Pension Fund career trajectory

Keen to understand the career/comp trajectory of Pension Funds (direct investing) vs Private Funds 

What are the up and downside of working for a PF? and why do people move to/stay at a PF

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Within a pension fund, you would work your way up to a Head of PE type role as the default.

Fund investing is pretty different to direct PE/co-investments.

In fund investing, you are focused more of selecting a group of managers that meet your sector objectives. It’s all about repeatability and persistence. A lot of judgement on people. Pretty limited career risk, good work hours (as fund underwriting is slow burn and takes months even when you pick up pens).

Direct investing / co-investment - I group these together because I think stand-alone direct investing isn’t that common. Co-investing alongside GPs still important part of the role (as far as I understand it). Lifestyle here not as good as fund investing but still better than pure direct role. You are less in the detail and get to see a lot of different opportunities.

 

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