What does an Operating Partner actually do?

An Operating Partner sits at the PE fund, not at any portfolio company, and shapes value creation across the portfolio. They embed in deals during diligence, support portfolio CEOs through the hold period, and bring pattern recognition that any single company can't match.

How long does an Operating Partner search take?

Operating Partner searches close in a median of 166 days, longer than functional searches because the candidate pool is small, calibration is high-stakes, and reference depth matters more than for any single-company role.

How are Operating Partner economics structured?

Compensation typically blends a fund-level base, carried-interest participation, and sometimes deal-by-deal equity. Structure varies meaningfully by fund size and stage.

Portfolio Operations Executive Search

Fund-level operators for value that compounds

Deploy strategic Operating Partners, EIRs, or Heads of Value Creation to drive performance and compound returns across your entire investment portfolio.

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85% Return Rate

98% Placement Rate

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95% Referral Rate

The Function

Portfolio Operations
executive search

Operating partners, EIRs, and heads of value creation sit at the fund rather than at any single portfolio company, so the right hire compounds across everything the fund owns. As hold periods have stretched, value creation has moved from a side responsibility to a dedicated team at most firms above $2B in assets, and the operators who can stand up and lead that function are a small group. We work this search at the fund level, which is where it actually lives.
Source: ON Partners Widening Gap, 2026

The Roles We Place

Value Creation lives at the fund

Three examples of roles that operate above any single portfolio company. We’ve placed them for mid-market and growth equity funds since 2006.

Operating as a strategic catalyst across the entire investment lifecycle, an exceptional Operating Partner drives compounding value from the initial data room evaluation through to an optimized exit. We connect funds with premier operators who bring immediate, data-driven authority and sophisticated execution to every portfolio milestone.

Positioned as an elite, pre-deal strategic partner, an embedded Entrepreneur-in-Residence leverages deep industry pattern recognition to proactively shape target origination and investment theses. We source visionary founders and executives who help funds identify, validate, and secure high-potential platform acquisitions.

This essential leadership seat designs your fund’s institutional value-creation playbook and unifies the specialized internal teams required to execute it at scale. We identify sophisticated operational architects who proactively elevate portfolio-wide CEO performance and establish a repeatable framework for asset acceleration.

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Common Questions

What leaders may ask before a search

What's the difference between an Operating Partner and a portfolio company COO?

An Operating Partner sits at the fund and advises across the portfolio. A portfolio company COO sits inside one company and runs operations day-to-day. The skill profiles overlap, but the accountability is fundamentally different.

When should a fund hire its first Operating Partner?

Most commonly after the third or fourth platform investment, when pattern recognition starts to compound and value-creation becomes a repeatable discipline rather than an episode.

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Hire the fund level operator who compounds across deals.

A conversation is all it takes to know if we're the right fit. Tell us about the role, and we'll tell you what the market looks like. You'll speak directly with the partner who would lead your search.

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Partner-led from kickoff to close

98% placement rate

Fund-level operators for value that compounds

Portfolio Operations
executive search

Value Creation lives at the fund

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Leaders recently placed

Kairos Power Appoints Chief Financial Officer

NVIDIA Appoints New Vice President, Compensation and Benefits

Acentra Health Names Appoints New Senior Vice President of Operations

Conduent Appoints Chief Information and Technology Officer

Ivanti Appoints New Chief Revenue Officer

Revalia Bio Taps Former Lilly and Verily Exec as Next President and CEO

What leaders may ask before a search

Hire the fund level operator who compounds across deals.

Fund-level operators for value that compounds

Portfolio Operations executive search

Value Creation lives at the fund

Meet the experts

See the same depthin your market

Companies trust ON Partners

Leaders recently placed

Kairos Power Appoints Chief Financial Officer

NVIDIA Appoints New Vice President, Compensation and Benefits

Acentra Health Names Appoints New Senior Vice President of Operations

Conduent Appoints Chief Information and Technology Officer

Ivanti Appoints New Chief Revenue Officer

Revalia Bio Taps Former Lilly and Verily Exec as Next President and CEO

What leaders may ask before a search

Hire the fund level operator who compounds across deals.

Portfolio Operations
executive search

See the same depth
in your market