Private-credit salaries: See what 16 nonbank lenders, from Blackstone to Apollo, are paying at all levels
BI collected salary data for the booming private-credit industry. See who pays the most for associates, principals, managing directors, and more.
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- Private credit is booming, which has resulted in a hiring spree.
- Business Insider looked at visa data and job listings to see what firms are paying.
- See private-credit base salaries across 16 firms, from Blackstone to Apollo.
Given the regional banking crisis, pesky high interest rates, and investors' incessant search for returns, the rise of private credit was hardly surprising.
Even with President Trump vowing to push for lower interest rates and ease up on bank regulation, the nonbank lending party is widely predicted to continue. While the biggest beneficiaries of the boom are the executives who run these funds and their investors, it's also kicking off a talent war in the formerly sleepy world of credit, as Business Insider has previously reported.
To get a better idea of what professionals in the field are getting paid, Business Insider collected publicly available pay data for 16 companies known for their nonbank lending business, including Apollo, Blackstone, and even Goldman Sachs.
BI analyzed data from the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification's most recent 12 months of H1-B visa filings, a program that allows American companies to hire foreign workers for specialized roles. We also looked at job postings as of January 18 for the credit arms of asset managers like Apollo and Blackstone as well as private-credit firms like Blue Owl and Silver Point.
The visa data represents salaries for actual workers, while the job postings show what companies may be willing to pay for open positions. The visa results are based on searches for keywords commonly used in private-credit hiring, including "credit," "asset-backed," and "direct-lending," and may not represent a complete picture of private-credit hiring at the firms listed.
The companies represented here either did not respond to a request for clarification or declined to comment.
While most lending professionals can also expect to be paid an annual bonus, which can double their pay, the data listed here is limited to salaries only.
Unlike private equity, which relies heavily on carried interest at the senior levels, private credit bonuses can take many forms, from cash to carried interest to shadow equity, says Robin Judson, founder of recruiting firm Robin Judson Partners.
"It's broader than private equity: there are no senior private equity jobs that I am aware of where carry isn't part of the compensation," Judson said. "In private credit, you can have situations where there's no carry, or the carry is a smaller portion of the overall package than it would be in private equity."
Check out the salaries for private-credit roles, from associate to MD, at 16 top nonbank lenders:
Reuters
Apollo is the largest investor in the non-bank lending world, with $563 billion in credit assets under management at the end of September. Buoyed by Apollo's insurance arm Athene, which allows the firm to invest insurance capital off its balance sheet, it aims to double its credit business to $1.2 trillion in AUM by 2029.
Job Listings
Associate, Business Strategy — Apollo Capital Solutions (ACS): $110,000-$150,000
Associate, US Sponsor Origination: $175,000-$200,000
Associate, Syndication Strategy/COO: $200,000
Associate, Global Corporate Credit - Healthcare: $175,000-$200,000
Associate, ABF Business & Financial Strategy: $150,000-$200,000
Associate Director, Residential Mortgage Loan Servicing: $140,000-$160,000
Principal, Residential Mortgage Support: $225,000 - $300,000
Principal, US Sponsor Origination: $300,000
H1B
Associate Direct, Credit Technology: $220,500
Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
Ares, a longtime trailblazer in private credit, now has $335.3 billion in credit assets under management, nearly three-quarters of the firm's entire AUM as of the end of September 2024. Last year, the firm announced that it had raised a record-breaking $34 billion private credit fund.
Job Listings
Associate, Infrastructure Debt: $155,000-$165,000
Associate, Portfolio Management, Direct Lending: $95,000-$125,000
Associate, Alternative Credit Asset Management: $120,000-$145,000
Associate, Alternative Credit:$130,000-$175,000
Associate, Alternative Credit (Private Placements): $130,000-$175,000
Senior Associate, Credit Secondaries: $180,000-$200,000
Senior Associate, Alternative Credit (Capital Markets): $170,000-$200,000
Senior Associate/Vice President, Alternative Credit (Real Estate Debt Securities):$190,000-$225,000
Principal, Real Estate Debt Asset Management: $235,000-$250,000
H1B
Associate, Credit Risk: $123,240-$133,750
Senior Associate, Credit: $112,715-$200,000
Balate.Dorin/Shutterstock
Barings grew out of the Baring banking family in the 18th century in London before splitting into an asset management and merchant banking arm in 2005, with MassMutual purchasing the asset management wing. In 2016, MassMutual combined the company with a few other asset managers under the Barings name. The firm has $32.6 billion in private credit assets under management as of December.
