Investment Banking Deal Negotiator (Lead Associate)

Benchmark International is now looking for an experienced and driven associate to serve as a Lead Associate. The office boasts two mature Deal Teams. Each team will have two Lead Associate's (LA). Each LA will support their manager, the Transaction Director (TD), in closing mergers and acquisitions transactions and servicing the team’s portfolio of businesses for sale. Over time, the successful LA should become the relationship holder with a select group of clients and assume direct responsibility for those clients, handling their sale process from the date of going on market through to the successful closing of their transaction. As a result, this is a heavily sales-oriented position requiring tested negotiating skills, empathy; client, portfolio, and personnel management expertise, and an understanding of mergers and acquisitions.

A significant portion of the workday will be spent communicating directly with potential acquirers and seller-clients. This is a frontline M&A role that requires speaking to multiple clients and potential buyers every day. The Deal Teams have been closing between one and two transactions per month over the last several years, and the LA's must be able to support the TD in maintaining this successful pace.

In addition to the TD and two LA's, the team consists of four analysts (two of whom are supervised by each LA), and a deal-preparation team on that will handle the pre-market phases of clients’ engagements and be available to provide technical support to the TD and LA’s as required later in the sale process.

The transaction teams are also supported by the members of the office’s Managing Partner (formerly a Transaction Director) and the company’s Central Support Team. The firm’s Executive Chairman, CEO, Quality Control Director, IT Director, Marketing Director, and Business Writer, among others, are on hand and regularly lend expertise to the teams.

Client origination, general firm marketing, and similar operational distractions are taken off the teams’ plates, keeping to Benchmark International’s model. This allows a more focused approach on operations and portfolio management. The teams’ obligations regarding each client commence with a signed engagement letter and detailed file, prepared by the separate Deal Origination Department, and continue through every aspect of the transaction (other than legal and accounting services) to the closing and collection of the resulting success fee.

Job Responsibilities
Success in this role will include a well-balanced approach to contributions in four distinct areas.

1. Manage a portfolio of businesses for sale

• Work directly with business owners looking to exit their business or take on a strategic partner, at times serving as Benchmark International’s primary relationship manager with these clients.
• Ensure your team remains responsive to all client requirements including adequately prompt call-backs, perfectly-crafted correspondence, and compliance with our engagement letters.
• Maintain a detailed understanding of each assigned client.
• Take primary responsibility for the movement of assigned clients through the marketing phase up to the receipt of letters of intent from potential acquirers.
• Handle all client matters delegated by the TD.

2. Close transactions

• After some time and demonstration of capabilities, directly handle the negotiations of assigned clients through to closing.
• After some time and demonstration of capabilities, handle discussions with assigned client concerning Benchmark International’s success fee and ensure timely collection of the same.

3. Manage and develop the team

• Supervise analysts in their acquirer outreach efforts, NDA negotiations, and follow up efforts.
• Work with Transaction Director to interview and hire replacement analysts when necessary.
• Ensure your team operates in a respectful, professional, and nurturing environment.
• Distribute workload appropriately among your analysts.
• Allocate tasks to provide your analysts with new challenges, to maintain their engagement level, and to achieve high retention rates.

4. Contribute to corporate growth

• Provide frontline input to process improvement efforts.
• Remain available on a short-term basis for discipline-specific projects, occasional major transaction engagements, and conference attendance.
• Participate in brand recognition events in the region and throughout the financial community.
• Contribute to office-wide and company-wide training efforts.

Job Requirements
As a leader in our organization, you must be an energetic and passionate individual with a positive and highly-motivated can-do attitude. You must have the strong desire and ambition to succeed in this rewarding industry. It is also vital for your role as a Lead Associate that you possess excellent analytical, mathematical, interpersonal, written and verbal communication, and negotiating skills, as well as presentation abilities.

The Lead Associate is a client-facing role that must be able to convey bad news and deal with clients’ unique sensitivities, while keeping each client moving through the company sales process at a steady pace.

As each team member’s compensation is tied to the closings your team will generate, the team will look to you not only for leadership but also for their financial well-being.

Relevant experience will include two to five years working as an M&A professional (e.g., broker, investment banker, accountant, attorney) or a similar period of experience in roles centered on sales and/or direct client management.

The successful applicant must:

• Understand the sequence of events in the company sale process.
• Have a firm understanding of financial statements, EBITDA calculations, and the process of identifying and defending add backs.
• Have a passing knowledge of the legal parameters involved in M&A transactions.
• Possess the ability to learn the financial and market dynamics of new industries in relatively short periods.
• Communicate well verbally and in writing.
• Handle setbacks, having difficult conversations with business owners, negotiating against veteran professional acquirers, taking responsibility for process breakdowns even when not responsible, and fostering cooperation with client’s attorneys and accountants.
• Consistently present themselves in a professional manner in keeping with Benchmark International’s image (as shown, for example, on the company’s web site).
• Work outside normal business hours at times, whether early or late, as required by client schedules and expectations.
• Be available to travel for occasional overnight trips on short notice (rarely, if ever, longer than two days)
• Be able to obtain a real estate sales associate license within a designated time frame.
• Have no unfavorable history with FINRA, the SEC, or any state regulatory agency

Salary

The Lead Associate's on-target compensation is set to exceed $100,000 in the first year. This consists of an annual salary in the range of $50,000 to $72,000 plus commissions equal to a percentage of company revenue obtained from closing transactions with an additional bonus for achieving the team's annual target.

Benefits
All Benchmark International positions offer paid time off, standard holidays, and community service days. Employees are eligible for highly competitive company-subsidized medical, dental, vision, and AD&D insurance; 401k with company matching; flexible spending accounts; and flexible dependent care assistance accounts. Quarterly team outings and standing desks are employee favorites at present.

Social Responsibility
Benchmark International is an active, contributing member of the communities in which we work. The company participates in significant charitable giving opportunities throughout the year. Many of the recipient charities have been identified by our individual employees as a result of their personal passions for supporting particular needs. In addition, each employee is encouraged to use two paid work days per year to provide their labor and skills to the community.

Our US headquarters in Tampa opened in mid-2012 and we continue to grow as our domestic client base and international buyer-contacts expand. We offer our clients a unique business proposition that has resonated well with the US market as it has previously with markets in other countries. Recognizing that the US M&A markets are the most robust in the world, particularly in this coveted middle-market range, we are planning to continue to grow our US presence in the coming years. Coming on board now presents employees with the opportunity to ride this wave of growth. Benchmark International has always promoted from within and we look forward to bringing talent onboard as the next generation of Benchmark International’s leaders.

Unfortunately, Benchmark International is not in a position to sponsor visas for candidates at this time.

Benchmark International provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, national origin, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or any other protected classification. Equal employment opportunity includes, but is not limited to, hiring, training, promotion, demotion, transfer, leaves of absence, and termination. The Company takes allegations of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation seriously, and will promptly investigate when such behavior is reported.