Founder's Associate, Sustainability Investment Firm, West London

• Location: West London (in-office)
• Salary: £35,000 to £50,000 gross per annum, dependent on experience
• Contract: Full-time, permanent
• Working Pattern: 5 days in office. One day working from home negotiable when the Founder is out.
• Reporting To: Founder
• Start Date: ASAP
• Right to Work: Existing right to live and work in the UK required. No visa sponsorship offered.

Overview

Oplu is leading the search for a Founder's Associate at a growing founder-led investment firm in West London. The firm makes venture capital, angel, and direct investments focused on sustainability.

This is a Founder's Associate role in the venture and angel investment world: a 1:1 position alongside the Founder across the full investment pipeline, from sourcing and investor outreach through to follow-up and close. It combines deal and investor coordination with the organisational support that keeps a founder-led firm moving. It is not a traditional EA or PA position.

The Opportunity

The Founder is hiring someone to grow into the business. The successful candidate will own the investor pipeline from day one: tracking live opportunities, keeping investor conversations moving, and making sure nothing goes quiet once a deck has been sent. They will sit in on deal flow and investment discussions from the start.

Over time the remit is expected to expand into deal execution, investor relations, and wider business development, with a defined path towards a senior investment or Chief of Staff position as the firm scales. The Founder has watched this trajectory work well before in a prior scale-up and is deliberately hiring for it here.

The firm sits at the intersection of investment discipline and sustainability outcomes. Candidates who care about impact alongside execution will find the environment genuinely aligned.

Who this role suits

This role is best suited to a sharp, curious early-career professional with a strong academic background and a genuine interest in investment and sustainability.

Backgrounds that translate directly include a current Founder's Associate at a VC-backed startup or investment firm, a junior analyst at a venture capital fund, angel network, or impact fund, an early-career consultant or investment banker looking for closer proximity to deals and decision-making, or an early-career operator in a founder-led environment who has been drawn into investment or investor-relations activity.

Candidates who see themselves narrowly as EAs, PAs, or pure diary managers are unlikely to fit. The role's centre of gravity is deal and investor coordination, not administrative support.

Key Responsibilities

Investor pipeline and deal flow

• Own the investor and deal pipeline: track live opportunities, log every touchpoint, and keep the Founder's view current.
• Coordinate investor outreach and follow-up, including chasing responses once materials such as pitch decks have been sent.
• Liaise with investors, portfolio companies, and prospective counterparties on the Founder's behalf.
• Support investor roadshows and meetings: scheduling, logistics, preparation, and follow-through.
• Research prospective investors and companies and contribute to deal flow and investment discussions.

Deal preparation and follow-up

• Prepare pre-reads, briefing notes, and background on companies and investors ahead of meetings.
• Capture actions from meetings and drive them to completion.
• Support due diligence workstreams alongside the Founder.

Founder support

• Manage the Founder's diary and correspondence where it relates to investment and business activity.
• Support business development, marketing, and recruitment activity as required.
• Handle light personal administration alongside the professional remit, executed with discretion.

Requirements

Must-haves

• Strong academic background, ideally from a Russell Group or comparable university, with evidence of high intellectual ability.
• 1 to 3 years' experience in a startup, investment, VC, or founder-led environment.
• Highly organised, with the discipline to run follow-ups and keep multiple workstreams on track without prompting.
• Confident written and verbal communication with senior external contacts, by phone and by email.
• An active listener who asks precise questions rather than filling silence.
• Self-directed, high energy, and comfortable with a remit that will change shape as the firm grows.
• Genuine interest in investment and sustainability as a market focus.
• Willingness and ability to work 5 days per week in the West London office.
• Existing right to live and work in the UK.
• Fluent English, spoken and written.

Strong advantage

• Prior experience as a Founder's Associate, in a Chief of Staff support role, or as a junior VC or investment analyst.
• Exposure to investor relations, fundraising, deal flow, or due diligence.
• Experience at a management consultancy, investment bank, or high-growth startup.
• Comfort with modern productivity and AI tools for note-taking, summarisation, and drafting.

Preferred background

• Early-career professional from a founder-led, VC-backed, or investment setting with a clear appetite to develop into a deal-facing or Chief of Staff role.
• Genuine interest in the sustainability sector as a long-term market focus, not simply a values statement.

Why this role

• Full ownership of the investor pipeline from day one, working 1:1 with the Founder.
• A position in deal flow and investment discussions from the start.
• A defined path from coordination into deal work, investor relations, and Chief of Staff as the firm scales.
• Sustainability sector focus for candidates who care about impact.
• Modern West London office environment.
• 5 days in office, with one day WFH negotiable when the Founder is out.

Application Process

Apply via the form on this page. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. If you do not hear from us within 14 days, please consider your application unsuccessful on this occasion.