Comp, Carry, Signing Bonus

I have spent the past two years as an associate at a $5B fund ($10B AUM), and my time in the program is ending. I am close to landing a few opportunities at some smaller funds ($400M fund, $700M AUM) at the senior associate level with long-term career prospects (i.e., promotion track). What should my expectation be for comp, carry and signing bonus? I am basically looking for the market stat; I am not going to try and shake these guys down for above market rates, but I want to be treated fairly. The opportunities are all in NYC. Thanks in advance for your input!

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Best Response

these are VERY rough guidelines and knowing how many partners that are there already would probably help these estimates but if I had to give rough #s / ranges, here you go.

Senior Associate / VP (post-MBA equivalent):

Base: $100-200k Bonus: $100 - 200k Carry: 0.25% - 2%???

here are some relevant discussions on PE on WSO: //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/pe-pay //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/private-equity-in-a-nutshell //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/urgent-typical-pe-compensation-specifica… //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/pe-bonus //www.wallstreetoasis.com/tag/carry //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/how-much //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/someone-tell-me-why-starting-a-pe-fund-i… //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/mm-pe-interview-questions

 

I am in the senior associate/VP range and can confirm Patrick's numbers above.

The problem with the firms you are targeting is that ranges and norms are bit more diverse. A signing bonus/relocation should be fairly standard but again the range is anyone's guess (i.e. 10-40K).

Feel free to PM me if you have any specifics

If I were you my ask would be as follows:

120-150 Base, 70-100% bonus, 50-100 bps carry.

 

Really? I would have expected higher for that level. I will be a first year associate next year, with targeted all-in comp at $300 - is the main step-up as you get promoted in the carry then? for the record, i will be at a larger shop (recent fund in the 5-10B range)

 

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