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Less work and more pay is making private credit employees happier than their banking counterparts, so it’s perhaps no surprise that many bankers are jumping ship.

Private credit firms are offering on average $80k more in total compensation over investment banking rivals, according to recent data from BuysideHub's 2025 US investment banking compensation report. The hefty boost in pay also comes with a workload averaging around eight hours less per week than in IB, per BuysideHub.

That means asset managers specializing in private credit are having little trouble adding to their talent pools, especially if dealmakers are coming from less lucrative fields like IB or high yield and leveraged loan desks.

The opportunity for a substantial bump in compensation has many in finance keen to move to private credit shops, one recruiter told 9fin.

“It’s one of the easiest parts of my job to place people into private credit roles,” one executive recruiter told 9fin. “There’s such high demand for talent as these managers build out the ranks.”