Position Summary
We are seeking an exceptional technology leader to join the Global Portfolio Solutions (GPS) team, working directly with, Richard Elder, Partner, Head of Global Portfolio Solutions. This individual will serve as Carlyle's primary technology value creation resource for the Americas , partnering with portfolio management teams, deal teams, and GPS functional peers to accelerate technology-driven value creation across Carlyle's US Buyout portfolio.
The GPS Technology role will be the connective tissue between Carlyle's investment professionals and the technology leadership at our portfolio companies - translating strategic investment theses into concrete technology execution roadmaps, and converting lessons learned across the portfolio into scalable playbooks, partnerships, and community. This person will be a member of a lean, but highly-capable, GPS team and will work collaboratively with other regional GPS functional leaders.
Above all, this person will serve as a trusted, humble thought partner to deal teams and portfolio company technology leaders alike - leveraging deep technical and operational expertise, strong listening skills, and a practitioner's credibility to drive outsized technology value creation across the portfolio.
This role is expected to work similar hours to our management teams in the portfolio, as well as have some peaks and valleys of time intensity attributable to live deal work. The weekly time commitments should be fairly predictable and require only moderate travel.
Responsibilities
Value Creation & Portfolio Engagement
- Partner directly with portfolio management teams, deal teams, and GPS functional peers to develop and execute technology value creation roadmaps aligned to each company's investment thesis and stage of ownership
- Advise portfolio companies on how to architect and execute large-scale technology transformation programs, including carve-outs, acquisitions, modernization, platform consolidation, and cloud migration initiatives
- Evaluate portfolio companies' technology spend, identifying opportunities to optimize across labor, software, hardware and services that can drive meaningful impact on profitability
- Advise portfolio companies on optimizing their technology operating models, including decisions around onshore/offshore organizational structures, build vs. buy vs. partner tradeoffs, and vendor management
- Build and maintain a network of high-performing technology leaders that can fill permanent or temporary vacant roles at portfolio companies
- Serve as a thought partner to portfolio company CIOs, CTOs, and CPOs on strategic technology investment prioritization, product engineering capacity, and organizational design
Knowledge Creation & Dissemination
- Develop and curate technology-focused case studies and playbooks that capture best practices in technology execution, transformation, and investment across the Carlyle portfolio
- Maintain a living body of GPS technology knowledge, including frameworks, assessments, and reference architectures, made accessible to deal teams and portfolio companies through the GPS resource portal
- Partner with GPS peers across functional areas (commercial excellence, pricing, digital/AI, cost optimization) to integrate technology perspectives into cross-functional value creation initiatives
Community & Events
- Lead the design and execution of Carlyle's annual technology leadership summits, convening C-level Technology, Product, and Engineering leaders from across the portfolio to share best practices, benchmark performance, and forge peer relationships
- Convene periodic community webinars and forums for portfolio company technology leaders to exchange insights on common challenges, emerging technologies, and vendor experiences
- Build and sustain a trusted peer-to-peer network among portfolio company technology executives, acting as a connector and convener across the community
Strategic Partnerships
- Identify, evaluate, and foster strategic partnerships with technology product and service providers - including software vendors, systems integrators, cloud providers, and managed services firms - that can deliver value at scale across the portfolio
- Develop and manage a curated network of technology consultants, contractors, and implementation partners that GPS and portfolio companies can engage for high-priority initiatives
- Evaluate and pilot emerging technology solutions, including AI/ML platforms, automation tooling, and data infrastructure, for applicability across the Carlyle portfolio
Deal Support
- Partner with deal teams to provide technology expert opinion, diligence support, and risk assessment on prospective investments, with particular focus on technology architecture, product roadmap maturity, platform scalability, engineering team capability, and technical debt
- Contribute to investment committee materials and value creation planning for new platform and add-on investments
Qualifications
The candidate will be a highly-accomplished technology executive or senior practitioner, likely having served as a CTO, CIO or equivalent at a PE- or venture-backed company that has successfully executed a meaningful technology transformation, or as a senior leader within a top-tier technology consulting or advisory firm. In addition, they will have:
- Deep expertise across the technology value creation landscape, including product engineering, software architecture, infrastructure modernization, digital transformation, and AI/ML adoption
- Demonstrated ability to lead or oversee large, complex technology transformation programs in environments with competing priorities and significant organizational change
- Experience advising on or executing technology operating model design, including onshore/offshore hybrid models, platform team structures, and vendor management frameworks
- A track record of translating strategic technology investments into measurable business outcomes - revenue growth, cost reduction, margin expansion, or enterprise value creation
- Familiarity with the private equity deal cycle, value creation planning, and the expectations of PE-backed company management teams
- Experience with cyber breaches/incidents, and how to advise crafting a response
- Ability to engage credibly and influence at the CTO, CIO, CPO, CFO, COO and CEO level, as well as with PE investment professionals
- Experience building and leveraging ecosystems of technology partners, vendors, and advisors to accelerate execution
- A passion for knowledge sharing, community building, and developing others - not just solving problems individually
- Strong ability to help portfolio companies enhance performance through consultation and collaboration, rather than applying rigid, one-size-fits-all prescriptions
Background Requirements (for everyone in GPS)
- A track record of outstanding achievement and increasing levels of responsibility
- Familiarity with private equity, the deal process, and the stakeholders within an alternative asset manager and a private equity business
- An entrepreneurial and creative approach to leverage new developments and innovative ideas to continuously improve the business operations of a portfolio operations business
- Ability to balance multiple stakeholders while working collaboratively - with discretion and without ego - to drive results
- Strong analytical capacity and intellectual horsepower to understand and use data and information
- Fluency in creating and optimizing lean, agile systems - including technology tools - to get things done; someone who brings others along in their adoption and utilization
- Self-starter with tremendous amounts of individual initiative; a forward-thinking, planful person who humbly brings the team along toward eventually generating operational excellence across the organization
- Exceptional ability at architecting and influencing portfolio management teams in the planning, managing, and delivering projects in a proactive fashion: intuitively "picks up and owns" challenges and opportunities across the business
- Strong self-discipline to stay on task while navigating complex bureaucracies with cross-cutting interests, coupled with extreme agility to re-prioritize as needed and when unexpected situations arise
- The poise, aplomb, and discretion to interact, influence, and rapidly earn trust across both GPS and the firm, both top to bottom and across each organization
- Superior written and verbal communications skills
- Embodiment of Carlyle's core values: values-driven leader of unquestioned integrity, a strong work ethic, a commitment to no-ego teamwork, and a no-excuses mindset around excellence
Benefits/Compensation
The compensation range for this role is specific to Washington, DC and New York, NY, and takes into account a wide range of factors including but not limited to the skill sets required/preferred; prior experience and training; licenses and/or certifications.
The anticipated base salary range for this role is $300,000 to $400,000.
In addition to the base salary, the hired professional will enjoy a comprehensive benefits package spanning retirement benefits, health insurance, life insurance and disability, paid time off, paid holidays, family planning benefits and various wellness programs. Additionally, the hired professional may also be eligible to participate in an annual discretionary incentive program, the award of which will be dependent on various factors, including, without limitation, individual and organizational performance.
Due to the high volume of candidates, please be advised that only candidates selected to interview will be contacted by Carlyle.
