Private credit firms: jobs and posted salaries
Private credit is where these firms actually post junior investing jobs with pay. On November 11, 2026, 10 firms had a junior private credit investing role live with a base; for buyout the count is 2. This page covers the 5 credit managers that the Private Equity List shows without a rank, and the credit arms of the firms it ranks.
14 of 37 listed programs match · Last verified November 11, 2026 · See the full Private Equity List →
Posted private credit pay
Every junior private credit investing role with a base on its posting, read November 11, 2026. At Blackstone, KKR, Apollo Global Management, Carlyle, Ares Management and Audax Group these are credit-arm figures, not private equity pay.
| Firm | Role, as posted | Experience asked for | Base salary | City |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackstone | Blackstone Credit & Insurance - Chief Investment Office, Portfolio Management, Associate | 2+ years | $120k–$150k | New York |
| Blackstone | Blackstone Credit & Insurance – LCS, Restructuring, Senior Associate | 2+ years in restructuring, distressed or special situations | $140k–$170k | New York |
| KKR | US Credit Solutions Group (Private Credit/Direct Lending), Associate/Analyst | 3+ years of full-time experience in investment banking, credit, lending or buyside roles | $150k–$175k | New York |
| Apollo Global Management | Associate, Consumer ABF | 2–4 years | $175k–$200k | El Segundo |
| Carlyle | 2-Year Associate, Direct Lending (Summer 2027) | 2 to 3 years in direct lending, leveraged finance, restructuring, credit investing or M&A | $150k | New York |
| Carlyle | 2-Year Associate, Asset-Backed Finance | 1–3 years of finance experience | $150k | New York |
| Carlyle | Associate, Liquid Credit Research | 1–3 years of buy-side credit or sell-side research preferred | $150k | New York |
| Ares Management | Associate, Credit, US Direct Lending | Minimum of 1.5 years of investment banking or principal investing experience by the start date | $130k–$175k | New York |
| Ares Management | Associate, Credit, US Direct Lending | Minimum of 1.5 years by the start date | $130k–$175k | Los Angeles |
| Ares Management | Associate, Alternative Credit | 3+ years | $130k–$175k | New York and Atlanta |
| Ares Management | Associate, Infrastructure Debt | 2–3 years | $155k–$165k | New York |
| Partners Group | Associate, Private Credit | 2+ years in an investment role (private credit or private equity), debt advisory or investment banking | $155k–$175k | Broomfield |
| Partners Group | Associate, Private Credit | 2+ years in an investment role (private credit or private equity), debt advisory or investment banking | $170k–$195k | New York |
| Audax Group | Associate, Private Debt | 2–4 years in investment banking, direct lending, private credit, structured credit or leveraged finance | $110k–$150k | New York |
| Blue Owl | Alternative Credit, Credit Secondaries – Analyst / Associate | 1–3+ years | $110k–$165k | New York |
| Blue Owl | Alternative Credit, Investment Professional | 2+ years | $125k–$175k | New York |
| Golub Capital | Analyst (or Associate) - Direct Lending | 1 to 3 years in leveraged credit or investment banking | $185k–$200k (Associate) | Chicago and New York |
| Golub Capital | Analyst (or Associate) - Direct Lending | 1 to 3 years in leveraged credit or investment banking | $160k–$165k (Analyst) | Chicago and New York |
| Sixth Street | Asset Based Finance Platform Associate | 1–4 years in finance or investment banking, financial institutions focus | $150k–$200k | New York |
Base salary only, as posted. Many of these roles are not direct lending: check the team in the role title.
How private credit hiring differs, in the firms’ own postings
Roles are posted, with pay. On this list, 10 firms had a junior private credit investing role live with a base: Blackstone, KKR, Apollo Global Management, Carlyle, Ares Management, Partners Group, Audax Group, Blue Owl, Golub Capital and Sixth Street. The comparable count for buyout is 2: Vista Equity Partners and Partners Group.
The lead time is months, not years. Carlyle posted “2-Year Associate, Direct Lending (Summer 2027)” on October 13, 2026, about nine months before the start. Ares asks for a minimum of 1.5 years of experience “by the start date”.
