This week I'll be interviewing for an investor relations manager role at a F500 CPG company. The firm is roughly $10B in revenue, headquartered in the Midwest. Reports to an IR director- once filled it will be a two person team.
Ideas for salary expectations? I mentioned $130k all-in during my screening and they said "Great- we are on the same page". Makes me think I should have said higher.. A guy from my MBA program started as an FP&A manager at the same company at $110k, so I thought $130k would be pushing it.
Any insights into IR as a career step? I did an internship in IR an absolutely loved it. My sense is that I could exit to FP&A down the road if I didn't stay in IR. The guy who I'm (hopefully) replacing went into consulting. I feel like the exposure to the C-Suite, the deep knowledge of the company's story and focus points, and all the polish that IR gives would prepare me well for a director role 3-7 years from now.
Curious what you all think. Most IR content on this site is about real estate or PE IR, which sounds like working in a call center.
Can you elaborate more on what your internship was like? Extremely interested, thank you!
It was at a F1000 (roughly $3B) company. The IR analyst got promoted out shortly before I joined, so the IR VP needed help and was comfortable throwing me into the work. I got to tour facilities with ER analysts, prepare earnings call slides and script, competitor earnings call summaries and briefings, multiple meetings with banking and other partners, and then a bunch of things on the treasury side too since both responsibilities fell under this VP. Tons of exposure in this internship. Real resume builder that got me into the FLDP I landed for after college
Working in a 'call center' is a pretty simplistic way of describing PE IR work. Assuming that you're a post MBA/2nd year, PE IR would almost certainly have higher comp. The main difference between Corp IR and PE IR is the client type (sellside/buyside vs limited partners, respectively). In both roles, you'll be explaining org/strategy/performance. Corp IR may provide more optionality as PE IR is pretty much just leads to more IR/placement agent roles, but I would argue the comp ceiling is a lot higher.
I don't know anything about PE IR except for the posts on WSO about it where people are really only complaining about it.. It sounds like from what you are saying that those posts might be inaccurate. Regardless, my background is FP&A and ops finance so I wouldn't really qualify for PE IR roles. Though it sounds like it might be worth looking into in the future
IR is a common exit for many careers, but not the other way around. If/once you go IR and keep killing it, your comp and life will be better than FP&A. You won't be able to really exit to FP&A from IR, you just don't see it happen because ppl dont really do that
Curious why you don't see the reverse from IR to FP&A? Why couldn't that happen if someone has all the chops for it?
I'm not saying that it CAN'T happen, it just doesn't happen. I've never seen someone (even wanting to) jump from IR to FP&A, I think it's just a weird path. Maybe ppl do that in F500 corporates but certainly less in investment management companies
I didn't realize IR long-term has better work-life and comp than FP&A... care to elaborate on that? Very interested now.
Yeah so i dont want to over generalize, but for financial services/investment management, IR functions are usually bifurcated into 1) client facing and 2) material preps. Client facing roles usually pay much better and are more likely to come with arrangements that tie your compensation to say fundraising amounts. Very common to see their comps being similar to M&A roles. In plain corporate world however (large public companies), client facing roles are rarer in their IR functions and the pay is generally similar to other back office functions including FP&A. But in either space, I was just trying to make a point that ppl dont really move from IR to FP&A especially at a higher level (>6-10 years)
Just dropping an update here- Interviews went great. Really interesting company, run more like a PE firm at the corporate level.
I got the offer. Base in the 120s, bonus of 15%. Stock incentive will come in a year or so. Super pumped- its been a big goal of mine to hit manager at 27-28, and this comp is better than what I was hoping. I've been real nervous as I go through my MBA about whether I'd land a great role at the end of the program. This offer feels so good- that busting my ass in this program has been worth it.
Kinda crazy that my whole career so far has played out here on WSO- posting about my internship, getting into an FLDP, jumping industries, etc. It's all worked out better than I could have hoped so far.
Congrats and keep pushing.
First of all, congrats. Exiting Corp. IR can be tricky, but can be done. I have been in IR for about 10 years, and as IR become a more critical function for the company in the last decade, so has the experiences you can attain with the job, and subsequently, better exit. I have seen people exited to become CFO at smaller companies, strategy consulting, corp. dev., corp finance., etc., just make sure the company you are at is reputable. Be happy to answer any more questions (I myself went from IR->Corp. Dev (same company)->partner at a crypto fund).
I would definitely appreciate your insight on exits. What was your background prior to IR? Are you a CPA? What size company? What was your title in IR before jumping to CD?
At the manager level and at my comp level I feel ok with sitting in this role for 3-7 years as long as I'm learning and developing. I ultimately still hope to shoot for the C-suite, so I imagine CD, treasury, and/or FP&A will be experiences I'll need at the director+ level.
Theoretically I could see becoming head of IR (director) and staying there.. I like the meld of finance + communication/sales, and might find that I don't want to go back deep into the finance side. We'll see.
How’s the comp progression in IR?
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Congrats on the offer, just wondering if you ended up accepting this and how you are doing now?
have heard of someone going from IR (insurance company) -> ER at BB (covering insurance company’s) -> Citadel as an equity analyst (assuming covering insurance companies too)
In many companies IR is a clear route to become CEO.
Maybe if it's a family business and they're related to the CEO xD, because in IR you do get to see everything without the operation aspect
Yeah I don't think someone would go from IR to CEO/CFO unless they had an operations background before IR.. I've heard from CFOs that its helpful to have some IR experience so that you are better equipped when meeting with investors, but I'd assume its a tool to have and not specifically the department that produces CFOs/CEOs
I met several people in F500 manufacturing companies IR who went there after 2 years post MBA rotational program with a goal to make it to C-suite based on the examples from these companies. May be those are unique and promote heavily within.
Just out of curiosity, what was the interview process like for this?
I had ~7 interviews, all face to face. All were conversational- they wanted to know about my background, interest in the company and interest in the job. No technicals, no standard behavioral interview questions. Just very natural and conversational. The 7 people I interviewed with included the CEO, CFO, General Counsel, and then the people I now work with day-to-day. I think the biggest thing they were looking for was that I had enough of a financial background to be able to learn the role, and that I had enough polish to be in front of executives and investors.
Assuming you accepted the offer - how has the role been ~ 1 year in? Currently in strategic finance and doing pt-MBA, considering IR as a future role. Would love to hear your thoughts.
I'll PM you, but in general- it's been an amazing experience. It's opened a ton of doors for me.
Sorry for using this thread but there isn't much useful info out there re IR salary. After 5 years in Banking I'm looking to move to Corp Investor Relations and have an interview coming up. Given the size of the company (German energy sector, revenue of over 10 Bn, market cap of over 30 Bn), do you have any insight re comp? Thank you
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