Pros VS. Cons of Corporate Role Post IB

Paycut question: I think ultimately, you have to figure out where you see yourself 10 years later and back-solve next steps from there. I was an ED, and simply did not see myself being happy doing banking longer-term as candidly I do not want to miss spending time with my wife and kids (this is also something you should be thinking about in the sense of whether you want to have kids or not). I then thought about what I enjoyed in IB, and for me, that was trying to understand the growth drivers of a business and how to sustainably grow a business, which led me to my current role, where I lead the corp dev/strategy team. Lastly, I think longer-term corporate careers have more upside (the successful executives are significantly wealthier than all bankers except the Jamie Dimons of the world)

Comp: Candidly, I do not have much color here as I joined at a senior level and don't have any color on F500 comp outside of at more senior levels. If this is a helpful datapoint, my comp is as follows in a tier 1 city: Equity options ~3MM (at 3x MOIC expectation), cash comp of ~400k.  I have faith in my sponsor, having worked with them often on the banking side, and have been told there's a pathway to the C-Suite level for the next portco if this goes well.  

Progression/F500: You are going to spend longer in each rank at a F500, but way less risk and a nicer WLB is the reward.  From what I know from friends who went the F500 route, you basically have to wait for someone to leave or job-hop (which, as mentioned earlier, is hard to justify given equity vesting schedules). I cannot speak to the exit opportunities as I didn't go that route, but I would guess that not to be true; after a certain point, you get evaluated based on experience, not just brand name. I think most hiring managers are probably going to appreciate doing a lot of acquisitions and/or strategy work at a PE portfolio company/startup compared to F500, or at least I would.

Happy to answer anything else!

Edit: forgot to mention: experiences will vary based on size, geography, sponsor, level of acquistiveness, relationship with sponsor, etc., in terms of comp. I am well aware others at similar levels to me are getting paid more and others are getting less, but personally am very happy with my comp (as a life advice- I think comparing to others is the theft of joy).

Not to hijack, but could chime in with input here. ex-IB and then moved over to F500 tech company in HCOL as corp dev manager making ~$180k and pulling 20-30 hours on average (not gonna lie, could be even slower; that said, my other managers have been more busy). That said, having been in this role for 2 years, I'm not seeing much growth professionally and also the comp progression just feels so slow.

Call me crazy, but I'm looking to pivot back to banking or higher paying role - I want to build up wealth when I'm younger and more driven with less stake at hand (e.g., family). Just wanted to provide a point of reference for you.

I think ultimately, corp dev will require humans because a lot of the M&A process is kind of touchy-feely and strategy work (the other related side of the pie) requires humans fundamentally to actually come to a conclusion based on the data. I think no matter how good AI is, people trust human analysis more. I do see a future where AI does a lot of the analysis and the humans merely confirm or add to it if AI lives up to its potential, though. Since senior leaders are needed, juniors are going to be needed by definition for training, would think there will be less though as the broader corporate world becomes more efficient. 

1. ex-IB, ex IB-PE, ex-MBB, and ex IB-Corp Dev are the backgrounds I would be looking for. We are pretty open to all relevant experience across those 4 backgrounds. I don't look too much into what bank or PE firm, within reason.
2. I think maybe for an associate, but not after that. Although IB is fairly applicable to skillset at junior levels, by the time you get to the stage where your main thing is getting business or even starting to get business, I would think corp dev would be a better experience. Also, would note a couple of things: 1) progression at corporate roles is very varied. Some places might have you advance quicker than IB, like a startup or select PE Portco's and others might have you advance very slowly, like a F500. Generally, though, I would recommend leaving when you best see fit; I don't think life is short enough for us to do something we don't want to do in the long run for longer than we have to. Even if sub-optimal comp-wise, the QOL difference is not going to be huge realistically when factoring in the hours and geography (as most Corp Dev jobs are not tier 1 cities). 

Maybe I’m wrong, but 400k+ cash at a corporate is pretty big. Most in corporate are a fraction of that even at your level 

That's phenomenal comp for someone in their mid-30s. I think people on forums like these forget to reflect at times: you are in the top 2% for salary in pure cash comp and top 1% with the extra 10% added on! All of that in your mid-30s is great earnings. Also, 400k cash comp is slightly higher than mine, and I left IB as a Director/ED, that's really good cash comp; my equity is higher, but also more volatile. I think your comp sounds about as ideal as you can get given YoE and type of firm (i.e. F500 is less risky and typically "chiller" so less expected comp)

But to directly answer your question: I think you should reflect on what you want to do and where do you see yourself in 5-10 years. Do you see yourself being an IB rainmaker or somewhere on the corporate side? Those are the 2 most realistic outcomes from your position given YoE and pathway so far. I would choose from there. I truly don't think the comp difference is that huge if you are good at both jobs. 

Yes to all of the above, typically not investing PE partner but operating partner is very common. Corp dev heads either continue in a similar position at other corps or move up the ladder most of whom to CFO type roles. Happy to answer if you have more specific questions.