Lateral from In-House Finance (F100 Tech) to Bulge Bracket In-House Transactional Role Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi all,

Might have a potential lateral move from my current position to a vice president/assistant general counsel spot at a BB.

Jobs:

Am currently sitting in the captive finance subsidiary of a big tech company. Transactional finance role, very solid hours but subject to the quarterly sales cycle. Work directly with sales, finance, credit, accounting, compliance, etc. High volume, good complexity, I typically structure/negotiate about $1B in deals per year. Also handle regulatory/advisory work with partner Banks, etc. Pretty interesting job and I like it. New role would be in a transactions group at the BB, looks to center on strategic partnership deals (marketing/tech partnerships, co-branding, etc.).

Comp:

Current comp in house is about $295-305k all-in, $215k base, 12% bonus target, and the rest in RSUs. Some years bonus is great and gets boosted by company performance. Other years I’ll do well individually but company performance lags so it gets knocked down.

Company budget is shit - budgets for promotions and raises were terrible this year. Despite a stellar review (and good bonus), my equity grant was shit this year - will hit vesting cliff in near term, and did not get a base raise. All-in will end up with an 8-12% pay cut this fiscal ($270-280k all-in), which has me pissed and at least testing the market. Odds of me getting promoted in this role in the next 6-12 months are decent, but not guaranteed. Not a single promotion in my department was made in the last round. Very good team and Manager. The issues I face come down from the GC/SVP level, not my team.

Bank comp is pretty standard - much higher base at $250k, 20-30% bonus target. No equity. I probably wouldn’t make the move for less than 315-325k all-in.

Ask:

Any feedback on the potential move? I know this is a bit in the weeds, but the folks who are left on this forum tend to provide the best feedback. Been a few years since I’ve posted. Current company is pretty decent as far as WLB culture goes, but that has been degrading in the last few years. Looking for input on life over at a BB in-house - I’d have to go into the office more but the hours don’t look too bad, seems fairly 9-5. Would love additional data points and anecdotes if anyone has some.

[nealric]

Not as familiar with finance specifically, but the move doesn't sound like a huge step up in comp or responsibilities. Your work-life balance is currently acceptable (if not ideal), but it could very well be significantly worse at the other gig. Equity is a double-edged sword. It's not fair to compare bad year equity comp to a hypothetical bonus.

Personally, I wouldn't make the move for less than $350k all in, and even then it wouldn't be a slam dunk. I'm frankly surprised the comp in finance isn't higher (I'm mostly familiar with oil and gas).