The work is underwriting and monitoring. Golub Capital’s posting lists “New Deals (>85% of time on an annual basis)”, “Preparing investment and downside case financial models” and “Preparing historical and projected covenant models”. Carlyle’s includes “Perform ongoing portfolio monitoring, including covenant compliance, performance tracking, and reporting”.
Titles do not map onto buyout titles. Golub’s Analyst asks for one to three years of experience and is posted at $160,000–$165,000. KKR’s Associate/Analyst asks for three or more years. Carlyle’s associate is a fixed two-year program.
Not all of it is direct lending
A good share of the credit hiring is in other strategies: asset-based finance at Apollo, Sixth Street, Carlyle and Blue Owl, credit secondaries at Blue Owl and Carlyle, infrastructure debt at Ares, and insurance solutions at Blackstone, Blue Owl and KKR. Blue Owl had no core direct lending analyst or associate role posted at all. Read the team name before the title.
Why credit managers are listed, not ranked
The Private Equity List ranks buyout and growth equity firms. Blue Owl, Golub Capital, HPS Investment Partners, Oaktree Capital Management and Sixth Street are credit managers, so they appear here and on the main list without a rank, in alphabetical order. A junior credit seat is a different job, as the postings above show, and ranking it against a buyout seat would compare unlike things.
The credit arms of ranked firms
Blackstone, KKR, Apollo Global Management, Carlyle, Ares Management and Audax Group are ranked on their private equity businesses, and their figures in the table above are from their credit arms. Those figures are credit salaries. None of the 6 posts a base for a junior private equity role, so do not read them across. Partners Group is different: it posts a private credit associate base and a private equity associate base, and each is shown under its own track.
Blackstone describes itself in its postings as “the world’s largest alternative asset manager”, investing across real estate, private equity, credit, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, secondaries and hedge funds. On November 11, 2026 its two job boards carried no US private equity analyst, associate or summer analyst role. The junior investing roles it did post in the US were in Blackstone Credit & Insurance (BXCI) in New York, and every one asked for prior experience.
Salary band, hiring status & why it ranks here — see the full Blackstone PE page →
KKR is a global investment firm that, in its own words, “offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions”, and it sponsors funds in private equity, credit and real assets. It owns the insurer Global Atlantic, which accounts for a large share of its open roles. On November 11, 2026 no US private equity analyst or associate role was posted. The junior investing roles were one private credit Associate/Analyst role and 2027 MBA internships.
Salary band, hiring status & why it ranks here — see the full KKR PE page →
Apollo is an alternative asset manager and retirement services provider (through Athene) built on private equity, credit and hybrid strategies, and it shares its job board with Athene. On November 11, 2026 it had no private equity or analyst-level role posted. Its one junior investing role with pay was in consumer asset-backed finance, a structured credit business and not corporate direct lending.
Salary band, hiring status & why it ranks here — see the full Apollo Global Management PE page →
Carlyle’s postings describe it as “a global investment firm with $485 billion of assets under management, across 678 investment vehicles as of June 30, 2026”, and give Global Credit about $211 billion and direct lending about $14 billion as of the same date. On November 11, 2026 it had 2-Year Associate roles and a liquid credit research associate role live in New York. It had no US private equity investing role: its private equity postings were product specialist, fund management and technology roles.
Salary band, hiring status & why it ranks here — see the full Carlyle PE page →
TPG manages $346 billion as of September 30, 2026, per its home page, which splits that into Capital ($98B, large-scale control private equity), Growth ($37B), Impact ($37B), Credit ($108B), Real Estate ($43B) and Market Solutions ($23B). On November 11, 2026 its board listed 13 postings and none was on an investment team: they were in credit asset management and client coverage, Y Analytics, accounting, compliance and engineering.
Salary band, hiring status & why it ranks here — see the full TPG PE page →
Bain Capital is a private investment firm established in 1984, with businesses in Private Equity, Growth & Venture, Capital Solutions, Credit & Capital Markets and Real Assets. Both associate roles it had posted on November 11, 2026 ask for two to three years of experience at an investment bank or another investment firm, and the Special Situations role also accepts management consulting. It also runs Investors of Tomorrow, a half-day program for undergraduate sophomores, which is not a job.
