Senior Manager - Deal Origination

About the role

EY Parthenon is looking for a Senior Manager, Deal Origination to play a leading role in building and operating its Deal Origination Hub across Australia and New Zealand. The role identifies attractive businesses and acquisition opportunities, develops M&A ideas, builds relationships with private equity and corporate market participants and turns market intelligence into transaction opportunities. It is not a traditional business development or research role, and it can be performed from any of EY's offices across Australia.

Key responsibilities

• Originate and qualify M&A opportunities by identifying acquisition targets and themes, assessing strategic fit and developing credible transaction or commercial theses.
• Combine sector analysis, company intelligence and commercial judgement to develop acquisition theses.
• Engage directly with business owners, private equity investors, advisers and other market participants to build relationships and opportunities.
• Support priority private equity accounts and targeted origination campaigns, mapping portfolio companies and identifying acquisition and bolt-on opportunities.
• Build new-to-EY relationships and work with account teams and Partners to develop transaction hypotheses and routes to decision-makers.
• Lead the day-to-day operation of the Deal Origination Hub, set priorities, allocate work and develop team members; oversee the origination intelligence platform and pipeline; use data, technology and AI to improve origination; and work across EY teams to convert opportunities into pursuits and mandates.

Required profile

• Ideally 5+ years' experience in M&A, corporate finance, deal origination, private equity, corporate development or a closely related environment, with a strong understanding of M&A and acquisition strategy.
• Strong commercial judgement and analytical capability, able to turn detailed company, market and sector information into focused acquisition theses.
• Confidence and persistence in approaching business owners, investors and advisers, with demonstrated relationship-building and senior stakeholder management.
• Able to manage and develop a small team while staying personally involved in origination, and to use data, AI and emerging technology to improve research, screening and origination.

What we offer

• Career development with future-focused skills and world-class experiences.
• Flexible work arrangements.
• A benefits package including a yearly wellness incentive, an extra 8 weeks of flex leave per year and family-friendly policies such as up to 26 weeks of gender-neutral paid parental leave.
• A competitive salary open to negotiation depending on skills and experience.