Internal pivot w/ title step back??
Currently an AS3 working at a large institutional investor (e.g. Pension Plan, SWF etc). My team is focused exclusively on primary investments so doing manager research and selecting funds that go into our PE/PC portfolio. I like my team, the job is very cushy, and I am due for promotion this cycle.
I have an opportunity to pivot internally to our Infrastructure team where the role would be much more broad but ~80% direct investing with the balance split between primaries and secondaries. The role is appealing to me because it is an asset class and skillset that I would otherwise not get exposure to in my current career track and it could open more doors for me down the line.
I am somewhat hesitant pull the trigger because I would be coming in at an AS1 level, foregoing a meaningful pay bump from my impending promotion (kind of need the money, first child due in 2027), and leaving a comfortable situation in my current role.
Do you think the direct/secondaries investing experience and opportunity to learn a new asset class is worth resetting my promotion timeline and leaving a good situation?
It's a very, very hard question to answer because it entirely depends on what you want to do. FoF is cushy and pays well for the amount of stress / hours you put in. Maybe that matters to you because you're becoming a parent.
Ngl tho the work got boring pretty quick for me. 2 years in and I was sure I wanted to stop looking at the world from 10,000 feet up, with no ability to really impact things. I ended up taking an MBA + a bit of MBB and moving into direct investing. It was a lot longer hours but the work is 10x more interesting and most importantly I don't feel like the learning curve has flatted out even today. I've had my kids already, and would still be in direct investing tbh. But immv, I know lots of folks men and women who were transformed by parenting into people who just didn't want to push as hard. Not the case for me personally, and I knew this going in despite what my MIL was saying - know thyself...
In the end, is this a one way street? If you move to infra and don't like it, will they take you back to your old team? Maybe answering that question helps clarify it for you somewhat too.
Thanks, helpful perspective.
I’ve done a lot of reflecting on priorities past few months and I think it’s important for me to keep pushing hard in my career to maximize my earning potential.
To your point, I am not nearly as intellectually stimulated by my current work as I once was and feel like learning has significantly tapered off. My gut says it’s time to explore something new.
If I do jump, it will be difficult to rejoin my current team later on. Seats don’t come open a lot and they are generally filled from within through promotions when they do.
For what it’s worth also my impression is that the infra team has good WLB relative to industry standards. I would anticipate maybe an additional 10 or so hours per week albeit with more weekends which I do not ever do now but shouldn’t be too extreme of an adjustment.
Feels like you've made your choice and fwiw it's also the one I'd make :)
Congrats on the baby!
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