Investment Banking Senior Associate/Vice President | Broker-Dealer & Capital Markets

Houlihan Lokey•New York, NY

19h

About The Position

Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) is a leading global investment bank recognized for delivering independent strategic and financial advice to corporations, financial sponsors, and governments. With uniquely deep industry expertise, broad international reach, and a partnership approach rooted in trust, the firm provides innovative, integrated solutions across mergers and acquisitions, capital solutions, financial restructuring, and financial and valuation advisory. Our unmatched transaction volumes provide differentiated, data-driven perspectives that help our clients achieve their most critical goals. Houlihan Lokey has extensive expertise in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, activist shareholder and takeover defense, and other related advisory services for a broad range of U.S. and international clients. Our experience in M&A has earned us consistent recognition throughout the industry. In 2025, LSEG ranked our firm the No. 1 investment bank for all global M&A transactions. The Broker-Dealer and Capital Markets coverage group offers its clients comprehensive investment banking advisory services, with a focus on sell-side M&A services for founder-owned and private equity-backed businesses. We are one of the world's only investment banks with dedicated coverage for this subsector, which encompasses a wide range of banking and markets business models including Investment Banking Advisory, Transaction Advisory Services, and Markets. We now consistently rank as the #1 most active advisor in the sector, with ~25 M&A transactions announced since 2020. We are currently a tight-knit team led by one MD and one SVP, and plan to leverage our newest team member to increase our portfolio of active mandates, and to expand coverage to new adjacencies.

Requirements

Experienced Investment Banking Associate or Vice President with direct sell-side M&A execution experience on lean, fast-moving deal teams
Demonstrated multiple pitch-to-close deal reps across all core M&A workstreams
Ability to operate with a high degree of independence, without day-to-day task direction or work-product validation
Strong judgment and ownership mindset, with experience interfacing directly with clients and navigating ambiguity
Comfortable taking initiative and making decisions in a small-team environment
Must have completed at least one full title promotion (Analyst → Associate and/or Associate → VP) at a reputable, U.S.-based, M&A-focused investment bank
Not intended for recent career-changers or MBA graduates without prior investment banking promotions

Nice To Haves

Experience in Broker-Dealer or Capital Markets is a plus, but not required
Open to candidates from other sectors with M&A experience in human-capital-driven business models (e.g., financial or professional services)

Responsibilities

Experienced Associates or Vice Presidents in the Financial Services Group are expected to “quarterback” execution on M&A transactions, and support senior bankers’ efforts to develop relationships and new business opportunities.
Managing and advancing every stage of sell-side M&A processes: spanning initial information collection from a new client, all the way through to modeling the proceeds waterfall for closing wires
Leveraging knowledge of the industry to effectively position clients’ equity stories in presentation material and live discussion with prospective investors
Drafting and overseeing the production of insightful, compelling marketing materials, including CIMs and pitchbooks
Providing strategic insight into the analytics, models and comps that drive how our clients are valued – key issues in our sector include pro-forma compensation modeling, structuring deferred consideration and pipeline analytics
Building sufficient credibility and rapport to serve as a daily point of contact with clients (most of whom are owner-operators), counterparties, and professional advisors
Parsing legal and quasi-legal documents including engagement letters, NDAs, term sheets, purchase agreements and employment agreements
Broadening our coverage of the sector and assisting in the sourcing of new business, by researching potential clients, preparing reports / coverage intro material, and participating in outreach / vetting calls with prospects
Helping lead intern, lateral analyst and associate recruiting for the Financial Services Group, and serving as an ad hoc mentor for junior bankers on deal teams and within the broader group