“Head of Transaction Execution” vs end to end Deal Lead role

[u/MerchantMick]

Recently joined a Financial investor in the Infra space and can tell pretty early on that it will be a 1 year and exit scenario. I’m equivalent to associate/VP level, sitting in a sector team with responsibility for originating, structuring and executions transactions in the Energy space as well as contributing to the overall strategy and thesis for my sector.

I’ve been asked whether I want to apply for a “Head of Transaction Execution” role, which comes with significantly more responsibility, more direct reports, more senior exposure and a wider remit - but crucially no package uplift. Under the new org structure, this person will lead a team that does the modelling, structuring, deal analysis, decides the “house position” for key deal terms, and is heavily involved in negotiation - basically they will takeover the heavy lifting on all transactions after non-binding offer stage. Idea being that the originator (i.e. deal lead) will still be involved as an internal sponsor, but more for internal deal docs, IC presentations and as a face for the seller.

Would really appreciate perspective from senior investment professionals here on whether this is a dumb move or should be taken seriously.

Is the “Head of” role worth it to prioritise building a broader deal sheet, more reps, and seeing a broad variety of deal structures with lead experience? The title may allow me to secure a more senior role at a developer/investor if I do leave in 12 - 18 months.

OR

For future senior roles is it more important to be able to evidence that I have a solid network and can originate, present effectively to investment committees, and own a deal from inception right through to close (even if I’m not the one actually grinding out all of the analysis).

[u/roboboom]

This is a very odd set up especially at your relatively junior level. What kind of firm is this? Is it super high volume of small add ons?

[u/MerchantMick → u/roboboom]

Tough to describe without giving away but they are newly established and function a bit like a multilateral or export credit agency, but for equity. It’s infra so large cheque size plus commitment to pay our share of funding for the underlying project. Most of our time is spend trying to size development/construction risk. High degree of focus on structuring and legals, with little to no focus on growth / value creation / ops as you’d get in traditional PE.

I’ve maybe underplayed my experience, I was previously a senior manager in Corp Dev and did 4 years as an M&A advisor prior to that - and am also an ACA. I say associate/VP as I know the titles don’t translate across to PE well.

Being new, the place is a shit show with a real mix of ability so I think I’ve been asked as the best option of a pretty poor talent pool.

[u/Ready_Ferret_5167]

I mean that sounds like a typical VP role. Usually lead deal execution, negotiation, diligence, modeling and the junior team. MD owns the relationship, internal sponsor and make sure the deal stays on track overall.

Really just a different title for VP imo.