Investment Associate - Aotearoa

This is a contract role from January - December 2027.

Blackbird is partnering with HOME Recruitment on the hiring of this opportunity, should you have any initial questions or queries do not hesitate to reach out directly to Minta at minta@homerecruitment.co.nz”

About the role

Blackbird is hiring an investor to find and invest in Aotearoa’s most ambitious founders, right at the very beginning.

We are looking for someone with a passion for uncovering the technologies and founders that will define our future. Someone with unbounded curiosity and a mindset of enlightened hospitality for the founders that they serve, who is excited to become a custodian of the Blackbird Mission, Values and Operating Principles.

Your job will be to invest our current Core fund in pre-seed, seed and Series A rounds. In addition, you will be responsible for ensuring our Follow-on Fund gets exposure to all world-class Kiwi and Australian companies at growth stage. To do this, you’ll work closely with the rest of our 20-strong investment team based in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland.

You’re someone who has profound empathy for the journey of a founder, a mindset of enlightened hospitality, and a hunger to uncover the next great Kiwi or Australian talent, wherever they are and whatever their background.

You have a high ownership mentality, deep comfort with autonomy and ambiguity, confidence in your thought process and gut instincts, a willingness to adapt it to new information, a hunger for finding the truth, and a desire to help founders bring their better version of the future into the present.

You’re passionate about growing, strengthening and diversifying ANZ’s tech ecosystem.

Some examples of the work you’ll do:

• Making great investment decisions - You will be responsible for helping with new investments, including due diligence, running the process to get Investment Committee approval, negotiating the term-sheet and convincing founders to choose us as investors, getting agreement from all parties on the legal docs, and finally wiring the money.
• Deal support and investment analysis - You will work closely with our Blackbird Partners and Principals to identify and analyse early stage investment opportunities, build models and identify key drivers of success for each investment. You will build a comprehensive understanding of the metrics and indicators that drive investment performance and an ability to communicate that concisely.
• Build and shape dealflow - Actively build dealflow by embedding yourself in the New Zealand startup ecosystem; attending and contributing to founder events, accelerators, and community gatherings. You’ll develop authentic relationships with emerging founders and operators that attract exceptional talent and companies to Blackbird, leveraging our platforms such as Sunrise, Giants, Foundry, and Wild Hearts to expand our reach and visibility.
• Earning the trust of founders - You will earn the trust of founders within our community through the diligence and empathy that you show toward them. You will become known as someone who treats founders with the highest level of integrity and care - a trusted partner that founders are comfortable to share their best and worst news with.
• Wrestling with the unknown - You will embrace your curiosity and explore new areas of focus for investment at Blackbird, presenting your unique vision for the future. You will test the boundaries of our comfort and knowledge, leading the investment team toward new Rivers of Inquiry.

The skills we’re looking for:We don’t require direct investing experience; however, a genuine passion for working with the founders of technology startups is essential, along with a deep commitment to cultivating the skills required to become a generational investor at Blackbird.

We know that candidates, especially women and people from underrepresented backgrounds, often hesitate to apply unless they meet 100% of the qualifications. If this role excites you and you meet most of the requirements, we encourage you to apply. We value potential and are committed to supporting growth in this role.

• Humility: Blackbird is a startup - no task is too small for us, and no ambition is too big. We all take out the garbage. You will be scrappy, move quickly and never hesitate to roll up your sleeves.
• Expressed ambition: Nobody is too "new" or "junior" at Blackbird to live up to their ambition — we care about the quality and diversity of thought, not where it comes from and believe that we are stronger because we each think differently.
• Founder empathy: You understand the founder journey, and may have experience being a founder or working closely with them in the past. This allows you to be a trusted and genuine partner.
• Investment thinking: You can articulate what makes a company valuable. From the psychological traits that drive exceptional founders to the signals of true startup progress. You hold strong opinions, lightly held, on the businesses, technologies, and markets shaping the future. You read culture instinctively, understanding the environments that attract and inspire world-class talent. Above all, you communicate complex ideas with clarity and persuasion.
• Relationships: You’re a natural network builder and excel at forging deep, trusting and durable relationships across the ecosystem. Through these relationships, you will become a go-to partner for founders seeking perspective and support and turn these connections into early access, sharp insight, and meaningful investment outcomes.
• Hospitality mindset: We believe in the philosophy of "enlightened hospitality" and it lies at the heart of everything that we do at Blackbird. We serve our founders, not the other way around. We are about people, not companies. You will be generous with your time to create delightful experiences for founders, never losing sight of the people behind the numbers.

