Switch from credit analyst to portfolio manager (fixed income)

Hi everyone!

Recently I was offered a fixed-income portfolio (strategy) manager job at one local fund. Just to be clear, I am currently working as a fixed income research analyst (buy-side) in one investment company with AUM around USD 500 million, working with USD high-yield corporates in EM, and also looking at some distressed deals. I've been working for this company for like 5 years already since the fund was launched, and we've have grown significantly since, and now have a solid research, operations and sales team. In our country we are nearly the only investment company who offers HY EM fixed-income products, but we are currently expanding our business internationally.

Recently I've been contacted by one young small local boutique, which is like a hedge-fund and runs different strategies. Guys were impressed by the HY EM strategy I've got expertise in (I know like 80% of the USD EM HY corporate names in detail), and offered me around USD 5-7 million AUM to begin with, with 2 & 20 compensation. The thing is I will have to run everything on my own, including trading, operations and other stuff.

The compensation offered is like 30-50% higher compared to what I have right now, not including 20% profit fee. Responsibilities are obviously higher as well, and to run everything on my own... Well, that's really huge... I'm not sure I've got all the essential abilities to do that, but maybe I'm just afraid. The thing is, at my current job, given all established relationships, I can't see any real upside in terms of career, maybe only in LT, in 3-4 years time. And I also feel relatively undervalued at my job as I had to fight for promotions in the past (though I did get them, but with serious lag). But my current job is definitely a safer place to be, and has many research resources and the team is strong so I still keep learning.

I am currently in a discussion process with this boutique firm since we are debating some details. I'm stuck a bit between the two choices, so I'm trying not to rush it.

So if you guys have any advice where I should head to and which risks I should consider, or maybe which details I should keep my eyes on while negotiating this offer... It would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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