Founding Principal / Deployment Strategist (Private Equity AI)
About The Position
HireNow Staffing is acting as a direct placement partner for a finance-focused AI startup seeking a Founding Principal (Deployment Strategist) to join its founding team in San Francisco. This is a rare opportunity to work directly alongside the founders to build AI-powered solutions for the private equity market. The company is developing next-generation agent workflows that fundamentally improve how PE firms conduct commercial diligence, identify opportunities, and drive investment decisions. This role is not traditional consulting, and not a pure product role—it is a hybrid of customer delivery, strategic execution, and product shaping , with end-to-end ownership from initial client engagement through measurable deployment outcomes. The firm is seeking candidates with elite execution ability , deep commercial diligence experience, and a genuine desire to build in an early-stage environment.
Requirements
- 2+ years at Bain, McKinsey, or BCG with a strong focus on commercial due diligence
- Based in San Francisco or willing to relocate (visa sponsorship available)
- Willingness to commit to a 6 days/week onsite schedule
- Strong familiarity with diligence project structure, outputs, and PE decision-making context
- High ownership mindset with the ability to operate autonomously in a fast-moving startup environment
- Demonstrated interest in technology, product development, and early-stage company building
Nice To Haves
- Combination of MBB commercial diligence experience + private equity investing experience
- Experience at a top private equity firm in an associate investing role
- Track record of building or improving deployment playbooks, delivery processes, or internal systems from scratch
- Strong product intuition and ability to influence roadmap through customer work
- Undergraduate degree from a top-tier institution
- Startup-oriented execution: high velocity, high accountability, and strong follow-through
- MBB consultants who want to move from advisory to ownership and building
- PE-oriented operators excited by applied AI in high-stakes finance workflows
- Individuals who thrive with ambiguity, intensity, and founding-level responsibility
- Candidates with both strategic rigor and hands-on execution ability
Responsibilities
- Partner closely with founders to design, test, and refine AI agent workflows tailored to private equity and diligence use cases
- Lead client engagements end-to-end, serving as the primary driver of delivery, value realization, and long-term client adoption
- Own senior client relationships over time, including executive-level communication and strategic advisory
- Apply first principles thinking to ambiguous, high-stakes business problems without established playbooks
- Translate customer insights directly into product strategy and development priorities
- Collaborate with engineering and product teams to ensure solutions are scalable, repeatable, and deeply aligned with PE workflows
- Support new client acquisition and recurring engagements through pre-sales involvement and delivery credibility
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
Education Level
No Education Listed
