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Above matches my experience. Progression I've seen is something like this. Note this is not in tech, which may be more generous. Could also be lower than HCOL areas like NYC / SF. Finally, may be slightly lower than in bigger groups where promotions are typically 3+ years apart.

Sr Analyst - base 100, bonus target 15%

Manager - base 120, bonus 15-20%

Sr Manager - base 150, bonus 20%, equity starts becoming potential possibility ($30k maybe at this point)

Director - base 175, bonus target between 20-30% plus some equity

Sr Director - base 200, bonus target 30%, more substantial equity for sure by now if not at Director level (equity could be in ballpark of ~$100K)

VP - base 250, bonus 40% plus equity

 

very nice. what are your hours like? Do you have any desire to jump ship soon?

 

During deal crunchtime, hours are closer to banking (70 hours a week) for brief periods of time but there is a lot more variance in hours outside of that. Sometimes 20 hours, sometimes 50 hours, sometimes in between, depending on the deliverables and projects. I'm mostly WFH and there is no facetime even when in the office, so usually have plenty of time to take longer lunches, run errands, etc throughout the day. 

 

Looking into Corp Dev after consulting; what type of work you focused in Consulting? (Commercial DDs, Growth Strategy, M&A Strategy/Integration, Restructuring etc). Also if you don't mind MBB or T2?

Going to a T2( LEK/EYP/S&) and wondering what to focus on.

 
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So I was at a T2 (not an ideal one, and this is as specific as I am comfortable getting), but it was a very uphill battle. It makes 1000x more sense to hire an IB Analyst than it does a consultant, so expect it to be challenging to make the transition. If I had not had multiple IB internships I likely wouldnt have gotten the role. I got beat out by bankers for the first 3 positions I interviewed for, not even making it to the second round, with them citing experience each time (Out of the last 20 positions Ive interviewed for, these were the only ones where I didnt make it to the second round). 

I found a mid-sized company (~5-10 bn EV) willing to take a chance on me but the downside was I got horrible pay. Worked there for 2 years and lateraled when a recruiter reached out for a strong opportunity.

To answer your question, you want hands on modeling experience and opportunities to understand synergies and acquisition rationales. I would generally say try to do some CDD and M&A strategy, as those buckets will prepare you best. I dont know the level of modeling for some of these CDD roles, so that would play a part in determining where I focus most of my time. Avoid integration and restructuring (mainly integration). If you want a pure play Corp Dev role there will be a separate team for integration. Restructuring could be good but generally I would say is too unique and specific to be optimal experience for a Corp Dev role. There are plenty of examples as to where I am totally wrong and Restructuring actually tees you up perfectly, but I am going for a broader response. Keep in mind this is my perspective and challenge everything I said with feedback from others. 

The one thing I can say with a high degree of certainty is that you will notice that 80+% of Corp Dev associates / managers / VPs came from banking. Consultants typically move to the strategy side. If you can find a corp dev / strategy hybrid role, you would be an optimal candidate. You dont need to go in being a pro modeler, but if you cannot build a DCF, talk about the drivers for the model, and at least talk through good precedents / public comps you will struggle to receive an offer. 

 

The low end of that range (and the high end, somewhat) has actually dropped meaningfully, as I later learned high performance and strong company growth are both required to hit that threshold. I would say now the range is closer to 15-40%. The reason behind the change was that I was operating off of data points from only bull years

 

Sorry what do you mean by niche finance group? I'm in strategic finance and thinking of going IB -> strategic finance -> Corp Dev and wondering how hard it is to recruit if I'm not recruiting for Corp Dev from IB directly. Would 4 YoE (IB -> strategic finance) get close to 180-200k total comp? Because yours seems a lot higher than other ranges I've seen.

 

No need to apologize (shake that habit!).

The finance team I was on basically acted as support on all things Corp Dev worked on (akin to outsourcing modeling to another IB group). That was our day job but we supported a pretty active Corp Dev team which required us to moonlight as traditional FP&A folks to capture and forecast the impacts on various "Outlook" scenarios.

