Thelander IF Digest: May 2026

Investment Firm Compensation: Why AUM Alone Isn’t Enough

We just wrapped an investment firm consulting project where we looked at the firm’s compensation by both total AUM and size of most recent fund. We found the data to be interesting, so we’re sharing some of the analysis with you in this month’s digest.

One of the most influential ways to customize investment firm compensation is by AUM, because it impacts the mix of cash and carry. At the same time, AUM on its own doesn’t necessarily tell you everything you need to know about compensation levels. The size of most recent fund can also matter in determining the compensation levels, especially when it comes to total cash.

Let’s start with looking at three job titles by AUM only.

Across the three job titles above – Sr. Managing Director / Se. Partner, Director / Principal and Senior Associate – the median total cash increases as the AUM goes up, while the carry goes down for firms with more than $1 billion in total AUM.

So, what happens when you layer on size of most recent fund AND $1-$2.9 billion in total AUM?

Using the same job titles, the Thelander data shows us that:

• When compares to the unfiltered $1-$2.9 billion AUM (size of most recent fund: all), investment professionals at firms with most recent fund sizes of less than $500 million had a significantly lower median total cash across all three titles.
• For firms at the same AUM level with most recent fund sizes between $500 – $999 million, the median total cash was significantly higher for all 3 titles – especially for the Sr. Managing Director / Sr. Partner level role.

When it comes to carry, adding on the size of most recent fund filter doesn’t affect the carried interest percentages to the same extend it does total cash compensation. This may be because the carried interest percentage has more to do with the number of investment professionals divvying up the carry pool, which is more dependent on the overall size of the firm than it is on the most recent fund size, at least at the $1 – $2.9 billion AUM level.

What’s the bottom line? When looking at investment professional compensation, it’s not always enough to look just at the AUM level, the size of most recent fund can be similarly important.

The data above is a small slice of what’s available on the Thelander platform. If your job title wasn’t included in this digest, complete the Thelander x PitchBook Investment Firm Compensation Survey and we’ll send it to you. Your time is the currency. No time? No problem, we can do it for you, just respond to this email.