Senior Associate Director, Financial Communications (Private Capital)

About the role

We are seeking a Senior Associate Director to help grow APCO's Financial Communications work with private capital clients across asset classes, including private equity, private credit, infrastructure and real assets, as well as supporting their portfolio companies.

Responsibilities

• Serves as a senior client lead and trusted counselor to private capital clients, including GPs, CCOs, IR leads, and portfolio company CEOs and CFOs
• Bridges strong advisory and consulting instincts to the work, pattern-matches across situations, frames decisions clearly, and gives senior clients counsel they can act on, not just options to consider
• Operates with a bias for action in fast-moving, high-stakes situations where decisions are often made in hours, not days
• Quarterbats integrated, multi-disciplinary teams across communications, public affairs, regulatory, crisis, and digital workstreams to deliver one cohesive answer to the client
• Develops and executes communications strategies across the private markets lifecycle: firm positioning and brand building, fund launches and final closes, platform acquisitions, add-on transactions, recapitalizations, exits and IPOs of portfolio companies, LP communications support, and ESG/responsible investing narratives
• Led media strategy and execution with top-tier business/financial media and key industry trade and sector press
• Counsels clients through sensitive moments including activist campaigns, take-privates, contested transactions, regulatory inquiries, portfolio company crises, and reputational issues that touch private capital brands
• Partners with APCO's public affairs, regulatory, and crisis colleagues to bring integrated counsel on policy and political dynamics affecting private capital
• Provides on-site support during transactions, roadshows, contested situations, or other material events
• Drives new business across the private capital ecosystem, including RFP responses, pitches, and proactive prospecting; cultivates relationships that translate into mandates
• Builds and mentors team members staffed to private capital accounts; helps shape the practice's growth trajectory and go-to-market strategy
• Maintains a sophisticated understanding of fundraising dynamics, deal flow, private capital strategies, investor sentiment, and the regulatory backdrop

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or university in a related field. Graduate degree preferred.
• 8–12 years of relevant experience in financial communications, with substantial direct experience advising private capital firms, and/or their portfolio companies. Agency, in-house sponsor communications/IR, or business journalism transitioning into communications all considered.
• Strong advisory and consulting instincts; track record of being a trusted counselor to senior clients, not just an executor
• Bias for action and demonstrated composure under time pressure in high-stakes, often material non-public situations
• Established and actively maintained relationships with senior reporters and editors covering private markets, M&A, and capital markets at top-tier outlets
• Direct experience supporting at least several of the following: fund launches, platform deals, exits, take-privates, portfolio company IPOs, activist defense, restructurings, executive transitions, regulatory matters, and sensitive crisis situations
• Demonstrated ability to bring or build a book of business; track record of generating new mandates within the private capital ecosystem strongly preferred
• Sophisticated understanding of GP/LP dynamics, fund structures, deal mechanics, and sponsor reputational drivers
• Experience quarterbacking integrated, multi-disciplinary teams across communications, public affairs, regulatory, and digital workstreams
• Cross-border experience advising clients across U.S., U.K., and EU disclosure regimes and media markets is a strong plus
• Sector expertise is a plus, with particular interest in candidates who have advised clients across defense, technology, financial services, healthcare, industrials, or energy and infrastructure
• Fluency with the policy and regulatory backdrop shaping private capital (SEC private fund rules, CFIUS, antitrust, tax, ESG/SFDR) is a strong plus
• Comfort serving as a senior client lead in high-stakes, fast-moving situations and counseling sponsor leadership directly
• Willingness to travel as client situations require, including roadshows, on-site portfolio company support, and time in client offices for sensitive moments
• References should be able to speak to your discretion in handling material non-public information and pre-announcement transaction work
• Exceptional writing, analytical, and presentation skills
• Detail-oriented, responsive to a rapidly changing environment, able to manage multiple complex projects under tight deadlines, a self-starter who takes initiative and sets priorities
• Discretion and judgment appropriate to handling material non-public information
• Entrepreneurial spirit and collaborative team player