Investor pay packages have become more generous in the past five years in terms of cash and carried interest, although the picture varies across roles, according to a recent J.Thelander-PitchBook survey.

Filtering the data into two buckets—investment firms with either less or more than $1 billion in assets under management—revealed the following changes since 2017:

• At firms managing less than $1 billion in assets, the most senior roles saw significant increases in carried interest compensation. Cash increases were more modest, with the exception of managing directors and partners, whose pay rose from $255,000 to $375,000 between 2017 and 2021.
  

• Firms with $1 billion or more in AUM, only the most senior roles saw an increase in carried interest compensation. The largest cash increases in this cohort of firms went to senior managing directors, managing directors and partners.

 
Investment professionals likely saw a windfall in carried interest earnings in 2021, when exit value in the private equity and venture capital industries reached record levels, according to PitchBook data. By contrast, the exit markets largely reverted to long-term trends in the first six months of 2022.
 
"Retention is more important than ever as companies and investment firms navigate an extremely competitive jobs market," said Jody Thelander, CEO and founder of J.Thelander Consulting. "This, combined with a volatile market, makes retaining elite talent even more critical for maintaining stability of investment firms and their portfolio companies. We're seeing more generous pay packages being offered across the board and, in particular, to key talent, in hopes of incentivizing them to stay."

For more content related to private company and investment firm compensation, check out other articles we've published with J.Thelander Consulting or contact Thelander directly.

The Thelander-PitchBook Investment Firm Compensation Survey covers base salary, bonuses, carried interest, diversity, equity and inclusion and more for 75+ positions from entry-level analysts to managing general partners.

There is no cost to participate, and all respondents will receive free access to a subset of the results on the Thelander online platform through a Silver Level subscription. All data is published in aggregate only with no individual or firm names reported. With more than 1,500 investment firms across the globe, don't miss your chance to participate today.

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This article originally appeared on PitchBook News