Private Equity Associate

Responsibilities

• Sourcing and screening — Source acquisition opportunities directly through owner outreach, Onni's operating and industry network, trades contacts, supplier networks, and portfolio company management
• Sourcing and screening — Build and maintain relationships with brokers, advisors, lenders, and intermediaries in target sectors
• Sourcing and screening — Screen inbound and sourced opportunities against investment criteria and write the screening memo with a clear recommendation to pursue or pass
• Sourcing and screening — Develop sector theses and build target lists for roll up strategies across construction services, building products, industrial services, mechanical, HVAC, and adjacent trades
• Execution — Own the operating and returns model on live transactions, including LBO structures, debt schedules, returns waterfalls, sensitivity analysis, and downside cases
• Execution — Run due diligence across financial, commercial, operational, tax, and legal workstreams, and manage external advisors to scope, budget, and deadline
• Execution — Lead the quality of earnings review with advisors, including EBITDA normalisation, working capital analysis, and net debt calculation
• Execution — Structure transactions and financing, including consideration mix, earnouts, founder rollover, and lender terms
• Execution — Draft and present investment committee memos and lender presentations, and defend the recommendation to ownership
• Execution — Manage transaction execution, including the data room, issue tracking, legal documentation review, and coordination with counterparties through to close
• After close — Own the first hundred days, including integration planning, reporting setup, banking, and management alignment
• After close — Track portfolio company performance against the acquisition thesis, including monthly performance, budget versus actual, covenant compliance, and integration milestones
• After close — Identify and quantify value creation opportunities across pricing, procurement, overhead, working capital, and add on acquisitions, then work with operators to execute them
• After close — Work with the Controller on purchase accounting, opening balance sheets, and post close true ups
• After close — Support add on acquisitions into existing platforms
• Team and standards — Direct the private equity analysts on execution, review their work, and hold the quality standard
• Team and standards — Build and maintain the deal flow tracker, pipeline reporting, and diligence templates so the process is repeatable rather than reinvented each time
• Team and standards — Document processes, models, decisions, and operating standards so successful approaches can be repeated across the team
• Team and standards — Contribute to internal investment discussions, portfolio reviews, and Onni Capital events
• Within the first 90 days — You have direct relationships with owners, brokers, and advisors in at least one target sector, built rather than inherited
• Within the first 90 days — You are running live diligence workstreams and managing external advisors without supervision
• Within the first 90 days — The deal flow tracker and screening process are yours, and leadership can see the true state of the pipeline at any time
• Within the first 90 days — You have formed and defended a view on at least one live opportunity, including a recommendation to pass
• Within the first year — Proprietary opportunities are reaching us because of relationships you built, not only through brokers
• Within the first year — You have taken at least one transaction from first contact through to close, owning the model, the diligence, and the recommendation
• Within the first year — Owners and management teams take your calls and treat you as a credible counterparty rather than as a junior representative of the buyer
• Within the first year — Diligence you ran caught something material, whether that led to a repriced deal or a decision to walk away
• Within the first year — Businesses acquired during the year are reporting properly, integrated on plan, and tracking against the thesis you underwrote
• Within the first year — At least one value creation initiative you identified has been executed by an operator and shows measurable results
• Within the first year — The analysts you direct are producing work that needs less correction each quarter
• Within the first year — Screening, diligence, and integration are running off documented process rather than being reinvented on every deal
• Within the first year — Ownership treats your recommendation as the starting point for the decision rather than as one input among several

