Silver Lake 2020 Distinguished Scholars Program

Program Description

Silver Lake is a global technology investing firm with 20+ years of history making notable investments in market-leading franchises—such as Alibaba, Dell Technologies, GoDaddy, Skype, Cornerstone, and Motorola Solutions—in partnership with world-class management teams and delivering accelerating scale and superior investment returns.

Silver Lake’s inaugural Distinguished Scholars Program is a one-week curriculum targeting high- achieving undergraduate women who wish to learn about private equity investing at a leading global investment firm. The Distinguished Scholars will have a unique immersive opportunity to work at a private equity firm as an undergraduate. Silver Lake will be admitting 4 – 8 Distinguished Scholars across top-tier universities in the U.S. to learn alongside our full-time professional leaders in Silicon Valley. The Distinguished Scholars will also gain insights to our firm’s business, industry, and culture and receive training with best-in-class investors, deal and portfolio company exposure, direct mentorship, expert operating and investor panels, networking functions, among other events. Exceptional Distinguished Scholars will come out of this program with a unique and differentiated experience and may be considered for a future full-time position with the firm.

Who Can Apply

The Distinguished Scholar role is open to women candidates currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree at a four-year accredited U.S. college or university graduating between December 2020 and June 2021. We are looking for students with an outstanding record of academic achievement and a strong interest in businesses and financial markets. We value diversity of thought, backgrounds, experiences and perspectives and are looking for motivated, resourceful, analytical people with exceptional interpersonal and communication skills who enjoy tackling new challenges and solving intellectual problems.

Program Logistics

Saturday, May 16, 2020 to Friday, May 22, 2020

All events will be held at or near our Silver Lake office in Menlo Park, California. The Distinguished Scholars will be paid and will receive travel & accommodations for the duration of the program.

Application Details

Candidates interested in applying to the program must submit all of the following documents to programs@silverlake.com by Wednesday, March 4, 2020 5pm Pacific Time:

  1. Current resume with candidate’s up-to-date contact information
  2. Copy of unofficial transcript
  3. Cover letter (1-2 pages maximum), which addresses the following:

(i) Why are you applying / What do you hope to gain from the program; (ii) Describe one of your greatest accomplishments;
(iii) Tell us about a challenge or obstacle you’ve had to overcome;
(iv) What is a business that really interests you, and why?

  1. Should you be selected for an interview, we will ask for 2 references (including name, phone #, email, organization / title and relationship to you), ideally, of people you have worked with at a prior job / internship or a professor / university affiliate. Please be prepared to provide this information.

Applications with documents missing will not be considered. After submitting an application, candidates as part of follow-up screening may be asked to participate in a video interview.

Who We Are

Silver Lake is the global leader in technology investing, with over $43 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital and a team of approximately 100 investment and operating professionals located in Silicon Valley, New York, London and Hong Kong. Silver Lake’s portfolio of investments collectively generates more than $230 billion of revenue annually and employs 370,000 people globally. For more information about Silver Lake and its portfolio, please visit www.silverlake.com.