Lead Generation Analyst
Department / Team: Deal Team / Origination
Location: Remote
Employment Type: Full-time or Independent Contractor
About the Firm
Dark Alpha Capital is an independent sponsor investment firm focused on acquiring and investing in lower middle market businesses across a range of industries. We partner with business owners, management teams, family offices, financial institutions, and institutional investors to identify, evaluate, and execute private market investment opportunities that create long-term value.
Our approach combines deep sector expertise, disciplined transaction execution, and an operational mindset. We work collaboratively with experienced executives, operating partners, and industry specialists to develop investment theses, execute acquisitions, and support portfolio companies throughout the ownership lifecycle.
We value intellectual curiosity, accountability, and a bias toward execution. Team members are given meaningful responsibility, direct exposure to live transactions and strategic initiatives, and the opportunity to work alongside experienced investment and operating professionals. Whether supporting origination, investments, operations, technology, legal, finance, or corporate functions, every role contributes to advancing our investment platform and helping build exceptional businesses.
At Dark Alpha Capital, we are committed to building enduring partnerships and creating sustainable value for business owners, investors, employees, and the companies we serve.
Role Summary
The Lead Generation Analyst is responsible for building and maintaining the proprietary prospecting engine that powers Dark Alpha Capital's M&A origination efforts. This role focuses exclusively on identifying, researching, organizing, enriching, and maintaining high-quality acquisition targets before they enter the firm's active outreach process.
Working closely with the Origination team, the Lead Generation Analyst develops industry-specific target lists, researches business owners and key decision-makers, enriches company and contact data, maintains CRM integrity, and continuously expands the firm's proprietary acquisition database. Rather than owning business development conversations or transaction execution, this role specializes in delivering accurate, actionable, and investment-ready lead intelligence that enables Origination Associates and senior deal professionals to execute highly targeted outreach campaigns.
Success in this role requires exceptional research ability, analytical thinking, data discipline, organizational excellence, attention to detail, and the ability to manage large datasets while maintaining high standards of quality, accuracy, and operational consistency.
Key ResponsibilitiesMarket Research & Target Identification
- Research industries, sub-sectors, geographic markets, and business niches that align with the firm's investment strategy.
- Identify acquisition candidates using public databases, business directories, industry associations, broker platforms, and proprietary research methods.
- Build comprehensive target company lists based on investment criteria, ownership characteristics, company size, industry focus, and geographic location.
- Continuously monitor markets for newly identified acquisition opportunities.
Lead Generation & Data Acquisition
- Source business owner and executive contact information using research platforms, public records, databases, and commercial data providers.
- Expand and maintain proprietary lead databases through continuous research and data acquisition.
- Validate contact information to maximize outreach effectiveness and data quality.
Data Enrichment
- Research company ownership, executive leadership, financial characteristics, employee counts, locations, industry classifications, and operational profiles.
- Enrich company records using multiple internal and external data sources.
- Identify ownership succession indicators, acquisition signals, growth trends, and other factors relevant to M&A origination.
CRM & Database Management
- Maintain accurate and organized records within the firm's CRM and internal databases.
- Ensure consistent tagging, categorization, deduplication, and standardization of company and contact records.
- Perform ongoing database hygiene to maintain data integrity across the origination platform.
Lead Qualification Support
- Apply the firm's investment criteria to prioritize prospective acquisition targets.
- Score opportunities based on investment attractiveness, ownership profile, industry fit, transaction readiness, and strategic relevance.
- Prepare qualified lead lists for Origination Associates and senior deal professionals.
Market Intelligence
- Monitor industry news, ownership transitions, acquisitions, executive changes, business expansions, and other market developments that may generate acquisition opportunities.
- Identify emerging sectors and trends that support the firm's acquisition strategy.
Reporting & Analytics
- Track lead generation activity, database growth, research productivity, and data quality metrics.
- Produce reports on sourcing activity, lead pipeline development, and market coverage.
- Recommend improvements to lead generation processes, research methodologies, and data management practices.
Process Improvement
- Continuously improve lead generation workflows, research methodologies, automation opportunities, and database quality.
- Collaborate with Technology and Operations teams to optimize sourcing tools, CRM workflows, and data infrastructure.
