Investment Associate – Real Estate Debt (Origination)

Octopus Group; City of London; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading real estate finance firm in London is seeking an ambitious Investment Associate to support the growth of their Real Estate Debt business. This role involves sourcing new lending opportunities, building relationships with market contacts, and assessing transactions. The ideal candidate brings strong real estate knowledge and interpersonal skills, along with a drive for business development. A competitive salary, hybrid work, and comprehensive benefits are offered.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Untracked holiday

Hybrid working – 3 days office

Wellness hub access

Up to 6 months paid parental leave

Life insurance and income protection

Private medical insurance

Electric vehicle leasing

Qualifications

• Solid understanding of real estate.
• Drive and energy needed to generate deal flow.
• Support senior colleagues with assessment and execution of transactions.

Responsibilities

• Source and develop new lending opportunities.
• Build and maintain relationships with market contacts.
• Review and assess new opportunities for viability.
• Support execution of transactions from engagement to completion.

Skills

Experience in real estate, debt, finance or a related sector

Exposure to business development, origination or client relationship management

Strong knowledge of the UK real estate market

Strong interpersonal and networking skills

Education

RICS / CFA / CAIA qualification

Job description

At Octopus, we’re entrepreneurs and we’re investors, on a mission to back the people, ideas and industries that will change the world.

We think working here is great, but we’re understandably biased. Click here to explore Life at Octopus.

About the Role

What’s in it for you?

This is a chance to join a leading real estate debt team in a front-line origination role. You’ll gain direct exposure to borrowers, brokers and a variety of transactions, while working in a collaborative, entrepreneurial environment. For the right person, it offers strong career progression and the opportunity to play a key role in the growth of our platform.

The role:

We’re looking for a commercially minded and ambitious Investment Associate to help grow our Real Estate Debt business. The role is centred on origination and new business generation – building strong relationships with brokers, borrowers and advisers, identifying attractive lending opportunities, and supporting the expansion of our UK loan book.

You’ll bring a solid understanding of real estate, together with the drive and energy needed to generate deal flow. You’ll also support senior colleagues with the assessment and execution of transactions. This is a client-facing role with exposure to business development, market engagement and a broad range of transactions across commercial, investment and living sectors.

Responsibilities

Origination & New Business

• Source and develop new lending opportunities across the UK.
• Build and maintain lasting relationships with brokers, borrowers, advisers and other market contacts.
• Represent the firm at industry events, conferences and meetings to grow origination channels.
• Monitor market trends and competitor activity to spot opportunities.
• Support senior team members in meeting origination targets.

Deal Assessment & Execution

• Review and assess new opportunities, providing input on structure and viability.
• Support the execution of transactions from first engagement through to completion.
• Prepare investment papers for Credit Committee.
• Liaise with internal teams (legal, risk, operations) to ensure smooth delivery.
• Undertake market research to help shape origination strategy.
• Share market knowledge with the team to support pipeline development and work closely with colleagues across the investment and wider debt teams.

Qualifications

• ✅ Experience in real estate, debt, finance or a related sector.
• ✅ Exposure to business development, origination or client relationship management.
• ✅ Strong knowledge of the UK real estate market (investment, commercial, living and development sectors).
• ✅ Working knowledge of financial modelling (preferred but not essential).
• ✅ Strong interpersonal and networking skills, with the ability to build relationships over the long term
• ✅RICS / CFA / CAIA qualification an advantage.

• 💰 A competitive salary, bonus, pension and share incentive plan
• ✈️ Untracked holiday
• 🏡Hybrid working – our people spend 3 days a week in the office
• ⚓ Anchor (our wellness hub) which includes Headspace, one to one coaching through Wellness Cloud, Digital GP, Shout & more
• 👪 Up to 6 months paid parental leave regardless of gender
• ❤️ Life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection
• 🏥 Private medical insurance for you and your family
• 🚗 Electric vehicle leasing

Our Values

At our core, we believe that how a company behaves is just as important as what it does. That’s why we chose to become an accredited B Corp (the equivalent of a Fairtrade coffee stamp but for companies) and to change our Articles of Association so that the interests all our stakeholders – employees, customers, communities, environment and shareholders – are considered in every decision we make.

We are committed to building a workplace where diversity is valued, and inclusion is a priority. By providing equal opportunities for growth and development, we embrace and celebrate all races, genders, religions, sexual orientations, ages, disabilities, and socio-economic backgrounds. We believe teams achieve their best when every member feels safe, respected and empowered to be their authentic selves.

We\'re proud to be disability confident and are committed to supporting candidates with a disability, including neurodiversity and mental health conditions, throughout the recruitment process. Applicants are welcome to opt-in to the disability confident scheme as part of our application process. If you require any adjustments to the interview process, we’ll be happy to accommodate where possible.