Investment Associate

Investment Associate (Impact Investing) – ICA Fund

Location: Oakland, CA (Hybrid: in-office Tuesdays & Thursdays)

Position: Full-time, reporting to the Director of Investment

About ICA Fund—Not Business as Usual

ICA’s mission: Accelerate great businesses through mentorship and mission-aligned investments to catalyze value in missed markets and transform communities. Our tailored accelerator programs combine hands-on advising, business education, and access to capital. As an Investment Associate, you’ll play a pivotal role in driving our investment process with rigor, innovation, and impact.

Why This Role Matters

This is a critical position in our investment process. We’re seeking a strategic thinker and doer - someone who brings initiative, asks the right questions, and combines financial expertise with mission-driven insight. You’ll not only model numbers but also engage directly with founders, help close deals, and ensure ICA’s investments deliver both financial and impact returns.

Core Responsibilities

Investment Analysis, Diligence & Founder Engagement (~60%)

• Vet opportunities in ICA’s investment pipeline to assess fit and prioritization.
• Lead diligence calls and meetings with founders, preparing thoughtful question sets that surface insights on business model, team, traction, financials, and impact.
• Evaluate founder capabilities with both analytical rigor and interpersonal sensitivity.
• Conduct industry, market, and competitive research.
• Draft clear, actionable investment memoranda and presentation decks for decision-making.
• Develop and maintain robust financial models across multiple scenarios.

Deal Closing & Funding (~10%)

• Support the structuring, negotiation, and closing of investments
• Assist with documentation, funding logistics, and coordination to ensure smooth deal execution.

Portfolio Management & Founder Support (~20%)

• Monitor portfolio company performance on both financial and impact metrics, providing ongoing analysis and reporting.
• Prepare reports and present findings to ICA’s Board, including the Investment Committee.
• Proactively engage with founders to understand progress, challenges, and opportunities.
• Identify and help coordinate ICA’s support for portfolio companies - including connections to advisors, professional service providers, capital partners, and participation in ICA’s events.
• Surface insights from portfolio trends to inform ICA’s investment strategy and services.

Ecosystem Engagement (~5%)

• Represent ICA at industry events, conferences, and workshops.
• Expand ICA’s network by cultivating 4+ new high-quality referral sources annually.

Ad-Hoc Leadership Support (~5%)

Assist with strategic initiatives, process improvements, and impact measurement systems.

Impact & Success Metrics (Key Results)

• KR1: Conduct rigorous due diligence on prospective investments, including founder engagement.
• KR2: Lead diligence calls that generate critical insights and build trust-based relationships.
• KR3: Support closing and funding of deals to ensure timely, accurate execution.
• KR4: Deliver clear, high-quality investment memos aligned with ICA’s investment strategy.
• KR5: Build accurate, dynamic financial models to inform decision-making.
• KR6: Monitor and report portfolio company performance with actionable insights.
• KR7: Prepare reports and present analysis to the Board and Investment Committee.
• KR8: Connect founders with ICA’s advisor network, professional services, capital partners, etc

Qualities & Qualifications

Essential

• Deep personal commitment to ICA’s mission of supporting under represented founders; genuinely motivated by the role of capital in driving social and economic justice
• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business, or related field
• 3–5 years of experience in investment research, financial analysis, venture capital, private equity, or impact investing.
• Proven experience leading diligence calls with management teams and founders, including developing question frameworks and building rapport.
• Strong financial modeling and scenario analysis skills (Excel or equivalent).
• Excellent communication skills - able to ask sharp questions and translate insights into clear recommendations.
• Strong interpersonal EQ: able to engage with founders authentically while gaining key insights.
• Experience supporting deal execution, including documentation and funding processes.
• Demonstrated initiative, intellectual curiosity, and proactive problem-solving.
• Ethical, trustworthy, and aligned with ICA’s mission to supporting under represented founders
• Team-oriented: able to collaborate effectively and shape collective decision-making.

Competitive Advantage

• Experience in portfolio monitoring, impact measurement, or advisory support for founders.
• Familiarity with structuring seed, growth, or working capital deals.
• Track record in mission-driven or impact-first investing.

Why You’ll Love This Role

• Mission-Driven Work: Deploy capital to overlooked entrepreneurs, and uncover value in missed markets.
• Hands-On & Meaningful: Lead diligence, support closing, and guide ongoing founder success.
• Entrepreneurial Environment: Your initiative will shape ICA’s approach and strategy.
• Growth: Build deep expertise across sourcing, diligence, execution, and portfolio management.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: The annual base salary range for this full time position is $88,000 - $104,000, dependent upon background and experience. Compensation also includes a discretionary bonus paid annually based on organization and individual performance.
• Benefits: ICA’s full benefits package includes: 13 paid holidays per year; 3 weeks of annual paid vacation; 10 days of annual paid sick leave; at least 3 employer-identified mental health days; employer-paid health, dental, vision, life insurance and disability benefits; 50% employer-paid dependent health; employer-paid mental health counseling; 24-hour online virtual healthcare; 401(k) plan with matching; and mobile phone / Internet reimbursement.
• Equal Opportunity Employer: ICA Fund evaluates qualified candidates without regard to protected characteristics and is fully committed to fostering equity and inclusion.

Hiring Process & How to Apply

People are key to our success, and we’d like to get to know you. Depending on your progress through our hiring process, you may go through the following steps: A round or two of panel interviews; review of work samples; completion of an exercise or case study; and reference-checking of previous supervisors and colleagues.

Please submit both a resume and a very brief cover letter (combined into one PDF or Word document) by September 18, 2025 by clicking on the Apply button here:

https://www.ica.fund/careers/investment-associate-impact-investing