Investment Research Analyst

Role name: Investment Research Analyst

Location: South Africa

Working Pattern: Fully remote

Working hours: 9am - 5.30pm UK (subject to adjustment as the CEO work between Singapore and San Fransisco)

Contract Type: Full time, permanent

Reporting to: CEO

Salary: R27,000 - R35,000 gross per month

About our client

Our client is an early-stage venture fund investing at Seed and Series A in North America and Europe. They back founders in enterprise solutions, healthcare and financial services. They are a small, senior team: two partners, a lean bench, and a written investment criteria and protocol that every lead is measured against. They move fast, keep records, and say what they think.

The role

You own the top of the deal sourcing funnel: finding (through their system), researching, qualifying, and organising the companies they look at — and making that engine run every week, not in bursts. You will also work with the partners on deal execution and value creation.

Why this role exists

Most companies generated from the system do not qualify. The value in this seat is the judgment to tell the difference quickly and the discipline to run the process consistently. Their written criteria settle ~90% of leads mechanically; you will apply them rigorously and bring the rest to the partners with a clear view. Over time, the share of your work that is judgment rather than processing is how your growth is measured and how the role grows.

What you will do

• Research and sourcing (core). Build and maintain lead lists against the firm's criteria which includes sector, stage, geography, round size, red flags. Work from public data, databases, news, and network signals to find companies before they are obvious. Screen fast and accurately; document why a company does or does not qualify.
• CRM ownership. You own the CRM (Affinity): every lead labelled, every decision logged with reasoning, every exception flagged. Pipeline hygiene is not admin here, it is how a small team stays aligned and how the engine's performance is tracked. Weekly funnel reporting to the partners.
• AI leverage. You are expected to use AI tools aggressively and well to widen the top of the funnel, sharpen screening, draft first-pass research, and automate the repetitive parts of the job. Show them what you build.
• Value creation. Research that helps the portfolio companies: market maps, competitor tracking, customer and expert call preparation, and ad-hoc analysis for the partners and founders.
• Process. Work within the firm's written sourcing protocol, daily sync-up with the CEO, clear rules on what advances and what doesn't. Bring edge cases; help refine the document as real leads test it.

What we are looking for

• Business acumen: You can read a company from the outside (there are a lot of data points available) and form a view on whether it can create a big outcome and explain that view in plain language.
• Risk appetite: You have done something where the outcome wasn't guaranteed like started something, sold something, built something, taken a real bet. Tell us about it.
• Motivation and the extra mile: Entry-plus level, but not an entry-level attitude: you finish things, you go one step beyond the ask, and you are honest about what you don't know.
• AI fluency: Not "familiar with Claude/ChatGPT" but actually using AI tools to do more and better work, and able to demonstrate it.
• Writing: Clear, short, structured. Much of this job is written.
• Rigour: Comfortable with databases, spreadsheets, and detail; comfortable being measured on consistency.
• Background: 0–2 years in analytical, research, finance, consulting, or startup roles or an exceptional graduate who has done something outside the usual path. VC experience is not required. Curiosity about technology and startups is.

Working pattern

Remote from South Africa. A minimum two-hour overlap with Singapore / San Francisco working hours is required (i.e. either in the morning or early evening SAST), with the rest of the day flexible. This is genuinely a global team so expect to work across time zones, and expect directness about what that means before you join.

What you will get

• A defined progression path: monthly informal review, formal reviews every six months, measured on how much of your work has shifted from processing to judgment. Do well and the role expands into more deal work, portfolio support, and a title to match
• Direct exposure to the partners from day one. No layers
• Twice per year in-person time with the team, all applicable travel expenses covered
• A written playbook and clear expectations. You will always know how you're doing