Role Overview:

We are looking for a Principal - Financial Due Diligence & Transaction Advisory to lead, establish, and scale our Financial Due Diligence and Transaction Support practice.

This is an entrepreneurial leadership role for a professional who can combine strong technical expertise in financial due diligence with client relationship management, business development, team leadership, and P&L ownership.

The Principal will be responsible for leading complex FDD engagements while actively developing relationships with Private Equity funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds, HNIs, Family Offices, strategic investors, and other institutional investors.

The individual will play a key role in identifying new markets, building strategic partnerships, expanding the client base, and positioning Acquisory as a prominent player in the financial due diligence and transaction advisory landscape.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Financial Due Diligence & Transaction Advisory:

- Lead and oversee Financial Due Diligence (FDD) and transaction support engagements from initiation through completion.

- Ensure engagements are delivered within agreed timelines, budgets, and quality standards.

- Conduct and review detailed analysis of target companies, including historical financial performance, quality of earnings, revenue and profitability trends, cash flows, working capital, net debt, accounting policies, and financial forecasts.

- Identify key financial, operational, and commercial risks and assess their potential impact on transactions.

- Evaluate key business drivers, earnings sustainability, working capital requirements, and potential deal breakers.

- Develop clear, commercially relevant insights and recommendations for clients and investors.

- Work closely with legal, tax, operational, and other specialist teams to provide comprehensive transaction insights.

- Review and sign off on high-quality FDD reports, presentations, and other transaction deliverables.

2. Client Relationship & Engagement Management:

- Build and maintain strong, long-term relationships with clients and investment professionals.

- Act as a trusted advisor to clients throughout the transaction lifecycle.

- Understand clients' investment objectives, transaction strategy, and specific due diligence requirements.

- Lead client discussions, management meetings, diligence calls, and transaction-related discussions.

- Present key findings, risks, and recommendations clearly to senior management, promoters, investors, and investment committees.

- Proactively identify client requirements and provide value-added advisory solutions.

- Develop strong relationships with PE funds, sovereign funds, HNIs, family offices, corporates, and other investors.

3. Business Development & Practice Building:

- Take ownership of building and scaling the Financial Due Diligence and Transaction Support practice.

- Identify and pursue new business opportunities through market outreach, networking, referrals, existing relationships, and strategic partnerships.

- Develop and maintain a strong business pipeline and revenue forecast.

- Build relationships with institutional investors, PE funds, family offices, HNIs, investment bankers, lenders, and other transaction ecosystem participants.

- Lead proposals, pitches, presentations, and commercial discussions.

- Identify new markets, sectors, and service opportunities for practice expansion.

- Work with senior leadership to develop and execute strategic growth initiatives.

- Contribute to strengthening Acquisory's market positioning and brand within the transaction advisory ecosystem.

- Take ownership of revenue growth and profitability targets for the practice.

4. Team Leadership & Development:

- Lead and mentor a team of 10 - 15 professionals across FDD and transaction support engagements.

- Allocate resources effectively across multiple assignments and ensure optimal team utilization.

- Provide technical guidance, coaching, and mentoring to team members.

- Review team deliverables and ensure consistency in quality and analytical rigor.

- Conduct performance evaluations and provide constructive feedback.

- Identify development needs and support the career progression of team members.

- Build a culture of ownership, collaboration, continuous learning, and high performance.

- Encourage knowledge sharing and adoption of best practices across engagements.

5. P&L & Practice Management:

- Take ownership of the P&L for the FDD/Transaction Support team.

- Manage engagement economics, budgets, billing, collections, utilization, and profitability.

- Ensure effective resource planning and cost management.

- Monitor practice performance against revenue and profitability objectives.

- Develop strategies to improve team utilization, margins, and overall practice efficiency.

- Support the leadership team in setting annual business plans and growth targets.

Role Qualifiers:

- CA qualification is mandatory.

- 10+ years of relevant experience in Financial Due Diligence, Transaction Advisory, M&A Advisory, or related areas.

- Strong experience in leading and managing FDD engagements.

- Proven ability to independently manage client relationships and senior stakeholder interactions.

- Demonstrated experience in business development and revenue generation.

- Experience working with or serving PE funds, sovereign funds, family offices, HNIs, strategic investors, or other institutional investors will be highly preferred.

- Proven track record of managing and mentoring a 10 - 15 member team.

- Strong leadership, decision-making, and problem-solving abilities.

- Excellent interpersonal, communication, presentation, and negotiation skills.

- Strong commercial acumen with the ability to understand and manage P&L and practice economics.

- Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.

- Ability to work independently in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment and take end-to-end ownership of assignments and business initiatives.

What We Offer:

- An opportunity to build and scale a Financial Due Diligence and Transaction Support practice.

- Significant ownership and autonomy in an entrepreneurial environment.

- Direct exposure to PE funds, institutional investors, HNIs, family offices, and senior corporate stakeholders.

- Opportunity to shape the firm's market presence and service offerings.

- Strong platform for professionals aspiring to build a long-term leadership career in Transaction Advisory and M&A.

- A collaborative culture with strong employee retention and a proven track record of developing professionals who move into senior investment and advisory roles.