H1B
Senior Originator: $112,715-$184,000
Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
Blackstone made its name as a private-equity shop and real estate investor. In the third quarter of last year, however, credit and insurance became the firm's largest business, with $354.7 billion of assets under management. While Apollo is the largest non-bank lender, Blackstone claims to be the largest third-party lender, as it doesn't use its own balance sheet to lend.
Job Listings (all are Credit and Insurance roles)
Analyst, Loan Operations Servicing: $90,000-$125,000
Associate, Portfolio Management: $105,000-$150,000
Associate, Insurance, Client Service: $105,000-$150,000
Associate, Asset Allocation: $120,000-$160,000
Associate, Liquid Credit Strategies, Product Management: $120,000-$140,000
Associate, Liquid Credit Strategies, CLO Portfolio Management: $105,000-$160,000
Senior Associate, Chief Investment Office - Structuring: $120,000-$160,000
Assistant Vice President, Loan Operations Servicing: $135,000-$185,000
Vice President, Loan Operations Servicing: $155,000-$225,000
Principal, Insurance, Client Service: $200,000-$250,000
Principal, Quant Strategist, Client Analytics: $200,000-$250,000
H1B
Associate, Credit & Insurance: $140,000
Senior Associate, Private Credit Strategies: $165,000
Senior Associate, Credit-Sustainable Resources Group: $200,000
Senior Associate, Private Credit Strategies: $165,000
Vice President, Blackstone Credit & Insurance Finance Group: $200,000
Vice President, BXCI-Liquid Credit Strategies: $200,000
Principal, Credit: $250,000
Principal, BXCI-ABF Origination: $250,000
Principal, Credit: $250,000
ozgurdonmaz/Getty Images
Blue Owl invests across three main segments, including stakes in other private equity and asset-management businesses. But its largest business is its credit business, with $128.4 billion in assets under management. The firm's total assets under management increased 50% from September 2023 to September 2024.
Job Listings
Analyst/Associate, Structured Credit Investments: $100,000-$140,000
Associate, Real Estate Credit: $115,000-$165,000
Associate, Portfolio Strategy - Credit: $100,000-$125,000
Vice President, Structured Products & Fund Finance - Alternative Credit: $150,000-$200,000
Vice President, Credit Due Diligence, Global Portfolio Solutions & Strategy (GPSS) for Private Wealth: $150,000-$200,000
Vice President, Structured Products & Fund Finance, Direct Lending: $150,000-$200,000
Vice President, Private Wealth, Alternative Credit Product Marketing: $175,000-$200,000
Vice President/Principal, Real Estate Credit: $200,000-$250,000
Vice President/Principal, Private Corporate Credit Investments: $175,000-$200,000
Courtesy of the Carlyle Group
Long-time private equity stalwart Carlyle has been building up an extensive credit arm, now managing $194 billion in credit assets. Last year, the firm closed a $5.7 billion opportunistic credit fund.
H1B
2-Year Associate, Opportunistic Credit: $150,000
2-Year Associate, Direct Lending: $120,000-$150,000
Vice President, Opportunistic Credit: $250,000
Vice President, Direct Lending Underwriting - Healthcare: $250,000
Vice President, Opportunistic Credit: $250,000
Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Earlier this month, the massive Wall Street investment bank announced that it was reorganizing parts of its global banking team into the Capital Solutions Group and increasing its alternatives investment team. CEO David Solomon said in a press release announcing the move that it was a result of "significant demand" for both "private credit" and "equity." While Goldman is most famously known as an investment bank, it has long had an alternative investment platform.