Requirements

• Three to six years in private equity, investment banking, corporate development, transaction advisory, or a comparable transaction environment, with live deals you can walk through in detail
• Demonstrated ownership of a transaction, not only support. You have run workstreams, managed advisors, and been in the room when terms were negotiated
• Strong modelling capability built from scratch rather than from templates, with real command of LBO mechanics, debt structures, and returns analysis
• Sound accounting judgment, including EBITDA normalisation, quality of earnings, and working capital bridges
• Genuine comfort in front of owners and management teams. Much of this job is a conversation with a person who built a business over thirty years and is deciding whether to trust you
• Commercial judgment that connects operating detail to valuation, structure, and returns
• Demonstrated ability to use modern AI tools to research, analyse, model, automate, and produce high quality work
• Strong written communication, with the ability to compress a complex situation into a one page recommendation
• Willingness to travel across North America, including Vancouver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Phoenix
• A bias toward action and comfort making progress with incomplete information
• The confidence to state a view and defend it while remaining open to evidence and feedback
• Comfort working in a small, fast moving team where responsibilities change as deals develop
• High personal standards for accuracy, quality, ownership, and follow through
• Nice to Have — Experience in construction services, industrial services, manufacturing, building products, or trades businesses
• Nice to Have — Experience with buy and build or roll up strategies, including add on acquisition programmes
• Nice to Have — Experience with founder led businesses and owner operator transactions
• Nice to Have — Direct operating experience inside a portfolio company
• Nice to Have — CFA or CPA designation
• Nice to Have — Debt financing experience, including working directly with lenders and credit committees
• Nice to Have — Cross border transaction experience between Canada and the United States
• Nice to Have — Familiarity with tools such as Claude, Linear, Slack, or similar platforms

Why join

Onni Capital invests its own capital. There is no fundraising cycle, no external investment committee, and no requirement to deploy on someone else's timeline. A good business can be pursued in days. A weak one can be declined without ceremony. Permanent capital changes the conversation with a founder. We are not pitching a three year flip. When an owner cares where their company and their people end up, that is a real advantage and you will feel it in live negotiations. Onni's operating businesses give genuine diligence advantage. When evaluating a construction services or industrial business, we test assumptions against companies we already own and operators we already work with, rather than relying on a consultant's market study. You will also have unusual proximity to decision makers. There is no chain of vice presidents between you and the people approving capital. How We Work Onni Capital is being designed as a high ownership, low bureaucracy team. We work in small project groups, test ideas quickly, put early products in front of users, and make decisions based on evidence rather than hierarchy. Team members are expected to: • Challenge assumptions and communicate directly • Take responsibility for outcomes, not simply produce recommendations • Use modern AI tools to work faster and produce better results • Share unfinished work early and improve it through feedback • Move comfortably between strategic analysis and hands on execution • Know when to continue investing in an idea and when to stop • Operate effectively without a detailed playbook This is not a role for someone who wants months of consensus building, a rigid job description, or a narrowly defined set of responsibilities. It is for someone who learns quickly, takes initiative, enjoys solving ambiguous problems, and wants to help build something from the ground up. You will own a transaction from first contact through to whether the thesis actually held. On a single deal, you may be involved in: • Cold calling an owner who has never spoken to a buyer before • Building the model that determines what we are willing to pay • Sitting in the room while price and structure are negotiated • Running diligence and telling us to walk away • Testing commercial assumptions against businesses Onni already owns • Presenting the recommendation directly to ownership • Standing in the business the week after close, sorting out reporting and integration • Measuring, a year later, whether the numbers you put forward were right The expectation is high ownership. You will be accountable for the deals you bring forward and for what happens to them afterwards. Onni Capital is creating a new headquarters in downtown Vancouver designed for builders, founders, investors, product teams, and portfolio companies, not traditional corporate administration. The space is intended to become a home for company creation, collaboration, product demonstrations, investment discussions, founder events, and the broader Onni Capital community. Team members will receive: • Direct exposure to senior Onni executives, investors, operators, developers, and founders • The opportunity to help launch products and businesses from the ground up • Access to Onni's operating businesses, technology resources, real estate portfolio, and investment platform • Competitive compensation and a discretionary performance bonus • A comprehensive company paid benefits package • An annual education and professional development allowance • Regular product demonstrations, founder sessions, investment discussions, and team events • Free access to a fully equipped gym • Friends and family rates across participating hospitality brands • Employee discounts at participating restaurants, retailers, fitness providers, and other businesses • A generous employee referral program Onni For over half a century, Onni has been building communities for people to live, work, and play. Our success reflects our commitment to our employees and partners, and our dedication to quality construction, innovation, sustainability, and customer satisfaction. Our expertise expands across North America, with offices in Vancouver, Toronto, Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix, and Chicago. AI Use This role may involve the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support research, analysis, content development, design, reporting, or operational efficiency. Employees are expected to use AI responsibly and in compliance with company policies, data privacy requirements, confidentiality obligations, and applicable laws. All AI-generated or AI-assisted outputs must be reviewed for accuracy, quality, and appropriateness before use. Employees are also expected to disclose when AI tools have been used in the creation of work and must not present AI-generated content as solely their own original work.