Forward Deployed Implementation, Associate Director (BLR)

Alchelyst is a client solutions and infrastructure partner for private markets asset managers. Purpose-built for the expanding demands and sophistication of global private markets, the firm offers a comprehensive managed service offering that can support GPs, private wealth funds and investors. Alchelyst has offices in the US, Ireland, UK, Luxembourg and India.

AURUM, Alchelyst’s proprietary technology platform, is designed to automate fund administration processes at scale. Its core features work out of the box, and the platform is flexible enough to adapt to each client’s needs. The Forward Deployed Implementation team makes sure AURUM works for every client, from day one and every day after. The team’s work has two parts, and this role leads both:

• Implementation: Onboarding new clients onto AURUM. This means understanding their fund structures, reporting needs, and operating model, then working with operations and technology teams to configure the platform so clients go live smoothly.
• Adoption and tactical solutions: Extending AURUM to client-specific, complex and exception-driven cases. The team sits alongside operations teams to understand these cases and works with the technology team to deliver tailored solutions quickly, so that AURUM becomes part of how operations works every day.

We are seeking a senior techno-functional leader with 12-14 years of experience in fund administration, with a background as a fund accountant or business analyst on fund accounting systems and a track record of leading teams, client implementations and system change.

The ideal candidate combines deep knowledge of private markets fund accounting with a strong grasp of technology and proven people leadership. They’ll lead new client implementations end to end, own the adoption and tactical solutions agenda for assigned operations teams, and build and develop the team that delivers both.

Key Responsibilities

Client Implementation

• Lead the onboarding of new clients onto AURUM end to end, from scoping and requirements through configuration, data migration, testing and go-live.
• Own implementation plans, timelines, resourcing and risks across concurrent client onboardings, raising issues early and keeping commitments on track.
• Act as the senior point of contact for new clients during onboarding, setting expectations, leading status updates with client stakeholders and building lasting relationships.
• Set the approach for data migration, validation and parallel runs, and make go-live recommendations with operations and client stakeholders.
• Capture lessons from each implementation and refine the onboarding approach, templates and playbooks.

Operations Engagement & Adoption

• Own AURUM adoption for assigned operations teams and clients, agreeing adoption goals and success measures with operations leadership.
• Partner with operations leads to embed AURUM in day-to-day processes, helping teams understand how the platform supports their work.
• Oversee reviews of fund accounting, investor services and reporting workflows to identify manual workarounds and where standard AURUM features do not fully meet the need.
• Track adoption across teams, clients and processes, and resolve or escalate barriers with clear, actionable recommendations.

Use Case Analysis & Solution Design

• Provide functional direction on client-specific and non-standard use cases, including bespoke fund structures, waterfall and allocation logic, non-standard investor reporting and exception handling.
• Make the final call on whether each use case is best addressed through configuration, a tactical build, a workflow change or a roadmap item for the core product.
• Set the standard for business requirements, functional specifications, user stories and acceptance criteria, and review the team’s work so the technology team can build robust solutions.
• Agree solution approaches with technology leads, balancing speed of delivery with scalability, control and maintainability.

Delivery & Prioritization

• Own and prioritize the implementation and tactical solutions backlog for assigned operations areas and clients, based on business impact, risk, effort and client commitments.
• Run the delivery cadence with developers, product owners and QA across concurrent workstreams, managing dependencies and capacity.
• Lead user acceptance testing with operations, owning the test approach and sign-off while the team handles scenario design, data preparation and parallel runs.
• Be accountable for go-live readiness, including cutover, training, user guides and hypercare support.

Product Feedback & Standardization

• Identify recurring patterns across implementations and tactical requests, and make the case to the product team for generalizing them into core AURUM features.
• Bring structured, prioritized feedback to product leadership on usability, feature gaps and operational pain points.
• Own the library of reusable solutions, configurations and playbooks, and make sure the team uses it to speed up delivery.

Leadership & Governance

• Lead, mentor and develop a team of Associates and Senior Analysts, including hiring, goal-setting, work allocation and reviewing their output.
• Report on implementation progress, adoption metrics and benefits realized (hours saved, errors reduced) to senior leadership and, where relevant, to clients.
• Ensure solutions meet internal control, audit and data governance requirements, with appropriate documentation and change management.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Commerce, Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, or a related field. CA, CPA, ACCA, CFA or an MBA in Finance would be an advantage.
• 12-14 years of experience in fund administration or private markets, as a fund accountant, business analyst, or in a techno-functional role on fund accounting systems, including at least 4 years leading teams or delivery.
• Strong understanding of private markets fund accounting, including capital calls, distributions, management fees, carried interest and waterfalls, NAV calculations, investor allocations, and financial and investor reporting.
• Experience leading client implementations or system migrations on fund accounting platforms such as Investran, Geneva, eFront, Allvue, LemonEdge, FIS, or similar.
• Experience gathering requirements from operations users and translating them into functional specifications and user stories for technology teams.
• Experience leading UAT and system go-lives in an operational environment.
• Working knowledge of SQL for data analysis, validation and troubleshooting.
• Experience managing and developing a team.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the credibility to work with senior operations leaders, clients and engineers.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Private Equity, Private Credit, Real Estate, Infrastructure or Fund of Funds administration, ideally across more than one asset class.
• Experience leading or working in Agile delivery teams, with tools such as Jira, Confluence or Azure DevOps.
• Exposure to workflow automation, low-code platforms, or scripting (e.g., Python, Power Automate).
• Experience with reporting and visualization tools such as Power BI or Tableau.
• Experience with data integrations, file-based imports and exports, or APIs between fund accounting and third-party systems.
• Prior experience leading change management, transformation or process re-engineering programs.
• Experience managing teams or stakeholders across locations (e.g., India, US and Europe).

What Success Looks Like

• Within 1–3 Months: Build a strong understanding of AURUM, the client implementation process and existing operational workflows. Take ownership of the team, the implementation pipeline and the adoption backlog, and agree priorities and success measures with operations and technology leadership.
• Within 4–9 Months: Take in-flight client implementations through to smooth go-lives and deliver prioritized tactical solutions within agreed timelines, with requirements that minimize rework and few UAT defects. Show measurable growth in AURUM adoption and less reliance on manual workarounds outside AURUM.
• Within 9–12 Months: Report the impact of delivered solutions to senior leadership, including hours saved, errors reduced and improved turnaround times. Work with the product team to bring recurring tactical solutions into core AURUM features, and have a repeatable onboarding playbook in place.
• Ongoing: Keep improving operational efficiency, AURUM adoption and the implementation approach. Develop Associates and Senior Analysts so they work independently and can take on larger engagements.