PE Comp Package Negotiation

It's hard to give specific advice because in my experience, once you made it past the associate level, things are a bit all over the place and very fund and size dependent. For example, not every fund will have a similar entry into the "partner track" and some may comp senior associates / VPs similarly to what they do for associate (ie. all cash comp, no carry) until they make it to the "track" where they then will start to get carry (at the cost of a lower cash comp). Similarly, carry allocations for VPs can be all over the place. As far as I am aware, practically every fund has a GP commitment (often 5%, but can vary) and partners generally forces employee to contribute to the GP commitment to the same rate as they get carry (ie. if you're going to get 5% of the total carry, you would have to contribute 5% to the GP commitment). Note that you should look at carry in terms of dollar at play, not %. GPs often raise a credit facility to pay for the commitment (it's the case at my fund) so if that's your case, everything will already be setup. Depending on their age and financial situation, partners may not be able to loan a significant amount to employees (especially if it's a relatively new fund with young partners).

Anyway, I think a good comp package for someone at that level is one that strikes a good balance between immediate compensation (ie. cash) and the ability to profit from the fund's upside (ie. carry). What is a good balance is a bit of a personal thing as it depends on your risk appetite, your liquidity needs, your confidence in the long-term performance of your fund, etc.