There’s a new job emerging on Wall Street that could land you up to $2 million.
The so-called AI operating executive is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after roles among private equity companies, Deepali Vyas, global head of fintech and applied intelligence at Korn Ferry, told Business Insider. PE firms are eager to hire leaders with AI and machine-learning experience. The goal is to make portfolio companies more efficient and cut costs.
“That is not a typical search that a private-equity firm would do,” Vyas said. However, knowing these technologies are quickly being adapted across all industries, “they have to be able to make these moves.” Vyas places C-suite and leadership talent at the world’s biggest financial firms, including Blackstone and JPMorgan. She declined to disclose specific client cases due to confidentiality agreements.
This past month, Vyas, who specializes in hiring for data science, predictive AI, and generative AI roles, said she placed two AI operating execs at a well-known PE firm.
In the weeks since placing those hires, she said other firms are “clamoring over us to be like, ‘We need to do the same.'” She is now engaged in more than 10 more assignments for similar hires among middle-market and large PE firms. She said firms are shelling out between $500,000 and $2 million, including base salary and bonus, for these vice-president and managing director-level hires.
PE firms have more recently started to embrace cloud and AI technology and see it as a business differentiator. Unlike other Wall Street firms that invest billions in their own tech stacks, PE firms are upgrading their portfolio companies’ technology.
It’s not just at the leadership level where PE firms are looking for this kind of talent. The PE giant Blackstone recently listed a job posting for a technologist to join its Artificial Intelligence Management Program, a two-year rotational program that stations data scientists and engineers at various Blackstone portfolio companies to advance their AI capabilities. The role, which requires only three years of experience and an undergraduate degree, offers an expected annual salary of $120,000 to $140,000, not including bonuses or other benefits.
The demand to harness AI for portfolio companies is the next step in a recent trend of PE firms relying on technologies like the public cloud and automation to cut costs and boost business at portfolio companies.
Boston-based Thomas H. Lee Partners migrated one of its portfolio companies, an online real-estate marketplace, to the cloud to save 50% on annual IT infrastructure costs. In fact, the cloud has become a big part of the buyout firm’s playbook for winning over acquisition targets. Meanwhile, Swedish PE giant EQT has leveraged its internal AI platform, Motherbrain, to help its companies source candidates for specific executive hires.