For more info, check out our blog on How to Be an Investor at Blackbird, and our Growth Framework, which we use to measure performance and make promotions.

We’re looking for someone who is as passionate as us about building an iconic investment business. You must have a high ownership mentality and the ability to take responsibility for goals and outcomes.

This role is full-time, based in Auckland with the flexibility to work from home when appropriate.

Why we’re growing our Aotearoa team

Finding and investing in exceptional founders is our reason for being at Blackbird.

There has never been a more exciting time to invest in Kiwi founders. New Zealand has raised world-changing companies from Xero to Lanzatech, Rocket Lab to Vend, PushPay and Timely. These giants have fostered talented alumni who have gone on to found their own ambitious companies, like Halter, Partly, Vessev, Ternary Kinetics and Tracksuit.

A thriving investment ecosystem has grown up to support these founders. More of our talented New Zealanders are doing their life’s work in start-ups than ever before, kickstarting a flywheel that will see even more world-changing startups founded on these shores.

We believe the coming decade of Aotearoa-founded startups presents a once-in-a-generation investment opportunity.

On the strength of this belief, in 2019, we raised a New Zealand-focused fund, opened an office in Auckland and built a dedicated Aotearoa team. In 2022, we raised a second, $80 million New Zealand fund. In 2025 we raised a $1.25 billion fund to invest in Aussie and Kiwi founders wherever they are in the world, right from the very beginning.

So far, we’ve invested >$450 million in 45 Kiwi companies including leading rounds in Tracksuit, Halter, Watchful and OpenStar. We invest in everything from pre-seed to Series D, enterprise SaaS to nuclear fusion.

We are a small but mighty team of five, based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.

Working at BlackbirdWe believe that building a diverse and inclusive team is critical to Blackbird’s success. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, or marital, veteran, or disability status. We use blind screening ensure every applicant gets an equal chance of success.

We offer:

Flexible working: Whether it’s working from home, leaving early to pick up the kids or fitting in your favorite exercise class. We encourage you to explore when you're most productive and work in that style.

Wellbeing: We think in decades not days. To support our Blackbirds over the long haul we offer a range of holistic wellbeing benefits including a monthly healthy living allowance, 24/7 access to wellbeing support, a home office allowance, personal kit-kat days, and more!

Learning & Development Budget: Our team is hungry to continuously learn and you’ll receive a budget to spend on books, conferences, training, coaching and courses relating to your profession.

Unplugged weekends: We work hard without letting work get in the way of life. We’ve implemented no Slack or emails on weekends, so you can switch off and enjoy yourself.

Connection: While being big fans of a fully distributed workforce, we value our vibe and time to connect online and IRL through team and company offsites, monthly social activities, weekly lunches and our many social clubs (#fun-manis, #fun-fantasybookclub, #bb-craft just to name a few!).

Blackbird is a Pledge 1% member — we pledge 1% of our time, equity and profits to help not-for-profit causes in our community. Through Pledge 1%, we established the Blackbird Foundation to supercharge the creative capabilities of young people.

We are also very proud to have won the 2023 AFR Best Place to Work award in three categories including Overall winner. In 2022, we became certified as one of Australia’s Great Places to Work. Additionally, we’re proud to have won the AIC 2026 Venture Capital Firm of the Year!

About Blackbird

Blackbird is Australasia's biggest venture capital fund whose mission is to supercharge Australia and New Zealand’s most ambitious founders. We do this by raising venture capital funds, investing into the best startup companies and helping them succeed. Since 2012 we have backed >190 companies across Australia and New Zealand. 10 of those are now worth over $1B and 5 are worth over $10B. As of the 30th June 2026, the net IRR of every dollar invested in Blackbird funds is 32.24%.

Our portfolio is worth over $10.28B, including some of the most successful Aussie and Kiwi-founded startups such as Airwallex, Baseten, Canva, Gilmour Space, Halter, PsiQuantum and Mitti.

We are inspired by investment firms such as Berkshire Hathaway and Bridgewater Associates. Like the companies we back, we want to build a business that lasts for decades and produces excellent returns for our investors. Most of all, we want to support our region’s most talented founders build category-defining technology companies.

We’ve written a lot about what we love at Blackbird, so check out our blog if you want some more information about us. In particular, you should read about our mission and values, our Blackbird’s Operating Principles (BOPs) and what we look for in founders.

Application form here- Applications close on Sunday November 8th at 11:59 pm NZT

Please complete the above form as well as the candidate registration on the next tab.

Blackbird is partnering with HOME Recruitment on the hiring of this opportunity, should you have any initial questions or queries do not hesitate to reach out directly to Minta at minta@homerecruitment.co.nz