Last week, Modus wrote about the family offices paying CIOs the most based on data from recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles’ first-ever survey of 106 single-family office investors in the U.S. and Europe. That newsletter focused primarily on U.S. family offices. This one is part deux about the expected and peculiar data about those in Europe.
In the U.S., the best-paid family-office investment professionals were those who held the title of chief investment officer — and worked at certain family offices.
In 2025, on average, U.S. family-office employees with the title of CIO were paid 40% more than other investment staff, including executives who have both the titles of CEO and CIO.
Employees with the sole title of CIO, on average, earned $1.82 million ($864,000 salary and $958,000 bonus) as well as incentive compensation, in the form of carried interest or co-investment opportunities, totaling over $850,000. All in, the average pay is over $2.5 million.
But some CIOs at U.S. family offices had significantly higher compensation. Offices with money that originated from investment companies (mostly hedge funds and private equity firms, according to Heidrick & Struggles) offered their CIOs, on average, higher salaries and bonuses, as well as over $2 million in incentive compensation. Offices stemming from wealth related to technology companies offered them $1.3 million, less but still more than others. These top-paying offices were predominantly located on the East and West coasts.
This was not the case in Europe.
In Europe, while some survey results were expected, others were materially different from those in the U.S.
In 2025, the best-paid investment employee was one who held both the titles of CEO and CIO. On average, those executives earned €1.33 million (€1 million salary and €327,000 bonus), almost three times what the average European CIO earned, €463,000. Professionals with dual executive roles were also eligible for huge incentive compensation, over €6 million. All in, their pay topped €7.3 million.
The best-paid European executives were, perhaps unsurprisingly, concentrated in Switzerland. While the average cash compensation of investment staff in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe wasn’t far behind that in Switzerland, it's the incentive compensation that makes it so lucrative. Those with CEO-CIO roles at Swiss family offices had average incentive compensation of €6.13 million.
In addition to its favorable tax regime, stability, quality of life, and other factors that draw ultrawealthy people to Switzerland, it is also home to many investment companies. That could explain why the average incentive compensation is so high. Like in the U.S., family offices stemming from those businesses tend to be larger and pay employees more.
However, among all European offices, those tied to wealth from industrial and technology companies had the best incentive compensation, averaging €4.37 million and €3.01 million, respectively. Offices tied to investment firms offered an average of €1.17 million.
The upshot here is that all of these people make a ton of money, but to be among the best-paid family-office investors, you don't have to be a CIO in Geneva. You could be the CEO-CIO leader at the office of a German family that still owns a huge industrial firm, or a French family that founded a telecom company.
Daniel Aghdami, a partner at Heidrick & Struggles based in Switzerland, said that, in addition to the concentration of wealth that originated in financial services, he's worked with many big family offices with wealth generated in other ways. Often, those European principals and beneficiaries remain associated with the businesses that made them wealthy. The investment staff they hire, and how they are compensated, reflect that.
“Many of them tend to hire people, particularly on the private-market side, who are coming from completely different backgrounds; out of consulting, or something like that. They aren't used to those same big salaries, and [employees] are also not expecting to be paid the same as what somebody coming out of a Blackstone or something would be,” Aghdami said.
It's also worth noting that some of the disparities in compensation between investment staff of U.S. and European family offices, as well as within those segments, could be attributed to the sample size.
If, say, even a dozen more offices that happened to be large, and from only one sector or two of the same sectors, participated in the Heidrick & Struggles survey, the average would change. Although most of the 106 respondents work for big offices. The majority manage an investment portfolio of between $1 billion and $5 billion, and 7% manage $10 billion or more.
Most of the roughly 8,000 single-family offices globally are much smaller — and probably pay less.
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More News
- Modus last week: The Family Offices Paying CIOs the Most.
- Earlier this month, Modus wrote about When Family Offices Should Invest in 2026 — According to the Stars. For anyone who doubted that… On Wednesday, the Financial Times reported that SpaceX is weighing a June IPO timed to planetary alignment and Elon Musk’s birthday.
- The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropy of Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, laid off 70 people, or about 8% of CZI's total staff, this week.
- Cresset, a wealth manager that manages or advises on $235 billion in assets, raised $300 million in capital at a $3.3 billion valuation. The investors included Blue Owl Capital and Constellation Wealth Capital (an investor in wealth managers backed in part by Black Owl Capital Investments, the family office of Blue Owl founders Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz), Citywire reported.
