LMM Principal Comp Benchmarking

Looking to benchmark LMM principal / director comp. Would appreciate structured responses similar to the below: 

  • Title: P1
  • Fund Size: $300mm
  • Geography: HCOL (LA/SF/NYC)
  • Cash Comp: $500K
  • Carry: $3mm DAW
  • Years of PE Experience: 8-9 years
16 Comments
 

Based on the provided context, here is a structured response for benchmarking LMM Principal/Director compensation:

Title: Principal/Director
Fund Size: $300mm
Geography: HCOL (LA/SF/NYC)
Cash Comp: $500K
Carry: $3mm DAW (Deferred at Work)
Years of PE Experience: 8-9 years

For comparison, the average compensation for a Private Equity Principal across all geographies and fund sizes is approximately $676K (as per the September 2023 data). This includes both cash compensation and carry. However, specific compensation can vary significantly based on fund size, geography, and individual performance.

Sources: LMM PE compensation, recruiting and port co. work, LMM is underrated, How to tell the prestige of LMM or MM PE firms?, LMM/Regional PE Comp, Private Debt Compensation

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45-50 when not on a deal, but with very frequent travel (at least every other week). Steady state was probably closer to 60/week (with less travel) in my Associate / Senior Associate years. 

A signed deal will still blow up my life as much as ever, but that's partly self-imposed. At our size we don't exactly have a huge bench of juniors so I'll be up late turning pages in the memo or making changes in the model right alongside them. I'm more like the team captain who leads workouts than I am the coach barking orders from the sidelines (which is what I see from my peers at larger firms)

 

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