Associate, Fund Finance (UK Platform)

Reporting to a Director of Fund Operations, the individual will have day to day responsibility for organising and managing UK investment platform structures, including board process administration, financial control, reporting, and cash management. We are looking for someone with a strong work ethic who works well as part of a close team but is also a self-starter. They should be professional, with good communication and interpersonal skills, and a willingness to learn and build a career within the finance function of a leading global private equity firm.

Key Responsibilities

The Junior Associate will support the Director and Senior Associate in the day-to-day management of the UK investment platform structures, including board process administration, financial control, reporting and cash management.

Governance, Reporting and Financial Control

• Support board process coordination, preparing agendas and papers and helping ensure appropriate items are tabled, discussed and minuted
• Track and support the accurate and timely completion of tax, legal and regulatory filings across the Platform entities and SPVs
• Liaise with Permira Luxembourg to support consistency in controls and processes between the Platform and the underlying SPVs administered by the third-party administrator
• Support oversight of the accounting and quarterly reporting of the UK Platforms and SPVs to ensure information is accurate and delivered in a timely manner
• Assist with cash forecasts so the Platform has sufficient funds to meet its operating costs
• Support the quarterly service fee process and related management fee adjustments, working with the finance team and local country consultants

Coordination

• Support the onboarding and ongoing administration of the Platform entities and the SPVs
• Act as a day-to-day contact for the third-party administrators, tracking queries, KPIs and deliverables
• Help ensure the administrators and advisers receive the support they need from Permira deal teams
• Support the set-up of bank accounts at Platform and SPV level when required
• Assist on new acquisitions, follow-ons and exits, helping prepare closing checklists, funds flows and structuring documentation, and coordinating information requests with the transaction tax and legal teams

Audit

• Coordinate the FY audits through to sign-off, sharing transaction support with the administrator upfront and working with an auditor to close the audit
• Track audit requests and deadlines across the Platform entities and SPVs

SPV lifecycle

• Support KYC/AML for portfolio companies, opening bank accounts and FX settlement on behalf of the UK SPVs
• Assist with new SPV set-ups, distributions and the liquidation of dormant SPVs

Cash and funding cycle

• Support cash forecasting, quarterly funding and invoice approvals
• Help prepare a short quarterly look-ahead with the Funds team on cash needs, fundings and liquidations

Treasury platform

• Support onboarding the UK SPVs to the treasury platform and manage the cash balances with Administrators

Other

• Support the UK Platform team's initiatives on AI and data, be an active part of them, and look for efficiencies in the day-to-day management of the Platform entities and SPVs
• Assist with ad-hoc projects, including process automation and data strategy

Essential Skills and Characteristics

• Qualified accountant
• Intermediate Excel skills are essential; experience of other applications is beneficial
• Excellent organisational skills, able to manage multiple tasks at once across a variety of entities and work streams
• Personable, with the ability to build relationships at all levels
• Strong teamworking skills, as the role involves extensive interaction with colleagues and investment professionals across the globe
• Strong analytical skills and highly numerate
• Attention to detail, and the ability to explain and interpret data
• An interest in private equity and asset management, with a broad understanding of capital markets and investment concepts
• Comfortable working in an international environment, including cross-office collaboration

Desirable

• Experience in private equity, audit, fund administration or in-house finance
• Familiarity with UK limited companies
• Interest in AI tools and process automation