In this, our sixteenth annual Private Equity & Venture Capital Compensation Report, we again identify current industry compensation trends and provide insights into their effect on compensation practices, recruitment and retention.

This year marks the ninth straight year of compensation gains in the private equity and venture capital industry. Despite a downturn in the stock market, corporate layoffs, and discussions of recession, across the board participants reported higher total earnings over the previous year.

We continue to see a general upward trend in compensation and the percentage of respondents earning $150,000 or less continues to decline.

At the same time, those earning from $151,000 to $1 million increased another 3 percent to 87 percent of respondents. This is the highest percentage of private equity and venture capital professionals reporting earnings more than $150,000 in annual compensation in the history of this report.

Bonus pay this year shows both ups and downs compared to last year. Overall, 65 percent of respondents expect to see greater cash earnings this year, with 35 percent earning the same or less than last year.

Bonus payouts for firms of all sizes are based on individual performance, firm performance, fund performance and a combination of factors. The largest bonuses this year are paid by the largest firms based on fund performance.

The 2023 Private Equity and Venture Capital Compensation Report provides readers insightful, industry-specific information regarding the complex subject of compensation.

Some highlights from this year’s report include:

This year COOs set a record for high-levels of satisfaction with their compensation. The most dramatic decline in reported happiness was among analysts.

Overall, compensation is up, and pay satisfaction is flat compared to last year.

69 percent of respondents do not receive a guaranteed bonus.

Employees at the largest firms can expect to earn 2 to 3 times more bonus pay of those at smaller firms.

PE Small-Cap, VC Early-Stage, and PE Mid-Cap are the most common investment strategies.

Fund performance in 2022 did not keep pace with 2021. Funds up 10 percent or more dropped by 9 percentage points.

The report also seeks to understand how private equity and venture capital professionals perceive their work, their pay and their job security. Where possible, we offer insights from the industry and our experience. However, the focus of this report is data collected directly from private equity and venture capital professionals.

Get the Full Private Equity & VC Compensation Report

Again this year’s compensation report is primarily made up of responses from North America.

To learn more about compensation trends and benchmarks, you have 2 options:

1. Purchase this year’s full report at Private Equity & VC Compensation Report

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2. Become a Private Equity Jobs Digest Premium member and get the complimentary version of the report for no additional charge.