Private markets managers are increasingly seeking marketing executives to raise capital with hiring up 27% in 2022 over the prior year, according to a report by executive search firm Jensen Partners.
"We're witnessing firms build out their capital raising platforms in strategic geographies and new channels," said Sasha Jensen, founder and CEO of Jensen Partners, in an email.
And while the first quarter hiring data is not expected to be released until April, Ms. Jensen said her team expects a relatively high number of hires in the quarter ended March 31.
"The record-high capital raising hires the Jensen Partners team recorded in 2022 (3,357) indicates hiring activity will continue on its upward trajectory — we've tracked 450 new hires in 2023 alone," Ms. Jensen said.
Women represented 46% of executives on capital raising teams as of Dec. 31, up from 39% in January 2019. In 2022 alone, some 40.8% of candidates in 2022 were female and 20% were minorities. In credit, there was a 200% increase in female private credit marketers hired and an 120% increase in female infrastructure fundraisers hired in 2022 from the prior year. However, men received 54% of promotions in 2022, compared to 46% women.
Marketing executives with credit experience continue to be in demand with credit-focused investment firms hiring 115 marketers in the fourth quarter and 518 in all of 2022.
"We are seeing especially strong hiring activity at the senior-level with 23 managing director moves in Q4 (the fourth quarter), which is typically a precursor to even more fast-paced hiring as these senior hires build out their teams," Ms. Jensen said.
Even so, private equity firms had the most activity in 2022, accounting for 754 moves, followed by multi-asset firms with 622, credit with 518 and hedge funds with 410 moves, Jensen reported.