The OP role is the least standardized and most under-specified search in private equity. Most search firms treat it as a senior executive search with an unusual comp structure. It requires a fundamentally different approach.
Operating partner roles vary more by sponsor than any other position Falcon searches.
The title covers three largely distinct archetypes, each with a different sourcing pool, compensation expectation, and success profile. Treating an OP search as a standard senior executive search with an unusual comp line produces a mismatch on all three dimensions.
Falcon establishes which archetype the firm is actually hiring — and the compensation architecture that comes with it — before sourcing begins.
Compensation structures shape the candidate pool in ways that are often underestimated. Advisors expecting deal-level economics attract a different profile than executives willing to take a retainer-heavy arrangement.
A retainer-plus-carry structure recruits from one pool. A salary-plus-equity structure recruits from another. The two rarely overlap, and the wrong structure quietly filters out the very candidates the firm intended to reach.
We establish comp architecture before sourcing to ensure we recruit from the right pool — not after a slate reveals the mismatch.
A deep specialist brought in to drive a specific value creation lever across the portfolio — pricing, procurement, commercial excellence, technology. Compensated through retainer and deal-level carry or equity.
Works closely with a specific portfolio company’s management team, often 2–4 days per week, to fill a capability gap the CEO cannot fill alone. Most relevant on consolidation and blended theses needing senior operational resources.
A senior executive whose primary value is relationships with acquisition targets, management talent, or industry incumbents. The sourcing pool and vetting criteria are entirely different from the other two archetypes.
The three OP archetypes, compensation architecture and its effect on candidate pool, sourcing strategy distinctions, and vetting criteria for each archetype.
Gated download. A Falcon Partner reviews every request; the Blueprint is shared the same business day.
Three primary differences: the candidate pool is different (broader senior executive base, including former PE principals and board members), the comp structure is different (retainer plus carry or equity rather than salary plus bonus plus equity), and the evaluation criteria are different (network quality and board presence matter more than operational execution track record in many OP archetypes).