Salary band, hiring status & why it ranks here — see the full Bain Capital PE page →
Ares has businesses in private equity, credit, real assets and secondaries, and it is ranked here on the first. Its own posting describes that business: “Ares Private Equity flagship corporate opportunities strategy pursues investments in growth-oriented middle market companies in North America and Europe.” The one private equity investing role on its board on November 11, 2026 was Associate, Private Equity in Los Angeles, a lateral seat that “requires 2+ years of prior private equity experience”. The junior investing roles, and the posted pay, were in the credit arm: Associate, Credit, US Direct Lending (New York and Los Angeles), Alternative Credit and Infrastructure Debt. We could not source a figure for the size of Ares Private Equity or of the firm, so none is stated here.
Salary band, hiring status & why it ranks here — see the full Ares Management PE page →
Partners Group is a private markets manager investing in private equity, infrastructure, real estate, private credit and royalties. Its postings say: “We have USD 185 billion in assets under management and around 2,000 professionals across 24 offices worldwide.” Most of its hiring is outside the United States: 10 of the 75 postings on its board on November 11, 2026 were US roles, in New York and in Broomfield, Colorado, which a posting calls its regional headquarters. They included a private equity associate, private credit associates and an MBA summer associate program.
Salary band, hiring status & why it ranks here — see the full Partners Group PE page →
Audax operates “through three business lines: Audax Private Equity, Audax Private Debt, and Audax Strategic Capital”, and it is ranked here on the first. Audax Private Equity describes itself as “A strategic equity partner in the middle market”; its own site gives it “$20.1B AUM (as of July ’26)” and a $5.25B flagship Fund VII. It had no investing role posted on November 11, 2026. The one investing role on the firm’s board was in the credit arm, Audax Private Debt, in New York.
Salary band, hiring status & why it ranks here — see the full Audax Group PE page →
Blue Owl invests, in its own words, “across three multi-strategy platforms: Credit, Real Assets and GP Strategic Capital”, with “$330 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2026”. The junior investing roles it had posted on November 11, 2026 were in Alternative Credit (credit secondaries and asset-based finance) in New York and in Technology Growth Investing in Menlo Park. No core direct lending analyst or associate role was live.
Salary band, hiring status & why it is not ranked — see the full Blue Owl PE page →
Golub Capital is a direct lender to private equity-backed middle market companies whose stated mission is “to be best in sponsor finance”; its home page gives $95+ billion of capital under management. Its lending team provides senior, one-stop and second lien loans with hold positions of up to $700 million. The work is underwriting: the posting lists “New Deals (>85% of time on an annual basis)”, “Preparing investment and downside case financial models” and “Preparing historical and projected covenant models”.
Salary band, hiring status & why it is not ranked — see the full Golub Capital PE page →
HPS is an alternative credit manager covering corporate private credit, asset-based finance and liquid credit. Its one live posting says “BlackRock and HPS have formed a new private financing solutions business unit” with “approximately $370 billion in client assets, including $205 billion of private credit assets”. HPS’s own site gives two figures for its assets: $201 billion on the home page and “more than $157 billion” on the open-roles page. Investing roles may now be listed on BlackRock’s careers site, which we did not check.
Salary band, hiring status & why it is not ranked — see the full HPS Investment Partners PE page →
Oaktree’s postings describe it as “a premier credit manager emphasizing an opportunistic, value-oriented, and risk-controlled approach to investing across credit, equity, and real estate” and as part of “Brookfield’s $416B credit platform”. We did not find Oaktree’s own assets under management on the pages we read. On November 11, 2026 its board listed 54 postings; the junior titles were in capital markets, investor relations, risk and operations, not on an investment team.
Sixth Street is a global investment firm that invests across credit, growth and other strategies. Its home page counts 750+ team members, 300+ investment professionals and $140 billion+ of assets under management, which its careers page dates to June 30, 2026. The one investing role it had posted on November 11, 2026 was Asset Based Finance Platform Associate, which the posting describes as “a full-time Investing Associate role based in New York”. That is asset-based finance, not corporate direct lending.
Salary band, hiring status & why it is not ranked — see the full Sixth Street PE page →
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