The Blackgate
PE INVESTMENT PARTNER - ENGINEERING & DEFENCE
Get notified of more jobs like this · No spam, ever
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
PE Investment Partner — Engineering & Defence
Private Equity | Engineering | Defence | MOD/NATO
UK / Europe | International Investment Exposure
Blackgate is seeking to engage with an accomplished Private Equity Investment Partner with deep experience across engineering, defence, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and/or critical infrastructure.
This is a senior investment leadership profile for an organisation seeking to deploy capital into businesses operating within complex, strategically important and increasingly defence-aligned markets.
The Mandate
The Investment Partner will be expected to originate, assess, and lead investments from initial thesis through acquisition, value creation, and eventual exit. The successful individual will combine strong investment judgement with a genuine understanding of industrial businesses, their operating environments, and the geopolitical forces increasingly shaping capital deployment. Experience involving businesses serving the UK MOD, NATO, defence primes, or associated supply chains would be particularly valuable.
Key Responsibilities
- Originate proprietary and intermediated investment opportunities.
- Develop investment theses across engineering, defence, and adjacent industrial markets.
- Lead commercial and investment due diligence.
- Assess management teams and leadership capability.
- Structure and negotiate transactions.
- Present investment recommendations to the Investment Committee.
- Work with portfolio Boards and management teams on value-creation strategy.
- Identify opportunities for organic growth, international expansion, and buy-and-build.
- Maintain relationships across investors, advisers, management teams, and relevant industry networks.
- Support portfolio strategy through to successful exit.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Leadership Profile
We are particularly interested in individuals able to demonstrate:
- Investment judgement — a strong record of making and defending complex capital-allocation decisions.
- Sector intelligence — genuine understanding of engineering, industrial, or defence-related businesses rather than purely financial familiarity.
- Leadership assessment — the ability to determine whether a management team can execute the investment thesis.
- Value creation — evidence of improving businesses after acquisition, not simply completing transactions.
- Geopolitical awareness — an understanding of how defence spending, sovereign capability, supply-chain resilience, and changing NATO priorities are influencing investment opportunities.
- Relationships — credibility across founders, management teams, institutional capital, advisers, and the wider industrial ecosystem.
Relevant Backgrounds
Candidates may currently be an Investment Partner, Managing Director, Principal, or equivalent within private equity or private capital. We will also consider exceptional investment professionals whose experience spans areas such as:
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
- Defence & Aerospace
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Engineering
- Critical Infrastructure
- Dual-Use Technology
- Cyber
- Industrial Technology
- Energy & Resilience
Prior exposure to MOD/NATO-related businesses, security-sensitive environments, government contracting, or regulated industrial markets would be advantageous.
What Matters
This appointment isn’t simply about the number of transactions completed. We are interested in three things:
- Experience. What have you done?
- Capability. What can you build next?
- Judgement. How do you make decisions when the answer isn’t obvious?
Because deploying capital is only the beginning. The quality of the decisions that follow determines what that capital ultimately becomes.
Confidential expressions of interest are welcomed. Blackgate’s Leadership Intelligence Network connects capital with leadership across North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Blackgate operates where leadership and capital meet.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED PLEASE APPLY IN THE NEXT 2-3 WEEKS TO:
Contact@theblackgate.co.uk
Replies will commence on the 28th of September.
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Location