Head of Pension Funds & Institutional Investors

Cleveland & Co is a dynamic outsourced in-house legal team, delivering innovative, strategic legal solutions to clients across the investment management industry. We deliver high‑calibre advice across asset owners, asset allocators, industry associations and industry service providers. Our clients trust us not only for our technical excellence, but for our commercial mindset and ability to operate as a true extension of their internal team.

The Head of Pension Funds & Institutional Investors role is a defining senior hire for the firm. It’s built for someone who combines deep institutional private markets expertise with the ambition to own a market segment, not just deliver work within it.

This person is technically exceptional, commercially sharp, and able to credibly partner with key business stakeholders. They can lead complex negotiations, manage delivery across multiple transactions, and run and build a team. But they also want more than execution. They want to shape the offering, own client relationships, and be accountable for growth.

The wrong environment for them is one where seniority means waiting, where impact is diluted by layers, and where business development is someone else’s job. They don’t want to “support” a strategy, they want to drive it.

At Cleveland & Co, they will do exactly that. This is an opportunity to build a platform: to lead the institutional investor practice, win clients, grow the team, and play a meaningful role in scaling a firm that is redefining what great in‑house legal support looks like.

We are seeking an excellent Head of Pension Funds & Institutional Investors to lead and grow our institutional investor advisory capability across the firm.

This is a high‑impact senior role advising pension funds, insurers, endowments, sovereigns, foundations, not for profits, family offices and other institutional allocators on complex private markets transactions and investment programmes.

You will advise across a wide range of asset classes and structures, including:

• Commitments into private equity, private credit, renewables, infrastructure and real estate funds;
• Co‑investments and direct investments into businesses across industries;
• Joint ventures, strategic partnerships, and bespoke private capital arrangements;
• Fund documentation, investor protections, governance rights, and structuring strategy; and
• SPA‑led investments into companies, including minority and control acquisitions and structured equity investments.

This role is ideal for someone with deep institutional investor experience who can combine technical excellence with commercial judgement, and who wants to play a meaningful leadership role inside a fast‑scaling firm. In addition to leading delivery, you will play a central role in client acquisition and revenue growth
, helping expand Cleveland & Co’s institutional investor client base and market presence.

• Lead legal advice to institutional investors on commitments into private funds, including:
• Private equity buyout, growth and venture funds
• Private credit and private debt strategies
• Infrastructure, renewables and energy transition funds
• Real estate funds and related vehicles
• Advise on direct investments, co‑investments and secondary transactions
  , including structuring and execution across jurisdictions
• Review, negotiate and advise on:
• LPAs
• Most‑favoured nation (MFN) processes
• Fee models, expense provisions, and liquidity mechanisms
• Investor protections, governance rights, key person provisions and removal rights

• Lead legal advice on corporate transactional work relating to institutional investments into companies, including:
• Term sheets
• Share Purchase Agreements (SPAs) (minority and control)
• Structured equity investments and bespoke deal terms
• Investment agreements, shareholder arrangements and governance packages
• Completion mechanics, conditions precedent, warranties, indemnities and limitations of liability
• Coordinate with tax, regulatory and sector specialists (internal and external) where required to deliver a seamless execution for clients