I think Strategic Finance -> Corp Dev is possible, especially if staying in the same industry or even better pivoting internally (your valid argument of seeing the finance side makes you a better deal person holds more weight internally). Based on your phrasing it seems you exited IB and are currently in a Finance role? If so, I don't think your chances are hurt by that at all. In fact, your odds are much better than someone like me who did BO -> Finance -> Corp Dev

I can't answer your last question for all of Corp Dev because of how much comp varies company to company and industry to industry. I can tell you that we've hired people with anywhere from 2-4 years of experience in at the associate level which probably scrapes the lower end of your range. We have Sr associate then Manager (WSO defaults it to VP I guess).

Frankly, I benefited from a good bit of luck which allowed me to come in at what I think was the upper end of what I "deserved" in terms of title and subsequently developed some really good relationships with mentors / managers here which has resulted in quick promotions. We also went through a long exercise to try to normalize compensation closer to that of MBB as we source a lot of talent from Consulting / Banking. Having collected some data on forms like WSO and anecdotally from friends / peers I do think our comp is on the upper end of Corp Dev. Take those two factors into account when comparing what I've commented vs. others.

 
[Comment removed by mod team]
 

Title: Manager - Corporate Strategy, Planning, and Development at one of the large public A&D companies. In Los Angeles.  

Salary: $165k, $10k sign-onbonus, ~10%+ target bonus

Background: former military officer, T15 MBA, brief A&D IB, and a year of niche A&D consulting. Role is great as it encompasses organic innovation with inorganic strategies where needed - M&A, partnerships, divestiture. Hours are dreamy and we hold the 9/80 schedule (every other Friday off). Get a lot of inquiries from friends still in IB, as well as others. 

 

Title: Corporate Strategy & Development Analyst at a Media & Telecom company

Comp: $85k + 6% bonus. $10k signing.

Comp after promo: $165k + 20%.

Background: Top LACs. 1 YOE management development program. Chicago

 

Is it pure strategy consulting or more like implementation, transformation, augmentation, etc... My job doesn't pay as well as consulting, but top-notch WLB, good facetime with execs, and interesting work(go-to-market strategy and acquisition/divest strategy.) We do use MBB from time to time, but for less exciting work like I/T/A or work where we need data that can't be found through CapIQ, Pitchbook, independent ER.

 

In the Southwest. Sharing some comps (own job and jobs I have interviewed for)

Current role: Healthcare

Title: Sr Manager

Role: Strategy, Business Analysis

Pay: $190k base, 20% bonus, similar in RSU. Total $265k

Role recently interviewed for

Tile: Director of Strategy with consumer products company

Pay: $170-180k base (they told me it was lower than current base), 25% bonus, $70k RSU per year. Total $290k

Title Director of M&A strategy with Healthcare company

Pay: $170k-180k base, 25% bonus, no guaranteed stock comp, total $230k. I believe there is a bit of title inflation at this company.

So based on my own experience Sr Manager probably $185k to $250k all in, Director probably $250k to $325k, Sr Director $325k to $400k. All assuming mix of base / cash bonus / RSU.

 

Hi! I think it’s obviously a very personal / situational decision. I knew pretty quickly that IB wasn’t for me, but only wanted to leave for something that felt like a really compelling opportunity. Then I was approached by a headhunter for this job - and it checked a lot of boxes for me (in the industry I wanted to be in, small team, also involves strategy work….)… so I really felt good about taking it and haven’t looked back! I also was one of about 7 analysts in my class who “left early” so that def helped - and FWIW I don’t think any of us regret it but again, very situational decision. Hope that is helpful context!

