Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital, has been named an assistant to President-elect Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the decision.

Mr. Scaramucci will have a general advisory role in the White House, said the people who asked not to be identified without authorization to speak publicly. He’s been a member of Mr. Trump’s transition team, making public appearances on television in support of his policies.

“It’s not about me, and it’s not about any of these people on the team,” Mr. Scaramucci said in an interview at Trump Tower earlier Thursday. “It’s about president-elect Trump and the American people.”

Mr. Scaramucci has been seeking to sell his New York-based fund of hedge funds firm to help pave the way for a government role. The firm, which managed $9.2 billion as of last January, aims to fetch $200 million to $250 million, people familiar with the business have said.

Mr. Scaramucci joins several former executives from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on Trump’s team. Steven Mnuchin, who was a partner at the firm, was chosen as Treasury secretary and Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn was named to the top White House economic post. Alumnus Stephen Bannon will be Trump’s chief strategist.

Mr. Scaramucci, who’s known as “the Mooch,” founded SkyBridge in 2005. He also started a high-profile annual conference for the hedge fund industry in Las Vegas. He graduated from Harvard Law School and landed a job in the real-estate investment-banking unit at Goldman Sachs in 1989.