Graduate Analyst - Puma Growth Partners

Why Puma Growth Partners?

At Puma Growth Partners, you'll gain exposure to real deals, real decisions and have the opportunity to make a real impact from day one.

We are an award-winning growth equity investor with an existing portfolio of over 25 companies and specialism in focussed technology solutions, scalable business services, and disruptive consumer brands. We are a team of 16 operating from offices in London, Manchester and Edinburgh, meaning that every individual matters, every voice is heard and everyone can make a difference.

We work very closely with the founders and senior management teams of the business we back, offering them genuine partnership and support. With us, you'll gain meaningful exposure, take on genuine responsibility early in your career, and work directly alongside experienced investors and visionary entrepreneurs. We are proud of our people-first approach, our culture and our way of doing business. Together, we believe it sets us apart in the UK venture and growth-equity market.

Puma Growth Partners is part of Puma Capital Group, an award-winning investment manager with more than £1 billion of assets under management, and total staff of over 140.

Join Us

We are a business in growth mode. With a tight-knit and growing team in Puma Growth Partners, and as part of the wider team at Puma Capital Group, we're large enough to offer exciting opportunities and small enough for every individual to thrive on their own terms.

If you're looking for a graduate career where you'll learn quickly, take responsibility early and be part of a supportive, high-performing team, we'd love to hear from you.

Our Business

Puma Growth Partners is a scale-up and growth investor providing £5 million to £15 million per round. We frequently follow-on, building our stakes within business to approximately £30m of invested capital at the upper end.

We invest with considerable flexibility across a range of sectors and business types, driven by the investment theses that we as a team are motivated by from time to time. We have backed fast-growing fintechs like Pockit and Aveni, scalable services businesses like Influencer and Azoma, and leading consumer brands like Love Corn and Lucky Saint.

We take deep personal pride in our business, and continually strive to improve our processes and our approach, so that the business we back have the greatest possible probability of success. That pride has helped to drive an enviable track record in our industry, with strong portfolio performance and some notable exits.

Our Graduate Programme

Our two-year programme has been designed as a launchpad into the world of private equity and venture capital. Based in our London HQ on St James’s Street, you will gain exposure to all facets of our business on a structured rotation basis that will see you spend one year in our Origination and Investment Team, and one year in our Portfolio and Value Creation Team. During the programme, you will also have the opportunity to gain exposure to the wider Puma business.

What to Expect

The programme has been designed to build confidence, capability and long term careers. Throughout your time on the programme, you will gain hands-on experience within the team, learning from experienced professionals. At Puma, you will have the chance to have a tangible impact.

During the course of the programme, you will undertake comprehensive training in the core skills required of an investment professional such as financial analysis, financial modelling, presentation skills and negotiation skills. You will spend time working within our origination team, portfolio team and core investment team, as well as brief rotations within finance and compliance in order to fully understand the regulatory underpinnings of an asset management business.

Responsibilities might include:

Origination

• Shortlisting companies based on current team investment theses, and contacting them regarding potential investment

• Attending events and meetings to represent Puma and discuss our investment approach

• Undertaking data work to map investment opportunities within specific sectors, or map transactions, advisors, potential buyers etc.

Investment

• Participating in meetings with founders and advisors

• Understanding their businesses and assessing them as investment opportunities against the team’s established multi-stage investment framework

• Supporting due diligence and execution processes, helping the team to gain a robust understanding of business models, risks and value-creation opportunities

• Supporting in the preparation of Investment Oversight Committee papers, presenting careful analysis and assessment of the potential opportunity

Portfolio

• Undertaking deep analysis of current portfolio companies to help propel growth and mitigate risk

• Supporting on strategic considerations to support portfolio company decision making

• Preparing papers or analysis for our quarterly Investment Oversight Committee portfolio review

You will join as part of the Investment20/20 programme and benefit from a wide range of technical and soft skills training, insight and networking events along with over 300 trainees across the industry.

About You

We are looking for someone who is:

• Kind

• Values-driven

• Passionate about working in the world of early-stage businesses and scale-up capital

• A team player who enjoys the company of colleagues and working collaboratively

• An excellent communicator with demonstrable interpersonal skills

• Driven by the opportunity to excel in a high performing environment

• Intellectually curious and commercially aware

• Verbally and numerically strong (a good working knowledge of Excel would be advantageous)

Eligibility Criteria

• An undergraduate degree in any subject area

• The permanent right to work in the UK

Benefits

• The starting salary for the programme is £45,000

• Learning and development opportunities, including professional qualifications

• Buddy scheme

• Enhanced pension scheme

• Mental wellbeing support

• Employee Assistance Programme

• Private medical insurance

• Cycle to work scheme

The Recruitment Process

1. Application form: This includes basic questions such as personal details and education history, alongside questions designed to understand your interest and motivation. Applications close on Monday 30th November 2026 and will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so may close earlier than anticipated. We strongly encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to ensure that you don’t miss out on being considered for the programme.

2. Online assessment: Following a review of your application form, we may invite you to complete an online assessment. This is an opportunity to show us more than your academic achievements. Through realistic workplace scenarios and reasoning exercises, we’ll explore how you analyse information, communicate, collaborate and approach challenges, alongside numerical, critical and diagrammatic reasoning skills.

3. Video interview: The video interviews will be held in early-2027, and are an opportunity to meet a business representative from Puma, alongside a member of our People Team. They will be looking to understand your motivations for applying in further detail, and will utilise scenario and competency-based questions to assess suitability.

4. Assessment Centre: The assessment centre will be held in-person in our London HQ on St James’s Street in February 2027. The day will include several exercises, and is designed to assess both your technical skills and knowledge, as well as your motivations for applying to Puma. This is an opportunity for us to learn more about your skills, interests and motivations, as well as your understanding of Puma and our graduate programme, while giving you the chance to meet our people, experience our culture and get a better feel for what a career with us could look like.

5. Offer: Following the assessment centre, you will be notified within one week whether you have been successful in securing a position on the graduate programme. The programme will start on Monday 6th September 2027.

Whilst we are an organisation embracing the use of AI, to ensure fairness and authenticity, we strongly discourage the use of AI tools during our recruitment process. Candidates found to be using AI-generated responses will be automatically withdrawn from the process. We want you to be authentic and get to know the real you, your motivations and interest in our programme.