Head of Private Equity Partnerships, Navan
$167.4-372k
OTE
+ Equity plan
3 days a week in office
Travel management company
Be an early applicant
Travel management company
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
$167.4-372k
OTE
+ Equity plan
3 days a week in office
1001+ employees
Company mission
To reinvent the legacy category of travel and expense with one of the first enterprise technologies utilising the cloud, mobile, and AI to balance business needs with today's modern standards.
Role
Who you are
- We are looking for a builder who possesses a strong "Rolodex" within the PE ecosystem and is excited by the prospect of rolling up their sleeves to establish Navan as the institutional standard for the world’s leading investment firms
- The High-Potential Riser: You have 5–8+ years of experience in Private Equity, private banking, investment banking, and understand the partnership GTM levers, with a proven track record of over-performance. You are ready to "own" a channel and have the grit to do the manual work required to make it a success
- The Connected Practitioner: You bring existing, functional relationships within the Private Equity community. You know the Operating Partners and how to navigate their value-creation priorities
- M&A Literate: You understand the PE investment lifecycle. You can speak fluently about the urgency of a carve-out and the technical hurdles of a tuck-in integration with a CFO or Deal Partner
- High Agency & Presence: You thrive in the "messy middle" of building a program, but you also have the executive presence to lead a presentation at a PE summit. You don’t wait for a playbook; you write it
- Detail-Oriented: You have the discipline to handle the "admin" of a partnership—meticulously tracking lead flow, updating CRM data, and ensuring perfect follow-through on every introduction
- In-Person Collaborator: You thrive in high-energy environments and value being in the office 3 days a week to work side-by-side with the team
What the job involves
- Navan is looking for a high-energy, entrepreneurial Head of Private Equity Partnerships to build our PE channel from the ground up
- Reporting directly to the Global Head of Partnerships, this is a "0-to-1" build designed for a top-tier practitioner who is ready to own the entire lifecycle of a partnership
- Own the 0-to-1 Build: You will be the architect of the PE playbook. This includes everything from fund mapping and value-prop definition to the tactical work of building your own tracking systems, collateral, and internal processes
- Drive Tactical Deal Influence: You will join forecast calls and partner directly with our Sales teams. This isn't about oversight; it's about integration. You will roll up your sleeves on active deals, identify blockers, and leverage your PE relationships to drive top-down influence. Your success is measured by the trust you build with reps and the deals you help them close
- Master the "Give-to-Get" Ecosystem: You will build deep ties with M&A advisory firms and PE deal teams. By first establishing strong, value-based relationships with PE firms, you will create the leverage needed to partner with advisory firms on carve-outs and new acquisitions, ensuring Navan is the first call they make for immediate spend visibility
- Be the Face of Navan PE: You will represent Navan at key industry events and PE Operating Partner roundtables. You are comfortable presenting to a room of C-level stakeholders, using these high-impact "one-to-many" opportunities to scale our brand within the PE community
- Operationalize the Channel: On a lean team, you will bridge the gap between "strategy" and "execution." You’ll create your own resources and push through the necessary "busy work"—admin, CRM hygiene, and deck building—to institutionalize these partnerships
- Prove EBITDA Value: Work directly with PE Operating Partners to demonstrate how Navan’s platform directly impacts their Value Creation plan through cost savings and operational efficiency
- This is a role for a builder. At Navan, "Head of" is a title of ownership and action. You will be responsible for every brick in the foundation of this channel, from high-level institutional strategy to the daily tactical wins that move the needle. If you are looking to put your stamp on a global fintech leader, this is the seat
Our take
Navan (formerly known as TripActions) is operating in a crowded marketplace, betting against rivals with similar offerings of user interface personalisation technology. Even so, the company's growth has skyrocketed and it has attracted significant investor interest. Competitors cannot match Navan's cutting-edge, AI-driven services, as well as 24-hour customer support.
Since its founding in 2015 the company has seen significant growth in transactions and in active users. Having expanded from its core travel expense management product, it now offers a corporate card and general expenses management, underwriting its customers' short term business expenses with its own Liquid financial offering. Navan has a list of impressive clients, including Glassdoor, Zoom, and Shopify.
Moving forwards, the company is focused on gaining more reach, especially in Europe. As part of the expanded go-to-market strategy, it rebranded to Navan with a more people-centric design approach. It also combined its travel, corporate card and expense services into a single app which is now available to individual users rather than only through a corporate account. This will be key in bridging the gap between business travel and consumer apps, especially in the lead-up to its reported IPO in the near future.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 10 rounds)
Oct 2025
$150m
SERIES G
Oct 2022
$154m
SERIES G
Total funding: $1.2bn
Company benefits
- Flexible Vacation
- Healthcare
- Commuter benefits
- Parental leave
- Health and Wellness
- Fuel for Connection
- Pet Friendly
- 401k (retirement plan)
- IATAN (travel-related discounts)
- Connectivity Allowance
- Learning & Development
Company HQ
Ventura, Palo Alto, CA
Leadership
Ariel Cohen
(Co-Founder & CEO)Research and Development director in Mercury Interactive (and HP after acquisition of Mercury). Product Management director, then VP, at Jive Software. Previously co-founded StreamOnce with Ilan.
Ilan Twig
(Co-Founder & CTO)Studied Computer Science, managing positions in software engineering including VP and EVP of engineering at Jive Software. Previously co-founded StreamOnce with Ariel.
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