Qualifications
Required
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Marketing, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
- 1-2+ years of experience in lead generation, market research, business development support, recruiting research, sales development, data research, or similar analytical roles.
- Experience researching companies, executives, industries, and business information using online research tools and commercial databases.
- Strong organizational skills with exceptional attention to detail and data accuracy.
- Experience working with CRM systems, spreadsheets, and large datasets.
- Excellent written communication, analytical thinking, and research capabilities.
- Ability to manage multiple research projects simultaneously in a fast-paced remote environment.
Preferred
- Experience supporting M&A, private equity, investment banking, executive search, or B2B sales organizations.
- Familiarity with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo, ZoomInfo, PitchBook, Capital IQ, Grata, Axial, or similar research platforms.
- Basic understanding of mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and lower middle market businesses.
- Experience working with workflow automation or data enrichment tools.
Skills and Competencies
- Research Excellence: Ability to efficiently identify, verify, and organize large volumes of company and executive information while maintaining exceptional accuracy and consistency.
- Lead Generation Strategy: Strong understanding of systematic prospect identification, ICP development, market segmentation, and database expansion techniques that support proprietary deal sourcing.
- Data Intelligence & Enrichment: Ability to transform raw business information into structured, investment-ready intelligence through research, validation, and enrichment.
- CRM & Database Management: Demonstrated discipline in maintaining clean, accurate, standardized CRM records that support efficient origination workflows and organizational reporting.
- Analytical Thinking: Ability to evaluate companies against defined investment criteria, identify acquisition signals, recognize patterns, and prioritize high-quality opportunities.
- Operational Discipline: Commitment to maintaining documentation standards, research consistency, data integrity, and process compliance while managing high-volume workloads.
- Technology Proficiency: Comfortable utilizing CRM systems, research platforms, spreadsheets, automation tools, and business intelligence resources to improve research productivity.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Ability to work effectively with Origination Associates, investment professionals, operations, and technology teams to support firm-wide acquisition efforts.
- Continuous Improvement: Proactively identifies opportunities to improve research methodologies, sourcing strategies, database quality, and operational efficiency.
- Professional Judgment & Confidentiality: Maintains the highest standards of professionalism, discretion, confidentiality, and ethical handling of proprietary business information.
Reporting Structure and Work Environment
Reports To:Senior Management
Direct Reports:Vice President of M&A Origination
Work Environment:
- Standard office hours (9:00 AM – 5:00 PM EST) with flexibility to support business priorities and strategic initiatives.
- Fully remote role with regular collaboration across Origination, Investments, Operations, and Technology.
- Frequent use of CRM systems, research platforms, data providers, and workflow management tools.
- Performance is measured through research quality, database growth, data accuracy, operational consistency, and contribution to the firm's proprietary origination pipeline.
Compensation
Structure: Performance-Based Success Fee Only
Terms: No salary, retainer, hourly compensation, milestone payments, or guaranteed compensation.
The Lead Generation Analyst will be eligible to receive a 1.0% Success Fee of Net Closing Transaction Fees generated by transactions successfully closed by the firm. Compensation is funded exclusively from transaction-related revenues received by the Company and is contingent upon a successful closing.
The role contributes to the firm's ability to originate, evaluate, and successfully close transactions by identifying acquisition opportunities, building proprietary target databases, enriching prospect intelligence, maintaining CRM data quality, supporting market research initiatives, and delivering qualified lead intelligence that advances the firm's origination efforts.
Equal Opportunity Statement
Dark Alpha Capital LLC is committed to fostering a professional, respectful, and inclusive workplace where individuals are evaluated based on their qualifications, performance, integrity, and ability to contribute to the firm's success. We provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and team members and make employment-related decisions without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
As a growing investment firm, our business priorities, organizational structure, and operational needs may evolve over time. Accordingly, this job description is intended to provide a general overview of the role and is not an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, qualifications, or expectations. Responsibilities may be added, modified, or reassigned to meet the changing needs of the business, and team members may be asked to support cross-functional initiatives that contribute to the firm's overall objectives.
Employment with Dark Alpha Capital is governed by the terms and conditions outlined in the applicable employment or independent contractor agreement. Nothing in this job description constitutes or should be interpreted as a guarantee of employment, compensation, specific duties, or continued engagement.
Pay: $60,000.00 - $85,000.00 per year
Work Location: Remote