- Pritzker Alternative Strategies, or PAS, added another senior advisor to its ranks: Joseph Kusnan, who advises and consults for several family offices. He most recently led private investments for the Pegula family, owners of the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres. Kusnan also previously served as CIO of another family office and worked at Highbridge Capital Management.
- Judy Spalthoff was named head of family office and UHNW client services for the Americas at UBS, an expanded role. Under Spalthoff’s leadership, the family office solutions group, which includes subject matter experts on family office governance and design, art, consolidated reporting and more, doubled in size over the past three years to approximately 60 people. “Judy’s strong client connectivity will guide how we position our UHNW brand and adapt to clients’ evolving needs, ensuring we remain a differentiated partner of choice for UHNW families and family offices,” Jennifer Gabrielli, head of UHNW advisory, wrote in a memo to employees.
- John Malone, who now owns 2.2 million acres of land — more than anyone else in the U.S. — wrote about why in his 2025 book. “Open spaces: This pursuit will consume most of the material wealth that Leslie and I have built up in our lifetime, a key reason we formed the Malone Family Land Preservation Foundation. We will designate a vast portion of the 2.2 million acres in six states with a protected status that will ensure it stays natural and utterly undeveloped forever, and I hope to expand this even more."
- Crypto Billionaires Try to Build a Moderate ‘Counterforce’ in California Politics.
- Bloomberg News reported about the powerful healthcare union that is gathering signatures for a one-time 5% tax on wealth above $1 billion.
- Disney CEO Bob Iger plans to step down as CEO and reduce his daily responsibilities before his contract expires at the end of 2026. He wants to spend more time on his superyacht, the Aquarius, with his wife, and on Angel City FC, the women’s soccer team they own, The Wall Street Journal reported exclusively a few minutes ago.
- Dan Loeb and D.E. Shaw struck a deal last year to avoid a proxy fight with CoStar Group, the $30 billion company behind Homes.com and commercial real estate products. That agreement expired this week, and they are not pleased with how things are going. In a letter to shareholders, Semafor reported, Loeb wrote that CoStar CEO Andy Florance was “like an elementary school child who wins a prize even for finishing last…Mr. Florance’s bonuses are perhaps the costliest ‘Participation Award’ our firm has witnessed.” Costar refuted that characterization.
Jobs
- Sleeping Giant Investment Office (SGIO), a Toronto-based family office led by the founders of Polar Asset Management Partners, one of Canada’s leading alternative asset managers, is hiring an investment associate. As a member of a lean team, this person will have an “opportunity to be a true contributing investor, with meaningful exposure across origination, transaction execution, and portfolio company involvement.”
- Squanto Group, the single-family office os a French-Brazilian national, is hiring an operations professional. This person will function as a controller and support all the usual stuff: Treasury management, the back and middle office, etc. No compensation details included, but it's based in São Paulo, Brazil!
- Walton Enterprises is still looking for a senior advisor of client services in Denver. It pays a salary of up to $405,000 and other benefits.
- ICONIQ is hiring a senior associate of family office advisory in New York City. It pays a salary of $180,000, a discretionary bonus, and other benefits.
- Santa Barbara Management, a private wealth management firm, is hiring a family office associate, a family CFO, and a senior manager of tax compliance and strategy in Chicago.
- First Manhattan is hiring a trust officer in New York City.
- Not a family-office job, but a cool one: The generalist team at Harvard Management Company, which manages Harvard University's endowment and related assets, is hiring an analyst. Salary is $140,000.
- For growth marketers who read Modus: Ivy Invest, which offers accessible endowment-style investing (via a low-minimum, closed-end interval fund managed by a proper CIO), is hiring a founding growth lead. This person is expected to be hands-on across channels and will preferably be based in NYC or SF (remote would be considered). The comp is a “market-competitive salary with significant equity.”
Other Stuff
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I'll be...
- Reconsidering Casa Cipriani after another meeting there this morning. It might be “out of the way” from Midtown, but it seems like more people want to meet there lately. Maybe because they are staying there and don’t have to brave the cold? Please consult.
- In my N.Y.C. apartment, praying more frequently to the real estate gods after the boiler in our unit broke, along with a water pipe, during the coldest week in a decade. Very fun!
- Packing. I’m moving to a new apartment next month.