 

Hey- good questions and def good things to be very mindful when you’re looking at Corp Dev. There is a TON - and I mean a ton- of variance on pay / progression depending on what company you’re at. Definitely was not something I was totally dialed into when I joined where I am now (I get reached out to all the time for Corp Dev/ strat roles that pay $30K more than I’m making now, albeit mostly in industries that aren’t as cool as sports/media!). The paycut sucks tbh but it’s definitely helped by the fact that Corp Dev/Strat is a really awesome place to get your feet wet for a couple of years, and then decide where you want to go from there. The exit opportunities from Corp Dev are extremely vast. I get inbounds all the time from VC, consulting, banking, and other corp fin roles, and more often than not there are tons of opps to transfer to other departments in the company (product, marketing, ops, etc) given where corp Dev sits in the company ecosystem. Not to mention, B school is always an option and positions you well for that given how much rope you’re given in junior roles. So a few years of temporary bank account sadness is IMO worth it, for the 1) ability to actually have a life 2) tons of great experience 3) doors opened across the board. 
 

To your second question on upward mobility- again, definitely dependent on where you are and the general philosophies at the company. At my company, it’s quite frankly really difficult to move up the ladder, which is super annoying. But given that I knew Corp Dev was going to be a temporary stop for me, this wasn’t really the end of the world for me. But compared to banking that is extremely structured in terms of promotions- Corp Dev is definitely not like that, in my experience. 

 

It was the pretty standard corp dev recruiting experience - just networking and putting my resume out there. I would determine where you want to be geographically, and if there are a lot of opportunities start honing in on industry and/or company stage as well. For me, I was hard set on a specific T2 city, where I’m from, and wanted to be at a startup. Let me know any other questions you may have!

 

My Career so far:

  1. Analyst M&A - Healthcare Rollup - T4/5 City
    1. Year 1 (2018) - $55k + 5k bonus - 40-65 hours
    2. Year 2  (2019) - $65k + 10k bonus - 40-50 hours
  2. Manger M&A - Healthcare Rollup - NYC
    1. Year 1 (2020) - $140k + 25% - 60-80+ hours
    2. Year 2 (2021) - $145k + 25% - 60-80+ hours
  3. Manager M&A - Healthcare Rollup - T2/T3 City
    1. Year 1 (2022) - $110k + $50k target bonus - Equity buy in up to $75k - 35-45 hours
 

Few different reasons

Old Company/NYC:

  • Poor culture + high turnover - tenure at the corporate office/level was about 1-1.5 years or less
  • Team culture - I was lowest on the team and the only one to not have IB experience - I feel like I was looked down upon and my ideas were thrown to the side
  • Execution - M&A execution was sloppy and put too much strain on sellers; lost a lot of deals
  • Apartment/Rent - Apartment sent me a new lease for ~65% more than what I was currently paying, so was looking to move anyway. I would have loved to stay in NYC though

New Company:

  • I knew of the VP from my previous role, worked at a different portco but for the same PE company. My previous C-suite had good things to say about him
  • Timing - VP had been trying to recruit me for about a year. Reached out to me again a week after my apartment sent me the new lease, so I decided to move forward and see where it went
  • Compensation - Take home comp is actually the same if not slightly more due to different taxes
 

Title: FP&A Manager (report to CFO, only employee in finc dept of portfolio company); 40-50 hours per week 85%, 55-60 15%

Comp: 135K base, 20% target bonus, 12K sign on (~10% starting salary), one-time equity grant after 6 months (vests over 5 years, worth ~50k and time of issuance, now ~150K), other company wide/corporate bonuses

Background: 5.5 years in big 4 audit up to manager, 1.5 years in current role; MCOL

 

Title: Senior Manager Corporate Development

Industry: Tech

Compensation: $175k Base + 10% Cash Bonus + $25k RSUs

Background: 7 years across LMM banking and corporate finance in consumer products / hospitality, corporate development in tech

MCOL city, but 100% WFH and good WLB (20-30 hours a week on average)

 

Lol if only I didn't just have a kid, almost everything else outside the 20-30 has been baby duty. Maybe I'm just lucky, but so far in corporate 20-30 hours on average has been the weekly trend across three different jobs.

 

I think moving into corpdev shouldn't be an issue for you especially since you have that past IB experience. That being said 1) depending on your YOE you'll probably have to come in as an associate or manager vs. the director and above level unless there's substantial strategic / corp finance component to the role, and 2) open roles seem to be relatively scarce recently due to economic uncertainty.

