Career progression at MFs/UMMs
Any MF/UMM monkeys that can shed light on career progression in MFs / UMMs (mostly from Assoc / Senior Assoc to VP/Principal), especially in places where no B-School is required (e.g. Europe)? Keep wondering how this works with classes of 5+ guys in the same office on same level, as surely not everyone can take the next step? Any personal experiences? Is even in open-ended programs the path mostly 2-4yrs and then out as only 1 in X makes it unto the next level?
Ignore my title. What I’ve noticed is there’s more self selection than the forum seems to think.
Everyone here has this idea that partner seats are scarce; while that’s true, I would say an even bigger filtering mechanism is the number of people who leave the firm before reaching partner because they have either decided they want a material amount of family life once they have kids, or find a better opportunity outside of the firm.
Another misconception / reason this occurs is that carry typically vests over a schedule of the life of the fund and so it’s uncommon that you don’t receive any benefits if leave before the full fund to which you’ve been allocated carry has been harvested. This is a generality.
So a cohort of 5 investment executives (or whatever you guys call that nebulous Junior years period across the pond) actually self selects down to 2, and then those folks might actually be the ones competing against each other. From there, most firms have a cohort promotion schedule (less certain about this but have enough N that I think it has to be reasonably common). You graduate to the next level on a defined schedule s.t. satisfactory performance at each step. Failure to perform the duties of each step (which really means by the end of each step you are performing the duties of the role you plan to graduate in to) is the other main filtering point.
But for the most part if you keep performing, and keep performing incrementally better, you will continue to progress. I don’t know about making partner because I have yet to see the inner workings of a partnership so someone else will have to chime in there.
Bump
Been told by my Principals that to move from MD --> Partner at my shop that you really need to create value for the firm, its not a case of just doing well as an MD but you have to go above and beyond. Example he gave was a promotion to partner was made in Europe for an MD who had led and subsequently closed on $50bn+ of deals for the firm
Thank, that’s helpful. However, what does it take up to MD? Is it more of “meet/exceed expectations” like the other comments suggested? How many abandon the path to MD involuntarily?
So for my shop it was outlined to me that from Analyst 1 --> MD it is roughly a 10-year programme, constituting (in rough terms) following:
So I do see it as a 'meets expectation' type of promotion criteria.
Most of the people I communicate with daily are at the Analyst/Associate/Sr. Associate level who seem content and plan to stay on. The seniors I see (Principal and above) all seem to have come in as Analysts/Associates and stayed at the firm and worked up. Not sure how many or what proportion self select out before being promoted to MD though. I will say that the WLB doesn't get much better and so the current Analysts/Associates/Sr. Associates who plan on staying may have a change of heart if they meet a significant other and/or have kids. Those who are Principals and above mostly seem to have kids and have come to terms with and accepted the lifestyle.
What is a realistic comp at the various levels? When I was recruiting, market for an A1 was ~ 90-100k£ +100% bonus. What yearly increments can you typically expect as an Associate and what do you go up to as Senior Associate and subsequently VP?
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I can provide a data point for the Analyst 1 level being £65k base. Not yet sure what bonus % I will get
A1 as in Analyst 1? I would say that is absolutely unheard of. This is more an Associate 1 pay, although some funds may pay higher bonus percentage wise. At the large firms you will be paid in line with US folks, so expect between USD 250-350k.
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