Pay differences between MF, upper MM, smaller shops

What are the pay scales generally for megafunds, upper middle market firms, and smaller firms? How much does one make as a first year pre-MBA associate, second year pre-MBA associate, first year *post-MBA* associate, etc and how does the pay change based on where you work?

How much would a KKR first year make versus a GTCR or MDP first year versus a no-name PE fund first year?

How does the pay change as you get more senior?

I searched the forum for this but found conflicting information because some threads were from before the crash.

 
Best Response

It depends on a lot of factors, I've seen ~1bn family office types that pay ~$300k because its an extremely small team, and I've also seen small PE shops that pay absolute dog shit in the range of 60k all in.

In general though, the megafunds will all be standard in the 240k-280k range, with some outliers in good years of 300k. Then you have the big names like GTCR which you mentioned which can pay as much or more than megafunds because of their need to attract talent and the fact that they are complete sweatshops.

Once you get below the upper mid shops and into the mid market, you can expect 180k to 250k in pay, again, totally depends.

Then you have the smaller shops that are extremely volatile in pay, from as low as $40k (experienced this myself when a potential roommate was denied a lease) up to whatever the mid markets pay.

The most important fact isn't even the size of the shop but a factor of:

  1. Team size ratio vs AUM
  2. Large back office (do they have an operations team split from the investing team, etc.)
  3. Location (Those flyover state firms can be bigger and better than a NYC shop but still pay less)
  4. Investing strategy (in general buyouts pay more than growth which pay more or equal to mezz, etc.)

I'm going to ignore your questions on senior level pay because you need to understand that PE is basically being an entrepreneur. Can you imagine how dumb it would be to ask an entrepreneurial forum how much in general entrepreneurs make? The answer is 0 - billions.

While PE seniors have a competitive base pay, the majority of their paycheck still comes from carry and doing well in general. So I'll just say you can expect 300k to millions.

 

Quo quo ducimus est accusantium facilis. Voluptatem laborum molestiae et et perspiciatis inventore. Enim exercitationem vel deserunt unde alias.

Nihil maxime voluptatem dolorum qui adipisci nemo labore. Ex odit odio occaecati explicabo est rem inventore. Quos consequatur occaecati quidem aut sunt aut.

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Warburg Pincus 99.0%
  • Blackstone Group 98.4%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 97.9%
  • Bain Capital 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.4%
  • Ardian 97.9%
  • Bain Capital 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Bain Capital 99.0%
  • Blackstone Group 98.4%
  • Warburg Pincus 97.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (21) $586
  • Vice President (92) $362
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (89) $280
  • 2nd Year Associate (204) $268
  • 1st Year Associate (386) $229
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (28) $157
  • 2nd Year Analyst (83) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (246) $122
  • Intern/Summer Associate (32) $82
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (313) $59
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”