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I have no idea on what the specific responsibility differences are. At my previous firm, they seemed to have the same kind of responsibilities for the most part. Prinicipals were still senior to the VPs though, their opinions had heavier weight in IC discussions.
Terminology differs from fund to fund, some have 1 or the other and some have both. Generally Principal is the senior most role before Partner / MD (whatever designation the fund has at the top) whereas VP is the immediate post MBA role. Again, differs fund to fund so impossible to make a complete generalization.
Typically vp is post mba and will start out leading some dd work streams and being in charge of business dd (Calls vdr etc), financing, qofe and ic memo writing. By year 2/3 they should be qbing all aspects of the deal. Principal will on top of that also be leading a lot of committee discussions, focusing on angle generation in deals, leading mgmt meetings, leading value creation thesis generation, negotiations (purchase agreement), and finally beginning deal gen.
Think of vp as the execution specialist who by year 2/3 is 100% handling execution. Principal assists/guides that but also tries to differentiate the firm (angle generation), generate deals, negotiate on legal, and help sell the deal internally
That’s what I’ve seen / is probably broadly applicable
Depends really, really heavily on the fund. When I got promoted to Principal, my responsibilities didn’t change one iota. Same everything.
The primary differences are: - Pay bump. - You are generally viewed as more capable within the organization. You might start getting invited to lead certain things you weren’t previously exposed to (such as participation in fundraising activities, representing the fund in trade shows, serving as the lead at the board meeting if the Partner isn’t available for whatever reason). - Expectations of you by others are greater. You are expected to know the deal process cold and have a breadth of experience to draw from.
At some firms, they staff both a Principal + VP on deals, and therefore the promotion is very meaningful. At others, it is a title change and nothing else. Depends really heavily on the individual firm.
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