Job Listings
Analyst, Asset & Wealth Management, Private Credit, Asset Finance: $110,000-$125,000
Analyst, Asset & Wealth Management, Private Credit, BDC Management, New York: $100,000-$170,000
Vice President, Asset & Wealth Management, Marketing, Private Credit, New York: $125,000-$250,000
Golub Capital
For more than 30 years, Golub Capital has been a large lender in sponsor finance, or the funding of private-equity deals. The firm has more than $75 billion in assets under management and raised more than $15 billion in new investable capital last year.
Job Listings
Analyst, Credit Opportunities: $150,000-$160,000
Analyst, Direct Lending: $150,000-$160,000
Associate, Direct Lending: $170,000-$185,000
Associate, Credit Opportunities: $170,000-$185,000
Associate, Direct Lending Workout: $170,000-$185,000
Senior Associate, BSL Workout: $215,000-$235,000
BSL Portfolio Manager: $200,000-$240,000
H1B
Senior Associate, Direct Lending: $182,500
Managing Director, Co-Head of Credit Opportunities: $500,000-$535,000
Shannon Stapleton/ Reuters
KKR made its name as a private equity investor, but the firm's credit business, with $242 billion in assets under management, is now its largest business. Last year, KKR unveiled two credit new credit funds, alongside public debt markets investor The Capital Group, to allow investors to invest in public and private debt.
Job Listings
Analyst, Structured Credit Investment: $120,000-$165,000
Associate, US Credit Solutions Group: $120,000-$150,000
Principal, US Leveraged Credit, Structured Credit: $175,000-$225,000
Toru Hanai/REUTERS
Nomura is the largest investment bank and brokerage group in Japan, and last year spun out its American asset management business into Nomura Capital Management, which focuses on credit investments.
H1B
Opportunistic Private Credit Associate: $145,000-$165,000
Thomson Reuters
Oak Hill, with $71 billion in assets under management as of September 2024, has been investing across a range of credit products since 1991. A subsidiary of investment firm T Rowe Price, the two partnered on a private-credit fund open to individual investors that was launched in 2023.
H1B
Analyst, Buy-Side Credit: $110,000
Associate, Credit: $150,000
Associate, US Credit: $150,000
Vice President: US Credit: $200,000
Carlos Chavez/Getty
Oaktree, a longtime alternatives investor with a particular skill in distressed lending, is now controlled by Canadian asset-management giants Brookfield, who acquired a controlling stake in 2019. The firm has $205 billion in assets under management, more than three-quarters of which is in credit strategies.
Job Listings
Vice President, Asset and Data Management, Asset Backed Finance: $165,000-$ 200,000
Vice President, Asset Backed Finance: $250,000-$275,000
Vice President, Emerging Markets Debt: $225,000-$250,000
H1B
Assistant Vice President, Credit Product Specialist: $200,000
PineBridge Investments
PineBridge has traded hands multiple times since its founding in 1996. Originally the asset management division of insurer AIG, it was purchased and dubbed PineBridge by Pacific Century Group in 2010. At the end of last year, it was purchased by the asset management arm of MetLife. A relative newcomer to private credit, the firm boasts that it has committed $5 billion in the sector so far.
Job Listings
Associate, Private Credit: $100,000-$155,000
Private Credit Originations Specialist: $175,000-$215,000
DenisTangneyJr/ Getty Images
Silver Point was founded in 2002 by two former Goldman bankers who had headed the investment banks' special situations and global bank loans practices. The Greenwich-based firm specializes in credit and has deployed more than $150 billion in capital since its founding.
H1B
Associate, Private Credit: $150,000-$185,000
Getty Images/David Ramos
Sixth Street, founded in 2009 as a partnership with TPG, hasn't just been busy investing in sports, such as their stakes in FC Barcelona's income and the San Antonio Spurs. The firm, with more than $100 billion in AUM, also runs a large direct lending practice.
H1B
Associate, Specialty Direct Lending: $125,000
Alexander Spatari/Getty Images
Waterfall was founded in 2005 by former Merrill Lynch bankers who were innovators in asset-backed finance. One worked on the first auto loan securitization while at Drexel Lambert, and the other created some of the first subprime mortgage-backed securities. The firm continues to be a leader in asset-backed securities but also has a busy loan-writing practice.
H1B
Managing Director, Corporate Credit Analysis: $310,000-$350,000
