Hawthorne - Operating Associate - Real Estate

Davidson Kempner•New York, NY

3d•$130,000 - $150,000•Onsite

About The Position

Hawthorne Partners is seeking an Operating Associate to join its Real Estate team in New York. The Associate will drive value at the asset, portfolio, operating-company and platform levels, including across distressed and growth assets. The role covers value-creation, value-protection and special-situations opportunities across Davidson Kempner’s Real Estate and Structured Credit investments. The successful candidate will bring strong quantitative skills and a broad understanding of value drivers across multiple real estate subsectors, with the ability to evaluate investments from both credit and asset-level perspectives. The Associate will create, amend and update financial models using Excel, Argus and other relevant tools; conduct operational diligence, underwriting and analysis; evaluate scenarios with operating partners; monitor performance; and analyze large asset-, loan- and operating-level datasets. The role includes preparing findings and reports for management using appropriate reporting and data-visualization tools, and supporting strategic initiatives across assets, portfolios and operating platforms. The position is based in New York and may require travel to assets and portfolio companies when necessary and feasible. The Associate will be managed by the US Real Estate Operating Vice President and will collaborate with the two existing Associates on the team. Base salary is $130,000–$150,000 USD, with a discretionary bonus on top.

Requirements

Three to five years of relevant real estate investing experience.
Experience in real estate private equity, private credit, investment banking, asset management or another institutional real estate investing environment.
Experience creating cash-flow models and working with asset- and loan-level data.
Experience and comfort working with large datasets, databases and data-visualization tools.
Strong quantitative, analytical and financial-modelling skills.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present analytical findings clearly to senior colleagues.
Bachelor’s degree in finance, business, economics, mathematics or a related quantitative discipline.

Nice To Haves

Knowledge of credit strategies or structured products.
Exposure to multiple real estate asset classes.

Responsibilities

Design, amend and update financial models using Excel, Argus and other relevant tools, and run scenarios to produce internal and external outputs.
Create and audit frameworks and models supporting asset-management initiatives.
Perform sensitivity and scenario analyses.
Assess the quality of sell-side and operating-partner models.
Build ad hoc discounted cash flow (DCF) models for individual assets and portfolios.
Support the investment team with operational diligence, underwriting and analysis.
Liaise with operating partners and evaluate scenarios, including potential exit strategies.
Analyze large asset-, loan- and operating-level datasets, draw conclusions, and present findings to management using appropriate reporting and data-visualization tools.
Monitor asset and portfolio performance.
Support value-creation, value-protection and other strategic initiatives across assets, portfolios and operating platforms.
Produce accurate, client-ready analysis and exercise sound judgment, accountability, curiosity and a solution-oriented mindset.
Build relationships, communicate complex analysis clearly, share information proactively and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders.
Contribute as a self-motivated, dependable and team-oriented colleague; respond constructively to feedback and maintain a strong risk and control mindset.
Travel to assets and portfolio companies when necessary and feasible.