Cedar Private Equity 2025 Salary Guide

Built for Private Equity Hiring Leaders, CFOs, and Portfolio Professionals

As private equity firms sharpen their focus on value creation, leadership talent has become a critical differentiator. But with rising candidate expectations, constrained budgets, and a shifting skills landscape, hiring the right leaders is more challenging than ever.

Cedar’s 2025 Private Equity Salary Guide is designed to help you cut through that complexity. Packed with up-to-date salary benchmarks, market trends, and talent insights, this guide gives investors, CFOs, and HR leaders the clarity they need to make informed hiring decisions that drive portfolio performance.

Whether you’re scaling, transforming, or preparing for exit, get the data and direction that matter.

Access 2025 salary benchmarks for CFOs, COOs, CTOs, and other PE-critical roles
Understand hiring trends shaping value creation, transformation, and retention
Learn what matters most to PE leaders when considering total compensation

What's inside the Salary Guide

AI and Automation Are Reshaping Value Creation

59% of firms see AI as a competitive edge, driving demand for leaders with transformation skills.

Interim Executives Are Becoming Portfolio Accelerators

CFOs and CTOs are being brought in on-demand to drive digital, financial, and operational outcomes.

The Expectation Gap Is Undermining Talent Strategy

Candidates prioritise flexibility and purpose. Employers who ignore this risk losing top-tier talent to more adaptive competitors.

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Employer Outlook

Hiring remains selective and tightly focused

Value creation skills are prioritised over scale experience

Retention strategies are outweighing expansion plans

Interim executives are being used to fill urgent leadership gaps

Rigid working models are costing access to top talent

Top Private Equity Leadership Skills

AI integration and digital transformation expertise
Change and turnaround leadership
Strategic financial planning and forecasting
M&A execution and integration
Operational scaling and cost optimisation
ESG strategy and reporting

Top Technical Skills in Change and Transformation

AI and automation deployment across portfolio
RPA and digital process optimisation
Cloud ERP implementation and integration
Cybersecurity and risk management in digital change
Scalable tech architecture and system design

“This guide brings together salary data, hiring trends, and frontline insights from our work with PE investors and operators. It’s designed to help hiring leaders align talent strategy with business objectives, whether that’s scaling, transforming, or preparing for exit.”

— Chris Morrison, Group Managing Director, Cedar