Vice President, Direct Investments

Cequel III; St. Louis (MO); On-site; USD 250,000 - 450,000; Full time

Job summary

Cequel III, founded by the Kent family, seeks a Vice President, Direct Investments to work with the Managing Director on private equity investments, real estate, and selective venture. This is a builder's seat focused on sourcing, underwriting, and governing deals for the next decade.

You will originate deals, model rigorously, coordinate diligence, negotiate LOIs, and serve on boards or hold governance responsibilities.

Qualifications

• 6–10 years of transaction experience in lower middle market private equity.
• Demonstrated end-to-end deal ownership from sourcing to close.
• Strong financial modeling and structuring fluency.
• Experience with board or portfolio oversight preferred.

Responsibilities

• Deal origination via proprietary and intermediated channels.
• Underwriting with financial models and commercial diligence.
• Transaction execution including LOI and purchase agreements.
• Portfolio governance with board cadence and value creation.
• Exits: shaping the exit thesis and leading sale processes.

Skills

Deal origination

Financial modeling

End-to-end deal ownership

Strategic thinking

Board governance

Job description

Cequel III was founded by Jerry Kent, the operator behind Charter Communications, Suddenlink, and TierPoint. Having built and exited businesses at scale, the Kent family is now focused on building a durable, long-term family office investment platform in the lower middle market, and is expanding the investment team to execute that plan.

We are hiring a Vice President, Direct Investments to work directly with the Managing Director. The primary mandate is the private equity strategy, with exposure to the office's real estate and venture activity. This is a builder's seat: you will help shape how the platform sources, underwrites, and governs its investments for the next decade, with economics tied directly to the deals you help close.

Responsibilities

• Deal origination: proprietary and intermediated flow across bankers, brokers, and the family's operating network. You own the top of the funnel and the intermediary relationships.
• Underwriting: financial models, quality-of-earnings coordination, commercial diligence, and Investment Committee memoranda.
• Transaction execution: LOI and purchase agreement negotiation alongside our Chief Legal Officer, acquisition financing and lender relationships, and diligence across all workstreams.
• Portfolio governance: a board seat on the companies you help acquire, with responsibility for board cadence, monitoring, and value-creation follow-through.
• Exits: shaping the exit thesis over the hold, preparing the business for sale, and leading the sale process with advisors when the time is right.

You will work directly with the Managing Director on every transaction, supported by a Senior Associate, outside advisors, and future hires as the platform grows.

How We Invest

• Control investments in lower middle market companies, typically $15–25M equity checks, are the primary mandate. The office also invests in value-add real estate and selective venture, and the VP will participate in those opportunities as they arise.
• Permanent family capital: no fund life, no fundraising, no LP reporting. Hold periods are driven by the business, not a fund calendar.

Qualifications

• 6–10 years of transaction experience with meaningful lower middle market private equity execution; control buyout reps required.
• Demonstrated end-to-end deal ownership: you have taken deals from sourcing through close, including the financing, and can articulate exactly what you personally did at each stage.
• Strong modeling and structuring fluency, and the ability to run a process without large-fund infrastructure around you.
• Board or portfolio oversight exposure preferred; founder and family seller experience a plus.
• You are comfortable being the most senior person on a deal on any given day, with no committee to hide behind, and you treat the family's capital and its confidences as your own.

Who Thrives Here

• Deal professionals who want to own the whole transaction rather than a piece of it, and who are energized rather than unsettled by the absence of large-firm process.
• People who would rather build a platform than inherit one, and who can hold a ten-year view while executing on this quarter.
• Investors who are equally effective with a founder selling the business they built and with the lenders financing its purchase.

Economics

Competitive base and bonus benchmarked to direct investment platforms, with meaningful long-term upside through deal-by-deal carried interest and co-investment on every platform acquisition. Full economics are shared with qualified candidates early in the process.

Cequel III is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.