Best Paying IR Roles

Hello,

i work at a top BB and have been thinking about exiting to IR. Undestand it gets looked down on a bit on this forum but it aligns with my skill set and I’m looking for a better life style. 
 

That said — anyone have insight on the highest paying IR roles? Would it be a BX / TPG? Also how far out do they usually recruit? Any insight would be helpful 

 
Most Helpful

IR is looked down upon here because few ppl here know what IR actually does (even though IR is raising and pulling in the capital they need to execute/close their deals). 

Regarding your question, megafunds like BX/TPG/Carlyle/Apollo generally underpay their IR teams, because these firms don't need to rely on IR to fundraise. They're already riding the virtuous cycle of PR/prestige built upon decades of track record that's weathered multiple cycles. KKR is the only one that pays well but these bigger shops will always have a ton of politics and could be tricky to navigate. I would also add that generally speaking, it's important to sort out the nomenclature of IR roles themselves, which ranges from fundraiser, marketer, project manager, product specialist, etc. As firms become bigger, they naturally segment the IR dept into various functions. Similar to other branches of finance, sales will typically pay more and project managers/product specialists pay less (or at least pay is capped to a certain degree). Working sales at KKR might be great if you're constantly pushing good product that every LP wants to buy while working on product at BX might be absolutely shit because you're essentially a paper-pusher, addressing LP queries without the more interesting (and dynamic ) responsiblity of strategy/capital formation that you would get at a smaller, upstart firm. 

As it relates to pay, sell side advisors who focus 100% of their business on private markets capital raising, called placement agents, probably pay the highest to junior to mid-lvl professionals. Senior folks can also make good money on the placement side but it might not stack up to the carry that you'd get in-house while working at a GP. Placement agents originated back in the 1980's or so, after KKR was founded when BB saw an opportunity in providing advisory, sell-side business to PE firms' fundraising efforts. From that point onwards, private fund groups (or private capital advisory groups) started popping up, first at Merrill, then CSFB, JPM, UBS, Citi, Lazard, Evercore, etc. These PFGs were responsible for raising capital from the private markets while traditional investment banking was in charge of raising capital from the public. Soon thereafter, guys in these groups realized that the barrier to entry for placement agents was 0, meaning it could just be 3 guys and a pickup truck raising money for new, promising GPs that were soon flooding the space. These same guys then spun out to form boutique placement agents like Atlantic-Pacific Capital, Monument Group, Campbell Lutyens, MVision--all untethered to the big banks, where YOY profits/revenues impacted their pay and bonuses even if the PFG had a killer year. At these boutique placement agents, they eat what they kill. After 10-15 years, more spinouts spun out of these spinouts, Park Hill (now PJT) from Atlantic-Pacific, Asante Capital from MVision, etc. 

I would say that pay at the mid-sized to larger placement agents is on par with IBD. It gets murkier at the senior levels though. Not surprisingly, placement agents are seen as great feeders for in-house IR roles at GPs (as these folks typically have tons of experience working on a whole variety of mandates rather than the 1-2 products you see in-house, which pre-COVID only raised new funds every 3-4 years...meaning most in-house guys at single product funds can get pretty rusty). 

My suggestion is to look at placement agent roles first as the exit opps from there are more versatile. You could jump straight to BX/TPG but in my opinion that'd be pretty shit, as you'd just pigeon-hole yourself early. It'd be a great name to have but your work will be boring and uneventful--rather than say, joining a placement agent for 2-3 years, learning the fundraising ropes, and then decamping to an upstart GP with carry opportunity. Just depends on what you want. Feel free to msg me if you have any other questions.

 

Wide range from something as basic as PPM/DDQ/LPA drafting & submission on behalf of GP clients (though LPA is obv in the court of one's fund formation counsel/law firm) to the complexities of fund/product positioning, competitor matrices, strategic backchanneling. Every fundraise will follow a general campaign timeline and structure but obviously no two fundraises will be the same. As you would on the IBD side, the more reps you get, the more shit you see. The more shit you see, the better you will be at tackling any and all capital raising hiccups and obstacles that you may come up against. 

 

Agree with the other poster, BX/TPG can raise funds easily, they are not as dependent on IR.

Some of the higher paying IR roles are going to be high-growth funds trying to become MFs (think Insight, Clearlake) but they are also going to have nearly crushing sales / fundraising expectations. If you are not good at sales, these jobs will not be fun for you

 

Sequi consequatur delectus animi placeat officia aperiam. Fugit sed dolor provident quaerat. Saepe nemo voluptates at dolorem labore. Alias eos sed soluta veritatis totam nam autem.

Quis ipsam repudiandae odit veritatis qui. Ipsa sint enim quia id qui. Sit qui neque quia voluptatum.

Tenetur dolores voluptatibus aut dolores praesentium. In officia magnam nulla expedita neque. Mollitia in eaque est animi labore tenetur itaque.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Warburg Pincus 99.0%
  • Blackstone Group 98.4%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 97.9%
  • Bain Capital 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.4%
  • Ardian 97.9%
  • Bain Capital 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Bain Capital 99.0%
  • Blackstone Group 98.4%
  • Warburg Pincus 97.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (21) $586
  • Vice President (92) $362
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (89) $280
  • 2nd Year Associate (204) $268
  • 1st Year Associate (386) $229
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (28) $157
  • 2nd Year Analyst (83) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (246) $122
  • Intern/Summer Associate (32) $82
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (313) $59
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”