I’ve quietly lurked the sight for insights for years, but first time posting a question. There is a handful of helpful posts on this topic, but all seem a bit nuanced, so thought I’d offer mine up and see if anyone has any thoughts.
Despite the name, I am rounding my 6th year in IB/PE. I received an inbound for a Director of M&A at a PE-backed, highly- acquisitive industrials roll-up platform. Putting the title aside as a director means varying levels of experience, I had a few questions on your thoughts.
- You guessed it — expected all in comp for my years of experience and when factoring in that it’s a solid sponsor in the LMM-MM for industrials businesses. I was told to expect the base would be around the $175-200k range, a bonus that would be contingent on the amount of EBITDA acquired that year / value driven, and “meaningful equity components”. I would assume that this means management promote (profit interest) as opposed to true equity. Is this a normal for those who have considered (or work in) a similar role? What about bonus targets?
- Are there any critical items that I need to dig into to really vet the opportunity, outside of the obvious (record of the sponsor, record and quality of the team they are putting together, etc.)
- All signs point to the fact the role will be nearly purely M&A, as opposed to Corp Dev / Strategy work, but am I being delusional to expect this?
Appreciate the help.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here’s what you need to know:
Compensation Expectations:
Critical Items to Vet:
Pure M&A Role Expectations:
Additional Considerations:
This opportunity seems promising, but digging into these details will help you make an informed decision. Good luck!
Sources: Q&A: Strategic Planner at F500 Industrial Company, Private Equity Recruiting Walkthrough – My Experience, Private Credit/DL --> IB --> PE, Growth PE Comp Progression, Q&A: 3rd Year PE Associate ($10bn+ AUM, MBO/LBO, equity, mezz, distressed debt)
bump
Bump. Would be interested to see people contribute to this
I'll add a bit here as we just hired this role for one of my portcos.
This is helpful -- appreciate you offering your thoughts. The platform that I am interviewing for has not done any M&A yet (is small [>$5M EBITDA] and was closed in 2Q25) as a sponsor thematically identified an industry they liked and bought something small to start, but has verbally quoted wanting to do ~6-8 deals/yr. No real details on pipeline outside that its "full and looks good". In your experience, is this BS or is it too soon to discredit them?
Second to the above, for your profits interest range of $1m - $1.5M, mind sharing a generic range of how that MOIC range looks? Does the sponsor need 2x, 3x, etc., before anything even remotely close to that range is earned? Anti-dilution mechanisms in place as M&A is done?
Thanks!
No problem. Ours was a smaller check and similar thesis, though we had done our first add on before bringing in the role. Nothing there that sounds too bs plus if they're hiring for your role would guess they believe in it. Frankly I think that's one of the better situations to end up being purely M&A focused role as they're going to need to get scale quick.
The profits interest range was essentially a 3x assumption. For ours there was no dilution protection. Definitely something to ask about so you understand the offer but I think will be a tough point to negotiate, especially if the c-suite didn't get any.
Younger monkey here how would you feel about someone starting career in a pe backed roll up
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ting discussion on industrials roll-ups. One vertical that's particularly hot but regulatory-heavy right now is HVAC. If you're doing a mid-market roll-up across state lines, you have to watch out for the 'State-Line Trap' where inter-state licensing can trigger fee-clawback risk post-close. I was reading a practitioner-led case study on the Victory Construction deal from 2019 that highlighted how having US-based in-house counsel catching these jurisdictional bottlenecks in 24 hours is the only way to keep the rollup momentum. Real vertical depth in HVAC means knowing the licensing rules as well as the EBITDA multiples.
sting discussion on industrials roll-ups. One vertical that's particularly hot but regulatory-heavy right now is HVAC. If you're doing a mid-market roll-up across state lines, you have to watch out for the 'State-Line Trap' where inter-state licensing can trigger fee-clawback risk post-close. I was reading a practitioner-led case study on the Victory Construction deal from 2019 that highlighted how having US-based in-house counsel catching these jurisdictional bottlenecks in 24 hours is the only way to keep the rollup momentum. Real vertical depth in HVAC means knowing the licensing rules as well as the EBITDA multiples.
Younger professional here - just joined a mid market shop doing this. In my interview the role was painted as a bit more a corp dev-esq. Ultimately I've joined, but it's purely just a roll up initiative with no senior or strategic involvement. Any ideas on exit ops? Did you end up taking the job?
Well don’t you have roll ups you’ve worked on in your sponsor stint with M&a guys?
Personally would rather die than take one of these roles from my experience on the sponsor side. Companies are burning, sponsors are dying, and at many portcos of mine no one has gotten a bonus in years because budget is always set to 40% more than what is obviously going to happen.
Never, never, never work for a PE backed company. Never.
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