Leave MF PE for FP&A Manager at Top Company?
Sorry, I know these posts get spammed a lot but really struggling with this one. I am one year in at my MF and my hours are 9am to 1am pretty regularly, with usually Saturdays and Sundays being full work days. My all in comp was $410k my first year.
I am so burnt out and miserable I have been recruiting. I got one stand out offer - I would be an FP&A / Finance Manager for a top company right now (along lines of Cognition, Mercor, etc). The pay was quoted at around $340k all in which sounds amazing, and hours are 9am-8pm.
Those who have left PE, or are thinking about it - should I just STFU and accept this offer instantly? I have been recruiting hard and most strategic finance / corp dev offers I am getting ranges of like $160-$250k all in. This is the highest by far and it is not even close.
I'd take a look at 3-5 years time of what path it is you want to do. Maybe you like PE but the current shop isn't worth it in which case start pushing back and try to actively recruit for a LMM/MM shop.
Also, really do your DD on these companies, I've had friends (post MBA / ex-banking / PE) that have gone in similar levels as you and only lasted a month because the culture was so brutal. There is no such thing as free lunch and if they're quoting 9am -8pm you best bet your actual hours at time can be worse (albeit better than PE of course).
Thank you this is very helpful. I just overall hated PE and investing / IB vibe. Everyone so buttoned up and thinks everything is 100x more important than it was. So many tweakers in the industry. Just sort of sick of it all.
Were the other roles you were looking at also manager level? Seems like the top comp is only at SF tech companies and all other corporate roles are like 150-200k.
It ranged, the lower end was all associate / senior associate. However, still some manager positions paying like $180k all in. Yes, you are right. Random corp dev jobs or strategic finance gigs for random healthcare companies or industrials was all shit but the top tech or top private companies right now all paid $250k+
Is the comp including equity?
Yes it does, but cash is like 80% of the all in.
What's the breakdown between equity and cash?
Seems like a great offer. Echoing above - really do your DD on the company. Left tech PE for a startup and while I do not regret the move, I work similar but more intense hours
Got it thanks so much - Would love to hear, what factored into your decision to ultimately leave PE? I am struggling with do I just eat shit and try to raise the ranks (and continue to be miserable) or leave now?
My main callout would be to know what you're getting into w/ FP&A vs. strat fin. And do a lot of diligence on the team, is it led by former accountants, or former bankers / PE people. Former can be a flag that it's going to be all focused on reporting and far less strategic / core to how business decisions are made.
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