How much do corporate investors earn?

Corporate venture capital is a lucrative career path with heads of CVC units commonly earning an annual salary of around $300,000, with potential for bonuses far beyond this. But there can be substantial differences in pay depending on job title, sector and geography.

At the entry level, investment analysts can earn between $55,000 and $105,000, while at the top level senior directors and managing partners can command well over $300,000. The top 75th percentile of CVC unit heads earns $450,000 as a base salary. If compensation packages also include bonuses, vesting corporate equity or carried interest, these can, at the top end, add a million dollars or more onto that.

GCV drew on data from our annual CVC benchmarking survey as well as monitoring of corporate venture jobs that have been posted in 2025 to build a picture of salary trends. The posted jobs were mostly based in the US where it is more common for salary pay ranges for open roles to be made public.

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Location plays a major role. Some corporations publish two pay bands for principals and partners: those based in San Francisco or New York earn between 20% and 30% more than peers in other US regions. At the associate level those based in San Francisco earn upwards of $130,000, while their peers in the Midwest often report starting salaries closer to $100,000. There can be a great deal of discrepancy between job titles across the sector, with associates at some units making more than managers at others.

The sector of the company also makes a difference. The investment arms of technology companies tend to pay at the higher end of the spectrum, particularly for principals and directors. Healthcare and industrial companies also pay competitively but often start associates at lower levels. Financial services investment teams show the widest spreads, offering both some of the lowest analyst salaries and the most lucrative director packages.

Companies are also willing to pay a premium for specialists. Pay for investors specialised in areas like AI, biotech and deeptech often significantly outpaces that for generalist investors.