- Apollo PE associates around age 28 can earn $400k+ total compensation, but the job is grueling with long hours and very early meetings.
- Leadership under Marc Rowan and Jim Zelter is in risk-reduction mode, tightening deal scrutiny and prioritizing balance-sheet strength amid macro uncertainty.
- Associates report frustration with heavy “fake work” on deals that never clear tougher approval hurdles.
- With structurally higher rates and selective LPs, Apollo expects a multi-year PE washout that leaves weaker firms behind.
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Compensation at Apollo remains top-tier for associate-level private equity. While $400,000+ total comp packages are possible, achieving them appears increasingly contingent on navigating tougher deal approval processes and macroeconomic risks. Apollo’s President Jim Zelter warned that “it will be harder to get investments approved” given “geopolitics and concerns about inflation and the return of invested capital and AI”.
Meanwhile, leadership under Marc Rowan has placed the firm in “risk-reduction mode,” prioritizing building the best possible balance sheet so Apollo can be ready to act during market dislocations. That shift suggests internal resource allocation and compensation may become more conservative or tied to higher hurdle rates for deals.
The associate role is demanding—even elite compensation doesn’t fully offset the pressures. Zeiss-like expectations, early mornings, “fake work” on deals unlikely to materialize, and scrutiny from senior staff all contribute. For many, the stress may outweigh the monetary reward.
Strategically, several implications emerge: first, for talent acquisition—firms like Apollo must balance high pay with sustainable culture if they wish to attract and retain top associates. Second, in fundraising and competition—smaller PE firms risk being shut out or acquired as LPs (limited partners) become increasingly selective and performance pressures mount. Zelter predicts a “washout” in PE over the next five to seven years, with many firms disappearing.
Open questions include how much comp growth is still sustainable under a crimped deal flow; what thresholds for “risky” sectors Apollo deems unacceptable; how associates can protect work–life balance; and whether the economic and AI disruption Zelter predicts will translate into systematic shifts in PE valuation and structure.
Supporting Notes
- Apollo associates, around age 28, may be paid $400,000+ total compensation, though earning that is “gruelling,” with reports of 4:30 AM meetings and heavy workloads.
- Zelter—speaking in late 2025—said that getting investments approved will be harder due to “geopolitics and concerns about inflation and the return of invested capital and AI.”
- Marc Rowan has described Apollo as being in “risk-reduction mode,” with the firm’s top priority to “have the best balance sheet possible” in anticipation of bad market scenarios.
- Rowan and Zelter have warned that interest rate pressures and macro risks are altering underwriting—favoring investment-grade credit over highly leveraged deals.
- Zelter predicts “a washout” amongst private equity firms over the next five to seven years, with fundraising slowing and only stronger players (like Apollo) likely to endure.
- While average compensation at PE firms (as of 2020) had associates earning around $315,000 cash (base + bonus), peers often saw Vice Presidents and above getting much more, including carried interest.