About Builders Vision

Builders Vision is an impact platform that aims to shift markets and minds for good in pursuit of our vision for a humane and healthy planet. We work to help address some of the most difficult environmental and sustainability challenges across three focus areas: oceans, food & agriculture, and energy.

Builders Vision has deployed more than $3 billion across our focus areas and worked alongside nearly 450 partners to drive societal and environmental change. To date, we have helped mitigate, sequester, or avoid over 4 million metric tons of CO2e, generated more than 42,000 jobs, and supported the development of more than 170 sustainable products, technologies, or solutions. While we are seeing progress, we know that we can’t do this alone. The truth is these are trillion dollar sectors that need a number of markets to scale and multiply significantly if we are to ensure a sustainable and secure future.

Our Builders Vision team includes more than 100 impassioned individuals who activate our platform using three primary approaches to influence stakeholders and drive impact across our focus areas:

• Deploying Capital:We use a versatile set of tools, including grants, direct investments, and fund investments to support non-profit leaders, entrepreneurs, and fund managers. Given Builders Vision’s different capital tools and investment vehicles, we have the flexibility to operate across the capital spectrum. We deploy capital into programs and solutions with a focus on how our efforts will lead to the catalyzation of additional investments into the sectors.
• Supporting Partners: We are committed to helping our partners by providing critical resources including technical assistance, networking, learning opportunities, support with impact measurement and management (IMM), and strategic advice to help enhance their success and outcomes.
• Advocating for Change: We leverage communications and engage with influential audiences to accelerate the solutions we pursue. This includes strategic communications, thought leadership, hosting and attending convenings, and industry-wide initiatives and coalitions.

Our commitment to people and the planet extends to our workplace policies and benefits. In 2023, Builders Vision was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies and voted one of Chicago’s Best Places to Work by Crain’s Chicago Business. We are headquartered in the West Loop, one of Chicago’s most thriving and dynamic neighborhoods, and our offices have achieved Gold-level certifications from both the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and the International WELL Building Institute. We also offer fun social team events and offsite retreats to help our people feel refreshed and connected to nature, each other, and our mission.

You can read more about our team, programs, and impact here: https://www.buildersvision.com.

Our Commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) are at the core of our mission to shift markets and minds for good. We know that a humane and healthy planet starts with us. We commit ourselves to learning from others and doing the work to become a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive organization, and we will seek to promote those same values in the world around us. We actively seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool and create an inclusive culture that centers on equitable practices and policies. We are an equal opportunity employer, and we welcome people from all experiences, abilities, and perspectives to apply.

Position Summary

We are seeking a motivated and experienced professional to be a Director, Private Investments on the Builders Initiative Investment Team(BIIT). The position is designed for individuals who possess significant investment experience, team management experience, and the desire to make the planet a more healthy and humane place. The eleven-person Builders Initiative Investment Team was formally established in 2022. The Director, Private Investments will report to the Builders Initiative Chief Investment Officer, Noelle Laing.

The Director, Private Investments will be a leader on a team that manages the private investment portfolios for multiple pools of assets, including the Builders Initiative Foundation Endowment and impact-oriented DAFs. These pools invest in market-rate, impact-focused investment opportunities at scale. We seek to align the investment portfolios with our impact north stars: clean energy and climate justice, sustainable food & agriculture, and ocean health. Outside of these areas, we also seek best-in-class impact opportunities that support our objective of building a best-in-class impact portfolio that proves an institutional endowment can achieve market-rate risk-adjusted returns and impact. Finally, we actively support emerging managers and partners with backgrounds and personal characteristics and experiences that are underrepresented in our industry.

The Director will source, analyze, execute, and monitor investments across asset classes including venture capital, private equity, and real assets – all with an ESG and impact lens. The Director will oversee portfolio construction and risk management. The Director will also work closely with Builders Vision’s Impact Measurement & Management team to continue developing and managing IMM frameworks and analytics for our private investments, and with the Director, Public Markets on management of the endowment and DAFs in their entirety.

Builders Vision maintains offices in Chicago and San Francisco; preference for the Director to be based in Chicago.

Primary Responsibilities:

Please note that this position description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the candidate in this position. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may evolve or change over time.

• Lead private investment activities across the foundation endowment and DAFs, including:
• Asset allocation policy
• Benchmarking
• Sourcing of investment opportunities
• Investment evaluation and selection
• Risk management
• Investment monitoring and reporting
• Communication with internal and external stakeholders
• Identify high-quality investment opportunities – generally funds and/or co-investments – aligned with BIIT’s investment priorities and objectives
• Implement and oversee the quantitative and qualitative analysis of investment opportunities, including analysis of investment merits and considerations
• Guide investment processes across all portfolios – from due diligence to IC approvals to execution to monitoring and exits
• Bring investment recommendations to the appropriate investment committees; foster and maintain strong relationships with internal and external IC members
• Lead structuring and terms & legal negotiations in partnership with the Legal Team
• Conduct capital markets research and apply relevant insights to investments in the portfolios or overall portfolio strategy
• Think creatively and boldly about innovation in the impact investing market, including around new structures or approaches to portfolios
• Work across Builders Vision to collaboratively discover potential investment solutions to the systems frictions inherent in our impact north stars (oceans, energy, and food & ag)
• Build and maintain relationships with the broader investment community
• Represent Builders Vision externally to achieve our mission of shifting markets and minds for good
• Mentor Associates and Senior Associates on the Builders Initiative Investment Team and work collaboratively with them to accomplish the requirements for this role
• Travel for annual meetings, investment due diligence, conferences, team collaborations, and other priorities

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years of investment experience in organizations such as endowments, foundations, family offices, asset management firms, OCIO firms, or wealth management shops
• Has been responsible for investment recommendations and investment execution across various private investment asset classes
• Experience sourcing and completing both fund and direct private investments
• Demonstrable experience and interest in impact, ESG, and Builders Vision’s focus areas in ocean health, energy transition and climate justice, and sustainable food & agriculture
• Experience in a client-facing role/environment
• Demonstrated critical thinking and problem-solving skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Comfort with public speaking roles internally and externally
• Willingness to take a creative approach to determining deal structures and to designing investment strategies
• Comfort in a fast-paced environment
• Strong collaborator and mentor
• BA/BS in a relevant field and an advanced degree and/or CFA

Personal Attributes that Support your Success

• Ability to act as a trusted advisor to principals and colleagues while demonstrating expertise and integrity
• You are helpful, a team player, and show respect while collaborating with others
• You are result-oriented and exercise sound judgement
• A lifelong learner, who is inquisitive and solves problems with bold thinking and innovation
• You are dedicated to achieving excellence and you work with others to tackle the tasks at hand
• A clear communicator
• Unquestionable ethics and personal integrity

Builders Vision is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to building and maintaining a culturally diverse workplace. We encourage women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans to apply. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.