What are the responsibilities and job description for the Managing Director, Private Equity position at Carnegie Corporation?
Overview:
The Andrew Carnegie Foundation, originally established as Carnegie Corporation of New York, was founded in 1911 by Andrew Carnegie. Today, our funding supports the issues that Carnegie considered most important: education, democracy, and peace.
Our grantmaking is grounded in Andrew Carnegie’s vision to do “real and permanent good in the world.”
The Position
Reporting to the Chief Investment Officer, the Managing Director – Private Equity is a new senior investment role and ideal for someone who is motivated by intellectual rigor, long-term responsibility, and the mission of stewarding the Foundation's assets. The right candidate will bring judgment, credibility, and partnership mindset to contribute as a leader of the investment team.
The MD will have ownership of a meaningful share of the portfolio, with a primary focus on private markets (buyout, growth, venture, and, selectively, other strategies), alongside public markets opportunities where appropriate. The MD will operate as a peer to existing senior investment team members, lead underwriting and recommendations within assigned areas, building conviction independently, and bringing well-formed recommendations to the CIO and Investment Committee as needed.
Responsibilities:
A core requirement is the ability to source, underwrite, and build lasting partnerships with exceptional managers. Candidates should demonstrate a track record of identifying and cultivating these relationships with credibility among high-quality managers and peer allocators. Travel is expected to fulfill this requirement.
Candidates should have a clear framework for evaluating managers. Criteria such as investment skill (edge, portfolio construction, risk management), organizational quality (team stability, discipline) and alignment (incentives, terms) are core to our process.
Beyond manager selection, this role requires the MD to be a capital allocator. The MD must understand how individual decisions affect the total portfolio across expected return, liquidity, diversification, concentration, pacing, vintage-year exposure, fees, risk, and opportunity cost. Candidates also need to adapt and evolve as circumstances change.
Strong candidates will be energized by high-conviction opportunities but disciplined enough to be discerning; comfortable saying no to good managers the portfolio does not need, re-underwriting existing relationships honestly, and reducing legacy relationships when warranted. POSITION SPECIFICATION
Leadership and Culture:
The ideal candidate is humble, focused, and genuinely committed to the mission. They collaborate naturally and are comfortable arguing amicably for a divergent view. An ownership mentality, focused on absolute performance and growing the Foundation’s assets, is a must.
The MD must distill complex strategies into clear, compelling recommendations for the CIO, Investment Committee, and team, communicating with both substance and judgment in writing and in person.
They should engage team members constructively, raise the quality of team debate, negotiate effectively with managers while maintaining positive relationships, and represent the Foundation externally with credibility and discretion.
The MD should actively develop investment talent: setting high analytical standards, giving clear feedback, and helping investment team members build exceptional judgment.
Professional Experience / Qualifications:
The ideal candidate will have approximately 15-20 years of investment industry experience and 10-15 years of private market direct or institutional investing experience with demonstrated decision ownership at an endowment, foundation, family office, or OCIO. An interest in continuous improvement of the investing program, rather than relying on conventional institution norms, is important.
Meaningful private markets experience is required, with enough breadth to evaluate opportunities across buyout, growth, venture, and adjacent diversifying strategies. Candidates with deep expertise in one or more categories that fit with the strategic direction of the portfolio are desired, along with judgement to know what it takes to build conviction in adjacent areas. Experience managing within a mature, carefully constructed portfolio is a significant advantage.
Strong candidates will demonstrate:
- Meaningful private markets decision-ownership as an institutional allocator
- A track record of sourcing, underwriting, and maintaining high-quality manager relationships
- Strong list of existing relationships
- Sound judgment on sizing, pacing, liquidity, concentration, and opportunity cost
- Strong written and verbal communication with CIO, board, or equivalent audiences
- Credibility with external managers and peer investors
- Ability to mentor and develop direct report(s) and other investment professionals
- Long-term orientation consistent with a foundation's mission and time horizon
- Ability to take a qualitative and quantitative approach, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each
- Experience covering other strategies or asset classes is a plus
Candidates are less likely to be fit if they prefer quantity over quality, are not comfortable working within a team that shares risk and is communicative around decision-making or are drawn more to the prestige of the role than to the mission and work.
What Success Looks Like
In the first 12-18 months, candidates will be expected to:
- Earn credibility with the CIO, peers, junior team, Investment Committee, and key external partners
- Develop a clear view of the assigned portfolio, identifying the highest priority adds, holds, and divestitures
- Improve private markets underwriting and IC communication
- Expand access to managers in high priority areas
- Build the strategy for the private portfolio
- Over time: become a trusted senior leader whose judgment compounds, improving the portfolio, deepening the Foundation's access to exceptional managers, and helping sustain a high-performing investment culture
Benefits:
- Employer-paid health insurance, including medical, dental, life, and short-term disability, plus a substantial contribution to a retirement plan account, wellness program, and a generous paid time off program.
- Corporate discounts.
Salary Range:
$425,000 - $475,000. New hires are typically brought into the organization between the minimum to midpoint of the salary hiring range posted depending on qualifications, experience, and internal equity.
The Andrew Carnegie Foundation is an equal opportunity employer committed to complying with all federal, state and local equal employment opportunity (“EEOC”) laws. The Andrew Carnegie Foundation strictly prohibits discrimination against any employee or applicant for employment because of the individual’s race, creed, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, height and weight, disability, and any other characteristic protected by law. The Corporation abides by all applicable rules and regulations in its recruiting and employment practices including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and state disability laws.
Qualified candidates will be contacted for an interview.
Salary : $425,000 - $475,000