Associate (Private Equity)

Council Capital
Headquarters, US
On-site

Who this role is best for

A natural match if you have early-career experience in a highly analytical field and a willingness to engage in proactive outreach.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with early-career analytical experience and a track record of owning end-to-end workstreams
    — “Evidence that you have owned an analytical workstream rather than executed pieces of someone else's.”
  • Individuals comfortable with high levels of responsibility in a collaborative, multi-functional team
    — “Our CEO Council of seasoned operators, our Strategic Healthcare Investors who bring real-world insight and access, and our internal Value Creation Team, focused on enabling growth through talent, systems, and strategy.”

Things to consider

  • The role requires a multi-year commitment and is not a short-term stepping stone
    — “Comfort committing to a multi-year path.”
  • Travel expectations are up to 20% of the time, which may affect work-life balance
    — “Based in Nashville, with the ability to travel up to 20%.”

How to stand out

  • Include examples of direct outreach or engagement with business owners or stakeholders
    — “Willingness to pick up the phone—a meaningful share of this job is talking to owners and intermediaries who did not ask to hear from you.”
  • Demonstrate your ability to analyze non-financial aspects of a business, such as HR or sales trends
    — “Operating analysis on targets beyond financial modeling: KPI trends, HR and retention trends, sales and marketing trends, cost trends, and more.”
  • Showcase your experience with financial modeling and scenario analysis in your resume and interview responses
    — “You should be able to pull apart a financial model, find what is wrong, and defend a view on what drives the business.”
  • Emphasize your ability to work with incomplete data and founder-led sellers in transaction experience
    — “Lower middle market or middle market transaction experience, where the data is incomplete and the seller is often the founder.”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • Find and underwrite deals
  • Support live deals
  • Provide portfolio company support
Typical background
Private EquityInvestment Banking

Skills & requirements

Required

Business DevelopmentDiligence And ExecutionPortfolio SupportFinancial ModelingAnalytical Workstream Ownership

Preferred

Private EquityHealthcare Investment

Stack & domain

Financial ModelingExcelAnalytical WorkstreamBusiness DevelopmentDiligence WorkstreamsPortfolio SupportKPI TrendsHR And Retention TrendsSales And Marketing TrendsCost TrendsCommunicationLeadershipCuriositySimplicityComposabilitySelf-service MindsetEmpathyPrivate EquityHealthcareInvestmentPortfolio Companies

About the role

Original posting from Council Capital via Ashby

Council Capital is a healthcare-focused private equity firm based in Nashville, Tennessee, managing over $350 million in committed capital.

We invest in lower middle market healthcare companies where we see the potential to scale purpose and performance. Our investments span control and minority positions in businesses with enterprise values between $10 million and $100 million.

What sets us apart is the Council Model—a proven framework that surrounds founders and leadership teams with a powerful combination of support: our CEO Council of seasoned operators, our Strategic Healthcare Investors who bring real-world insight and access, and our internal Value Creation Team, focused on enabling growth through talent, systems, and strategy.

At Council Capital, we’re not just backing companies—we’re helping build enduring businesses that improve lives and shape the future of healthcare.

The Associate role is not just a support role built around modeling requests. You will find deals, underwrite them, and help support them—you will leave the firm better equipped than you found it. The work splits three ways.

Where your time goes & What that means

40% Business Development

Support mid-level-led themes on development and outreach, and own thesis segments of your own: the memo, the target list, and the live outreach, with mid-level approval before anything goes out. Business development is a 40% minimum. When execution is light, your time shifts heavier to sourcing.

40% Diligence and Execution

Models, IC memos, and supporting analysis on live deals. You are responsible for analyzing new opportunities and supporting mid-levels in diligence workstreams end-to-end, including third-party providers and the timeline.

20% Portfolio Support

Portfolio companies as assigned, alongside mid-levels and Partners, joining boards as an observer. Waterfalls, board materials, and reporting with variances flagged before management raises them.

What you will own:

  • A quarterly to semi-annual deep dive on a thesis segment, from the memo through the target list through conversations with owners and intermediaries. This might be a segment of a theme a mid-level is driving, or a smaller-scale theme of your own.
  • The financial model on live deals: pressure-testing, scenario analysis, building where required, and defending your work when a Partner starts asking questions.
  • Operating analysis on targets beyond financial modeling: KPI trends, HR and retention trends, sales and marketing trends, cost trends, and more.
  • Support mid-levels in diligence workstreams end-to-end, including third-party providers and the timeline—not just the output.
  • IC memos, portfolio updates, and board materials that are ready to circulate after mid-level review.
  • Reporting and performance tracking for portfolio companies you support, with variances flagged before management raises them.

What you bring

Required

  • Pre-MBA; two to five years of high-performing, early-career experience in a highly analytical field.
  • Strong analytical and Excel skills. You should be able to pull apart a financial model, find what is wrong, and defend a view on what drives the business. We care more about how you evaluate a business than whether you follow a banker’s template.
  • Evidence that you have owned an analytical workstream rather than executed pieces of someone else's.
  • Willingness to pick up the phone—a meaningful share of this job is talking to owners and intermediaries who did not ask to hear from you.
  • Comfort committing to a multi-year path.
  • Based in Nashville, with the ability to travel up to 20%.

PREFERRED BUT NOT REQUIRED

  • Healthcare exposure. Payers, reimbursement, and provider economics are learnable, and we will teach them, but a head start helps.
  • Lower middle market or middle market transaction experience, where the data is incomplete and the seller is often the founder.

Council Capital and our portfolio companies are committed to building high-performing teams by hiring the best talent—period.

We believe in putting the right people in the right seats, regardless of background, and we’re always looking for individuals who bring fresh thinking, grit, and a drive to make a difference.

Thank you for considering a role with one of our companies. We’re excited to learn more about you.

Source: Council Capital careers (Ashby)

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