I think switching industries could be a little tricky once again depending on your seniority. I think at the lower levels it's a bit easier to bounce back and forth, but once you've gained a good amount of momentum in one industry it becomes harder IMO. It also depends on the industry too - switching from retail / consumer products to restaurants / hospitality is probably not that big of a jump, but going from manufacturing to SaaS is going to be a lot harder.

 

Title: Director of Corporate Development & Finance, role is a mix of corp fin, corp dev, and capital markets work

Industry: PE-backed financial services

Comp: $150K base + 15% target bonus + deal-based bonus

WLB: WFH or in-office whenever I feel like, 50-60 hours normally for 75% of the year, and 60-75 for 25% of the year

Background: 4 years in corp dev/strategic finance, 1 year in strategy consulting

 

Just got done recruiting, so will add some info on those roles (all CD roles).

----

Title: Senior Associate (Inflated title, negotiated title against offer below)

Industry: Industrial/Business services

Comp: $155K Base + 20% bonus

Location: MCOL/LCOL (depends on who you ask I think), Hybrid - 3 days in the office 

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Title: Senior Associate (Inflated title, they offered)

Industry: Industrial Tech

Comp: $140K Base + 15% bonus + $10K RSUs, 3 Yr vesting

Location: Chicago, Remote but expected in the office 1 week every 2-3 months

----

Title: Associate

Industry: Industrials

Comp: $130K Base + 10% bonus

Location: MCOL/LCOL (depends on who you ask I think), Remote

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(edited for formatting)

 

Title: Associate

Background: ~2 yrs MM IB

Industry: large cap software

Comp: $125k base + 10% bonus + 5k / yr RSU

Location: HCOL coastal city (not NYC or SF)

Hours: probably around 50 on average

So far loving it!

 

No idea but for managers probably in the area of 170k - 200k base with 15-20% bonus and 20k RSUs if I had to guess based on my level. Can't see them giving much less than a 50k base raise for a promotion and I will be getting bumped to 130k base halfway through 2023.

 

It was honestly a nightmare. Was probably spending 20 - 30+ hrs a week on recruiting on top of my banking day job. Opportunity identification, applications, and first rounds with recruiters take up a lot of time even if you put minimal effort in because you have to quickly build a pipeline of interviews with the intention of getting as many offers outstanding at the same time. Would do probably 30 minutes to an hour of prep (or more, depending on the title of who I was scheduled with) for every recruiting call and had cast a wide net for roles (strategy, corp dev, and strategic finance) across industries far outside my IB coverage range because I was looking for a specific geography vs. industry.

Many calls went nowhere because companies would continue recruiting even if they had an offer outstanding and I had more than a few modeling tests, case studies, and even an IQ test. Once spent 40 hrs on a case study across three days bc I built the model and deck from scratch. Ended up with 3 incredible offers and each one came top of what the recruiters had indicated so all that work definitely paid off but it really burnt me out. Getting a good offer was no easy task and required all of my energy and commitment. A significant number of people do IB with no intention of ever working in PE (myself included) so the talent pool you're competing with is top-notch and you can't just luck into a great offer, unfortunately. Best of luck and feel free to DM with additional questions!

 

Gets better - 2-3 years into hold, Sponsor looking to sell in 2 yrs per recruiter.  So you do the final legwork, no upside on equity at exit or stickness to keep you there, and likely terminated with little/no severance at closing.

Mr 305
 

6/2025 update: After a promotion and a raise, Total Comp is now ~$210k. 

Hours are typically ~50/week and good internal visibility/growth trajectory. 

I've gotten married, run a few marathons, and joined 2 non-profits in the past two years. There are days where I miss the competitiveness and compensation of banking, but leaving was absolutely the right thing to do. 

 

Varies a lot.

PE portco, you're getting performance units that probably vest over the life of the investment (think 4-7 years). Chance to be worth nothing or multiples depending on outcome

VC/GE portco, you're probably getting options that vest over 2-4 years. Chance to be worth nothing or multiples depending on outcome

Public company, likely 2-4 year vesting as well

And vesting can be weighted in different ways. Most is straightline, but some frontload or backload as well

 

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