Few family offices publish what they pay, and job titles mean different things from one office to the next. That leaves principals setting compensation for their most important hires with less information than almost any other employer. Understanding how packages are built, and what to compare them against, is the first step to an offer that is competitive without being excessive.
The building blocks
Most senior family‑office packages combine some of the following:
Base salary. The fixed foundation, and usually the largest share for operating roles.
Annual bonus. Either discretionary or tied to a formula agreed in advance.
Long‑term incentives. Deferred bonuses, profit sharing, phantom equity, or carried interest on direct investments.
Co‑investment rights. The chance to invest alongside the family, which many candidates value highly.
Investment roles versus operating roles
For CIOs and portfolio managers, more of the package usually depends on performance. The key decision is how performance is measured: absolute returns, returns against a benchmark, or results over several years rather than one. For COOs, controllers, and other operating leaders, base salary and a discretionary bonus tied to agreed goals are more common. In both cases, clarity matters more than generosity. Candidates want to know exactly how the variable part is decided.
Why benchmarking is difficult
Published surveys exist, but samples are small, and a "Director" at one office may do the work of a CIO at another. Comparing titles is less useful than comparing scope: the assets overseen, the size of the team, whether the role includes direct investing, and how many entities it covers. A role should be benchmarked against what it actually involves.
Comparing with trading and investment firms
Many strong candidates come from trading firms, hedge funds, and asset managers, where pay is structured very differently. Base salaries can be modest relative to total pay, bonuses can be large and vary sharply from year to year, and part of each bonus may be deferred. A candidate who leaves may forfeit unvested compensation, and a non‑compete or garden‑leave period may delay the start date. An offer that ignores these details often fails at the last step.
What family offices can offer instead
Families don't always need to match a trading firm's best year. Stability, a long time horizon, a direct working relationship with the principal, fewer layers of management, and the chance to co‑invest are real advantages. The strongest offers are built around them.
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