Vice President of M&A Origination

Job Title: Vice President, M&A Origination

• Location: Remote

About Dark Alpha Capital

Dark Alpha Capital LLC is an independent sponsor private equity platform focused on acquiring, operating, and scaling lower middle-market and middle-market companies across business services, industrial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and aerospace & defense. We evaluate approximately 1,500 deals annually and maintain an active, diversified pipeline. Our approach leverages deep partnerships with seasoned operating executives and institutional capital providers. We specialize in building platform investments and executing roll-up strategies while applying disciplined operational and financial value-creation principles.

Position Overview

We are seeking a highly driven Vice President of M&A Origination to build, lead, and institutionalize the firm’s sourcing engine. This executive will be responsible for the full lifecycle of deal sourcing—developing intermediary relationships, driving proprietary outreach, managingpipeline reporting, and coordinating closely with operating partners and the investment team. The VP will play a mission-critical role in ensuring Dark Alpha Capital consistently sources high-quality opportunities aligned with our investment criteria and sector focus.

Key Responsibilities

1. Broker & Intermediary Network Leadership

• Build, expand, and manage relationships with business brokers, boutique investment banks, M&A advisors, and deal intermediaries.

• Serve as the primary point of contact for all intermediary relationships, ensuring consistent and qualified inbound deal flow.

• Lead introductory and diligence discussions with brokers and coordinate involvement from operating partners.

2. Deal Sourcing & Pipeline Management

• Source and evaluate opportunities from online deal platforms, broker listings, and M&A databases.

• Maintain ownership of the firm’s origination pipeline, ensuring accuracy, prioritization, and timely reporting to the deal team.

• Assess opportunities against DAC’s investment theses, sector strategies, and financial parameters.

3. Proprietary Origination Strategy

• Design and execute targeted outbound sourcing campaigns to business owners, referral networks, accountants, attorneys, and niche intermediaries.

• Manage CRM systems, automation tools, and outbound workflows (“the email game”) to maximize outreach efficiency and conversion.

• Oversee research analysts and associates to support list-building, targeting accuracy, and follow-up cadence.

4. Leadership & Team Development

• Build, lead, and mentor the origination team, including associates, analysts, and interns.

• Define KPIs for sourcing productivity, pipeline velocity, and deal conversion.

• Help shape a high-performance, entrepreneurial culture consistent with Dark Alpha Capital’s values and growth objectives.

Qualifications

• 7–12+ years of experience in M&A origination, private equity, investment banking, corporate development, or capital markets.

• Proven ability to build and manage broker/intermediary networks and consistently generate actionable deal flow.

• Strong understanding of proprietary sourcing methodologies—including outbound campaigns, CRM optimization, and automated outreach systems.

• Demonstrated leadership experience managing junior professionals.

• Entrepreneurial mindset suited for an independent sponsor environment.

• Exceptional communication skills, both verbal and written, with the ability to represent the firm effectively externally.

Compensation

• Competitive success-fee-driven structure.

• Significant long-term economic upside for an individual committed to scaling Dark Alpha Capital’s origination platform.