Cove Private Equity Portfolio Operations Lead

OVERVIEW:

The D. E. Shaw group seeks a highly capable, builder-minded operational management professional to join Cove, its private equity rollup strategy focused on scaling consolidation platforms. This individual will play a central role in shaping Cove’s company integration, portfolio oversight, and operational value creation across the firm’s platforms, and will help to build the next-generation operating infrastructure that enables Cove to scale. The role offers a unique opportunity to join, and help build, a fast-growing platform at the intersection of private equity, operational transformation, and technology development, with exposure to senior leadership and broad ownership of high-impact initiatives.

WHAT YOU'LL DO DAY-TO-DAY:

• Lead the design and execution of integration frameworks for newly acquired businesses, ensuring transitions are structured, stable, and operationally coherent.
• Partner with portfolio company leadership to establish and maintain scalable operating processes, systems, and performance cadences.
• Convert value creation plans into clear operational programs, coordinating execution across portfolio companies.
• Work closely with Cove leadership to develop, oversee and guide portfolio-wide transformation initiatives, ensuring consistency, discipline, and momentum.
• Design and build the operational infrastructure (systems, workflows, data architecture, and technology enablers) that allows portfolio operations to be scalable, streamlined, and intelligently governed.
• As the platform grows, build and develop a team of portfolio operations specialists to support consistent delivery across companies.
  
  

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

• A bachelor’s degree or higher, an exceptional record of academic and professional achievement, and five to eight years of professional experience in management consulting, private equity portfolio operations, corporate strategy, or operational transformation.
• Demonstrated experience leading or supporting post-merger integration, transformation programs, or large-scale operational change initiatives.
• Proven ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder projects from ambiguity to execution.
• Highly analytical and data-driven, with comfort using quantitative insight to inform operational and strategic decision-making.
• Experience working in or closely with PE-backed businesses or portfolio environments is highly valued.
• Experience and enthusiasm for working with technology-oriented solutions, digital transformation tools, or operational technology platforms to drive scalability and efficiency.
• High-energy, execution-oriented, and comfortable working hands-on in imperfect, evolving environments.
• Excellent interpersonal intelligence and collaborative instincts, and the ability to influence with and without formal authority.
• The expected annual base salary for this position is $175,000 to $250,000. Our compensation and benefits package includes variable compensation in the form of a year-end bonus, guaranteed in the first year of hire, and benefits including medical and prescription drug coverage, 401(k) contribution matching, wellness reimbursement, family building benefits, and a charitable gift match program.