Senior Portfolio Analytics & Investment Associate

Unusual; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Unusual is seeking an analytically rigorous Senior Portfolio Analytics & Investment Associate to bridge advanced financial modeling with hands-on startup execution. You will split time between portfolio insights, investment underwriting, and as a fractional financial strategist for founders.

Responsibilities include building operating models, dashboards, and support for pre-seed/seed-stage companies, while collaborating with Finance for backend data needs and investor communications.

Qualifications

• Experience in Venture Capital, Private Equity, Growth Equity, or Investment Banking.
• Elite-level ability to synthesize complex operational metrics into transparent three-statement models.
• Deep operational empathy for pre-seed and seed founders; ability to educate on financial literacy and unit economics.
• Advanced mastery of Excel/Sheets and data management frameworks.
• Familiarity with market information sources and model-driven decision making.
• Bachelor's degree in a highly technical discipline; MBA/CFA a plus.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain operating models for priority portfolio companies (actuals vs. plan, burn, runway).
• Engineer internal analytics frameworks and predictive watchlists to monitor portfolio health.
• Interface with Finance for portfolio data feeding into fund accounting and investor reporting.
• Draft high-conviction investment memos and present data-driven arguments to Investment Committee.
• Map markets and competitive landscapes to support proactive sourcing.
• Underwrite and model returns for pipeline opportunities; support valuation modeling.
• Embed with founders to design bottoms-up financial models and strategic forecasts.
• Develop financial templates and playbooks for early-stage SaaS-focused in AI infrastructure.

Skills

Portfolio modeling

Dashboards & analytics

Due diligence

Investment memos

Market mapping

Underwriting & valuation

Founder advisory

Financial architecture

Education

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, CS, Engineering, or quantitative field

MBA/CFA a plus

Tools

Excel/Sheets

MCP integrations (Claude, ChatGPT, Carta)

BI visualization software

PitchBook

Harmonic

Crunchbase

Job description

About the Role We are seeking an analytically rigorous, commercially sharp Senior Portfolio Analytics & Investment Associate to bridge the gap between structured financial modeling and early-stage startup execution. Positioned within our investment team, this role splits time between delivering strategic insights on portfolio traction, helping with underwriting investments, and serving as a direct fractional financial strategist to our founders. Unlike traditional back-office data roles, responsibility for institutional fund metrics, DPI/IRR tracking, and Limited Partner (LP) reporting lies entirely with our dedicated Finance team. Instead, you will deliver value by honing internal data infrastructure and advanced analytical modeling to drive proactive investment decision making, assist with pre-investment diligence, and help architect financial strategy alongside our pre-seed and seed-stage portfolio companies from day one.

Core Responsibilities

Portfolio Intelligence & Operational Infrastructure (50%)

• Portfolio Modeling: Build and maintain operating models for priority portfolio companies, tracking actuals vs. plan, burn, runway, and progress toward Series A/B milestones and beyond.
• Predictive Dashboarding: Engineer internal analytics frameworks and predictive watchlists to monitor portfolio health, alert leadership to real-time runway risks, and evaluate operational velocity.
• Primary focus is on companies likely to deliver the greatest impact to our funds and put this analysis in front of leadership.
• Internal Synergy: Interface directly with the internal Finance team to provide seamless portfolio data information, feeding into valuations for fund accounting and investor reporting.
• Assist and support investor relations with slide and deck creation in advance of meetings with Limited Partners.

Investment Evaluation & Due Diligence (25%)

• Deep-Dive Due Diligence: Support the commercial evaluation of early-stage investment opportunities, identifying core traction drivers, reviewing financial models and pressure testing assumptions as appropriate.
• Investment Committee Memos: Collaborate on drafting high-conviction investment memos and present clear data-driven arguments directly to the Investment Committee.
• Market Mapping: Map markets and competitive landscapes across our focus areas (AI infrastructure, developer tools, security, data infrastructure) to support proactive sourcing.
• Underwriting & Valuation: Work with other investment team members on complex financial underwriting, cap table dilution analysis, and returns modeling for pipeline opportunities.
• Support Finance team with valuation modeling as needed.

Founder Advisory & Early-Stage Financial Architecture (25%)

• Bespoke Financial Modeling: Embed directly with pre-seed and seed-stage portfolio founders to design, build, and stress-test their initial bottoms-up operational and financial models from scratch.
• Strategic Advisory: Translate raw early traction into structured corporate forecasts - optimizing pricing tiers, unit economics, headcount planning, and milestones required to successfully unlock Series A benchmarks.
• Capital Raising Support: Partner with portfolio executive teams to build clean, forward-looking runway/burn scenarios ahead of institutional follow-on rounds.
• Playbook Development: Institutionalize financial templates across the firm, building robust, repeatable forecasting tooling and playbooks tailored for early-stage B2B SaaS focused in the AI infrastructure segment.

Required Background & Qualifications

• Experience: 3-5+ years of experience in either Venture Capital, Private Equity, Growth Equity, or Investment Banking.
• Financial Modeling Mastery: Elite-level ability to synthesize complex operational metrics into transparent, flexible three-statement models from a blank sheet of paper.
• Early-Stage Intuition: Deep operational empathy for pre-seed and seed founders; a natural ability to educate technical operators on financial literacy and unit economics.
• Technical Toolkit: Advanced mastery of Excel/Sheets. Highly value technical familiarity with data management frameworks with MCP integrations (Claude, ChatGPT, Carta), BI visualization software, and standard market information sources (PitchBook, Harmonic, Crunchbase).
• Education: Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Computer Science, Engineering, or a highly technical quantitative discipline.
• MBA/ CFA a plus.