VC & Growth Equity Associate interested in PE - What do I do next?

I’m a first year associate at venture / growth fund in the Southeast (~$2B AUM) with 15 months of healthcare investment banking experience at a well known MM bank (2022 grad). I moved over due to the slow market / only got a buyside deal down during my sellside stint. My shop has great dealflow and fundraised well over last couple years (~ 30% IRR across 6 funds). Typically, we hire candidates with 3-5 years experience, I’m the youngest junior hire since inception. Mostly ex-PE, consulting, and IB background.

I’m hoping to strategize my next move since job market is slow and VC is notoriously hard to break out of. I’ve gotten decent experience so far closing a seed deal, 2 Series A, and a Series E this year. The series E funded a tuck in acquisition and I got to work on a 3 person team to complete the buyside diligence alongside management (my model became the budget for a $400M revenue company since the CFO departed during the deal), albeit only income statement, dilution, and covenants (debt component to deal).

I’m open to going back to the sellside or off to PE after my associate program (thinking I should stay until senior associate for strong branding / early indications this is in my future since I replaced a senior associate). Why am I open to leaving? I’m getting $175K comp which is great since I work around 60-70 hours each week, but ambitious and wouldn’t mind working more. That said, senior associate is almost $250K with much better WLB (in a Tier 2 / MCOL city).

I want to look into PE or back to the sellside after completing associate stint since I truly enjoyed the work, but felt blindsided by the market (low branding with no deals from a low tier MM). I regret not lateraling on the sell side to make life easier.

Is it possible to place into LMM or MM PE with my background or after an MBA down the line? If not, is going to a reputable boutique, MM, or BB bank a reasonable goal? I’ve had no luck with headhunters compared to just a year ago when I was in IB.

Lastly, if answer is yes to any of the above? Is there a recommendation for how I should focus my networking / get past HR screen since my background is non traditional? And if not, is getting the senior associate then rerecruiting / getting MBA the play? For context, a senior associate and VP recruited for PE this year…one for senior associate for $1B PE fund in NYC and junior partner for a $500M fund in a Tier 3 city. And if I did this young enough and got MBA after, is MM / UMM PE a realistic possibility?

Would appreciate any insight here!