Managing Director, Private Equity

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Investment Staff Full Time New York, New York, New York, NY, US

Salary Range: $ To $ Annually

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…