.

• Demonstrated interest in learning about different businesses across diverse industries.

• Possesses a growth mindset, consistently seeking personal and process improvement.

• Strong interpersonal skills to build and maintain genuine, long-term relationships.

What You Will Get From Beacon

• Demonstrated interest in learning about different businesses across diverse industries.

• Learn directly from entrepreneurs who have scaled businesses from seed-to-$10B+ IPOs.

• Work directly with Silicon Valley product and engineering teams to perform diligence and underwrite technology driven value creation streams with potential acquisitions.

• Operate in an environment that encourages initiative and rapid development.

• Strong development of interpersonal and presentation skills

• Unique work environment which combines a high growth technology startup and a long term buy/hold private equity investment firm.

Our Values at Beacon Software

• Humility: We acknowledge that the path to getting to the right answer involves being wrong along the way. We have strong beliefs which are weakly held. We actively seek new ideas and believe we can learn from anyone at any time.

• Honesty: We are truth seeking in our approach to business problems. Business is a repeat game and we believe that human relationships generate alpha. We understand that trust is earned over a lifetime and can be lost in an instant.

• Hunger: We play to win. We hold ourselves to high standards and will not be outworked. We take pride in having a deep sense of responsibility to ourselves, each other, our partners, and our customers. We believe to whom much is given much is expected.

• Horizon: We seek to build a generational software company. This will take decades. We manage our expectations and those of our partners to take advantage of the 8th wonder of the world - compounding growth.

How We Use AI in Our Hiring Process: To ensure transparency, we want candidates to know that Beacon Software uses Artificial Intelligence and AI-enabled tools to assist with screening, reviewing, organizing and highlighting profiles and applications that match the key requirements for each role.

AI does not make hiring decisions: Every application is reviewed by a member of our team, and all decisions throughout the process are made by humans. We use AI to support efficiency and consistency, not to replace human judgment. We are committed to a fair, thoughtful, and equitable experience for every candidate.