Lead, Institutional Coverage & Capital Origination

Job title : Lead, Institutional Coverage & Capital Origination

Grade:  Associate Partner

We are looking for a senior, commercially astute, relationship-driven and highly credible senior professional to join our the Investment Banking division as Lead, Institutional Investor Relations & Capital Partnerships. This is a strategic, front-facing role responsible for identifying, engaging, securing and maintaining long-term relationships with institutional funding partners to support the firm’s advisory and proprietary investment transactions. The successful candidate will build and manage institutional relationships with global and regional capital providers including development finance institutions and multilaterals, export credit and risk-sharing platforms, private credit funds, global and regional banks, private credit funds, alternative asset managers, infrastructure and real asset managers, pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and other long-term allocators.

The role will also build and manage a strong network of introducers such as leading law firms, accounting firms, trustees, corporate service providers, placement agents, boutique advisory firms and investment consultants who can consistently provide access to capital decision-makers across Africa, Europe, Asia and North America. This role is central to ensuring that OBSIDIAN’s transaction pipeline is supported by. credible, repeat institutional capital partnerships. It requires strong institutional credibility, deep relationship networks and the ability to align investor appetite with structured transaction opportunities originated by the firm. The role is fast-paced, demanding and performance-driven. Cultural alignment, integrity and discretion are essential. A strong grounding in capital markets, credit, structured finance, and institutional investor processes is mandatory.

Required Qualifications and Skills:

• BSc Degree in Finance, Economics, Accounting, Business or related field.
• MBA, CFA or equivalent designation strongly preferred.
• Excellent ability to speak and write English language.
• Proficient in MacOS Keynote, Numbers and Pages.
• Proficient in MS PowerPoint, Excel & Word.
• Minimum 10–15+ years’ experience in institutional fundraising, capital formation, investment banking coverage, private credit/infrastructure finance, development finance, syndication/distribution, or institutional sales within private markets.
• Demonstrated track record securing institutional funding commitments and building repeat capital partnerships.
• Strong active network across institutional allocators and capital providers in Europe, North Americaand/or Asia, in addition to Africa/regional relationships.
• Deep understanding of institutional investment processes, due diligence requirements, and investor decision cycles.
• Strong structuring fluency across debt and structured solutions, with ability to align risk allocation to investor
• mandates (including co-financing and risk-sharing facilities/programmes).
• Highly proficient in preparing investor materials: teasers, information memoranda, term sheets, investment cases, pipeline notes and institutional pitch packs.
• Executive presence and credibility engaging CIOs, investment committees, credit committees, and senior bank/DFI leadership.
• Strong negotiation skills and commercial judgement.
• Strong pipeline discipline and CRM capability; able to run a structured investor coverage plan, meeting cadence and conversion funnel.
• Excellent organisational skills; able to manage multiple live engagements under pressure.
• Highly adaptable, able to deal with ambiguity and complex stakeholder environments.
• Able to handle confidential matters with absolute discretion.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to thrive in a lean and fast-growing environment.
• Proactive, dependable and solutions-focused
• Must be mature, credible and reliable.

Key Responsibilities of this role include but are not limited to:

Institutional Coverage, Capital Partnerships & Rainmaking

• Build and maintain a high-quality network of institutional capital providers across Africa, Europe, Asia and North America.
• Develop a structured institutional coverage programme: segmentation, targeting, meeting cadence, pipeline staging and conversion tracking.
• Position the firm as a credible origination and structuring counterparty and secure repeat institutional engagement.
• Convert relationships into tangible funding outcomes: term sheets, mandates, programme participation and committed capital.

Transaction-to-Investor Matching & Capital Solution Design

• Work closely with Origination & Deal Structuring teams to understand pipeline transactions early and shape them to investor appetite.
• Provide real-time feedback on pricing expectations, covenant preferences, tenor appetite, security packages and risk-sharing options.
• Support development of scalable capital partnership models such as programme funding lines, co-financing frameworks, and syndication/distribution channels.
• Drive investor due diligence processes and help manage institutional decision pathways through investment/credit committees.

Introducer Network Development

• Build and maintain relationships with introducers who can consistently open access to institutional decision-makers, including top-tier law firms, accounting firms, investment consultants, trustees, placement agents and advisory boutiques.
• Create a structured referral ecosystem: engagement plans, reciprocity strategy, and repeatable introductions into target institutions and geographies.
• Coordinate jointly with Business Development and senior leadership on high-value introducer engagements and closed-door forums.

Investor Materials, Messaging & Execution Support

• Oversee creation of institutional-grade investor and funding materials including pitch decks, teasers, IMs, pipeline notes and transaction summaries.
• Prepare senior leadership for investor meetings with structured briefing notes, talking points and anticipated questions.Support negotiation and documentation workflow alongside legal counsel and deal teams, ensuring accuracy, credibility and speed to close.

Market Intelligence & Strategic Positioning

• Maintain a live view of global capital flows, sector appetite, regional risk sentiment and institutional priorities; translate these into actionable origination guidance.
• Support leadership in defining the firm’s institutional capital strategy and prioritised funding corridors across Africa, Europe, Asia and North America.
• Represent the firm at investor forums, capital markets events and institutional roundtables to build credibility and secure pipeline-supporting relationships.