Private equity can still pay eight figures in London
Private equity as a whole might not be in its golden era any more, but infrastructure private equity is more resilient than the rest.
Who is your Ideal Employer in finance? 💥 Answer our survey for a chance to win $1k
A recent report from infrastructure recruitment consultancy One Search showed that (cash) compensation for infrastructure private equity professionals this year is similar to pay across private equity more broadly in 2023 and 2024.
For top-performing senior infrastructure professionals, One Search says that cash compensation - defined as salary and bonus combined - reaches £2.75m ($3.7m) at its highest. The median cash compensation package for infrastructure professionals who are partners or investment strategy leader, is £1.28m ($1.7m).
Outside of partner-tier, pay is high across all ranks of the hierarchy. One Search says it ranges between £130k and £305k for associates, between £190k and £570k for VPs, and between £255k and £975k for directors. Managing Directors (MDs) receive cash compensation in the range of £505k to £1.7m.
Of course, if you know anything about private equity, you know that the real money is not in your bonus – it’s in your carried interest. In a nutshell, carried interest is a fraction of a successful deal’s profit that is allocated to the team that completed it.
The problem with relying on carried interest, however, is that it depends on success. Carried interest only accrues when a fund has returned a certain benchmark figure, and it only pays out when the deal is finished and the position is sold. In the present environment – where many firms are struggling to sell – carried interest is a bit of a dead duck. One Search noted that firms are shifting their priorities to "portfolio asset management and value creation activities."
Cash compensation is therefore king in 2025. One Search's EMEA head of private equity, Liam Dunne, says that executives no longer trust that carried interest will be a meaningful part of their compensation. The lack of success of numerous funds "has led to a greater emphasis on fixed cash compensation, with carry now seen more as a performance-based upside than a guaranteed outcome," Dunne said.
One Search is a global executive search firm specialising in the infrastructure and energy transition sectors. Operating out of London, New York and Abu Dhabi, One Search partner with top tier private equity and credit investors to hire talent across investment, IR, asset management, legal and portfolio company leadership functions.
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, WhatsApp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com. Signal also available.
Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libelous (in which case it won’t.)
