Partner

Owns origination, deal leadership, portfolio governance, and fundraising for a mega-fund's Saudi book. Sources transactions across sovereign-portfolio carve-outs, founder-led private companies in Vision 2030 sectors (giga-projects, healthcare, education, fintech), and structured equity into family conglomerates. Sits on portfolio company boards, leads exits via Tadawul listings or strategic sales, and represents the firm in Saudi LP conversations with the sovereign investors and the major family offices.

The sovereign wealth fund's deployment trajectory (mandates exceeding $100bn into the domestic economy through 2030), the Tadawul IPO pipeline, and the localisation requirement that reserve a portion of large-fund deployment to Saudi-resident teams have created unprecedented Partner-grade demand. The pool of Partners with Saudi GP track record, board governance experience in family-led companies, and Arabic-language LP relationships is genuinely small, single-digit candidates per fund cycle. Carry economics on a Saudi-deployed sleeve can compound rapidly given exit multiples and the active IPO market.

• 12–20 years of PE or growth equity, with at least 5 leading Saudi or broader GCC deals
• Ideally MBA or equivalent (Wharton, Harvard, INSEAD, LBS frequent in this cohort) plus pre-MBA banking/consulting pedigree
• Saudi national or long-established Saudi resident with deep family-conglomerate relationships
• Bilingual Arabic-English at LP-presentation depth
• Demonstrated portfolio company chairman/board experience and exit track record on the Tadawul or via strategic sale

60+ hours typical with significant volatility around deal closings and IPO processes. Heavy domestic and international travel, deal sites, LP meetings, portfolio boards. Friday-Saturday weekend in Saudi Arabia.

Base salary is the smaller part of the package. Carry allocation drives total comp, typically 1–4% of fund carry at this seniority, paid out as deal exits realise. Annual cash bonus 50–100%+ of base. Co-invest expectations 1–3% of personal net worth into each fund.

Riyadh-based Partners benefit from physical proximity to the sovereign investors and the giga-project leadership teams based in and around the capital. The deal flow asymmetry between Riyadh-resident and Dubai-resident GP teams has widened materially since 2023, deals that originate in Riyadh-rooted relationships rarely reach Dubai-resident teams in the same competitive form.

The sovereign wealth fund's 2024 announcement that local Saudi mandates would tilt to GPs with on-the-ground senior leadership accelerated Partner-grade hiring across the global mega-funds with Saudi books and the regional mega-funds. The active 2025 Tadawul IPO calendar (multiple sovereign-portfolio listings) generated realised carry that re-anchored market comp expectations upward.