2nd yr ASO looking for a way out

I can speak to the PE side of things since have been going through processes myself. I recruited both as an analyst and an associate (started reaching out to HHs my An2 year but didn't start taking recruiting seriously until a few months before my promotion) so I spoke at length with headhunters about how an associate candidate would be perceived. Essentially, unless you want to go to MF/UMM, funds won't ding you for being an associate. As an associate, you've shown that you can handle the workload, probably took on more responsibility in deals, and performed well enough to be promoted. Concerns will revolve around 1) why leave now if you got promoted, 2) you are less focused on the technical work but as a PE associate your responsibilities will be primarily around modeling, and 3) will you take a hit on comp since you'll probably be making less as a 1st year associate in PE, especially if you're coming from BB/EB. As long as you can address these 3 points you should be on equal footing with the other candidates, and if you can intelligently speak to your deals, you would even come out ahead. These concerns become harder to address the longer you stay an associate, but I've interviewed with several guys at respectable MMs who exited as 2nd or even 3rd year associates. Also you can always leverage your network, since I assume you know more people who exited to PE or you worked with on transactions, than someone with 1-2 years of experience. 

I actually noticed that my hit rate with PE funds and how far I got in processes improved dramatically once I became an associate. This may be because the market is hot now, or because I can actually speak to my deal experience and ownership of the process. Given my background (non-target, lower-tier bank where I'm pretty sure no one exited to PE in the past 3 years), I didn't expect to get any interviews at all. But after getting to a couple of superdays at MMs (off-cycle), I think it's only a matter of time until something works out. 

In summary, I think the PE route is still open to you, and it's worth a shot. You'll have to address certain concerns since you are more senior than the average candidate, but if you can do that, you should still be in good shape.