Transitioning from GS-15 Fed manager role to private sector

[Anonymous]

Hello! I am ~35 years old. I am a bottom step GS-15 at a fairly prestigious federal agency. I manage a team of 10 masters-level economists. My prior experience is in consulting and on the hill. My field is healthcare policy. I am a high performer and work hard (~55 hours per week).

I like my job, but there isn't much upward mobility. I know I would be a competitive candidate at some lobbying and consulting firms, as I regularly get reached out to by recruiters. But so far, the roles haven't seemed better than my current job.

Let's say I had a few years in my current role, great references, and great contacts. Any guess as to what kind of roles and compensation might I be competitive for in the private sector? What is the optimal time to move? I'm happy networking and also happy to patiently wait for the right opportunity. I need to stay in DC.

I know a lot depends on the details, but any general thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thanks so much!

[Anonymous]

What does fairly prestigious mean? Is Treasury better than DHS on some arbitrary prestige scale?

You could probably make up to $100K more at Booze Allen.

[Anonymous]

I bet you could make $250K to start plus bonus and potentially stock, depending on where you go. The real difference is the potential upside after 5-10 years. I left as a GS13 ten years ago and now make $450K plus a bonus of $100K+. But the flip side is that I have no job security. I do like my job more now than I did in the government, but YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does fairly prestigious mean? Is Treasury better than DHS on some arbitrary prestige scale?

You could probably make up to $100K more at Booze Allen.

OP here. I didn't mean to be insulting. I certainly don't have a prestige scale in mind, so maybe that was the wrong word to use. But I do think federal agencies vary in their reputation. And some spots give you better access to high-impact projects and/or more face-time with especially amazing people. I feel a lot of pride in the work my agency is doing and feel very lucky to work there. And I do think we get a pretty great applicant pool, even relative to the federal workforce as a whole.

[Anonymous]

You work for the super secret CIA or something that you can't even name the agency?

[Anonymous]

OP here. Yeah, I don't want to say which agency it is, because my post already has a lot of identifying elements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bet you could make $250K to start plus bonus and potentially stock, depending on where you go. The real difference is the potential upside after 5-10 years. I left as a GS13 ten years ago and now make $450K plus a bonus of $100K+. But the flip side is that I have no job security. I do like my job more now than I did in the government, but YMMV.

What kind of role/job was this?

Are you an attorney?

[Anonymous]

Health care is almost 20% of the US economy. that means there are a lot of stakeholders and depending on your expertise you will have a lot of options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bet you could make $250K to start plus bonus and potentially stock, depending on where you go. The real difference is the potential upside after 5-10 years. I left as a GS13 ten years ago and now make $450K plus a bonus of $100K+. But the flip side is that I have no job security. I do like my job more now than I did in the government, but YMMV.

What kind of role/job was this?

Are you an attorney?

PP here, not an attorney

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello! I am ~35 years old. I am a bottom step GS-15 at a fairly prestigious federal agency. I manage a team of 10 masters-level economists. My prior experience is in consulting and on the hill. My field is healthcare policy. I am a high performer and work hard (~55 hours per week).

I like my job, but there isn't much upward mobility. I know I would be a competitive candidate at some lobbying and consulting firms, as I regularly get reached out to by recruiters. But so far, the roles haven't seemed better than my current job.

Let's say I had a few years in my current role, great references, and great contacts. Any guess as to what kind of roles and compensation might I be competitive for in the private sector? What is the optimal time to move? I'm happy networking and also happy to patiently wait for the right opportunity. I need to stay in DC.

I know a lot depends on the details, but any general thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thanks so much!

I would target government affairs type roles at healthcare companies (Cigna etc) so you can stay in DC. You would probably come in at a Senior Director or VP level, so ~ $350K + stock minimum. Consulting will probably mean lots of travel so if you have or want to have kids (and you want to see them often) you’ll want to think about whether that will be a good fit. A lot of great healthcare startups but they are more NY/SF based. There may be a remote possibility though, especially for a policy/gov affairs role.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does fairly prestigious mean? Is Treasury better than DHS on some arbitrary prestige scale?

You could probably make up to $100K more at Booze Allen.

Yeah but if OP is big on prestige, BAH is not the place to go. Nobody outside of BAH respects BAH, not even their government clients.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bet you could make $250K to start plus bonus and potentially stock, depending on where you go. The real difference is the potential upside after 5-10 years. I left as a GS13 ten years ago and now make $450K plus a bonus of $100K+. But the flip side is that I have no job security. I do like my job more now than I did in the government, but YMMV.

What kind of role/job was this?

Are you an attorney?

PP here, not an attorney

So what kind of role allows that? Lobbying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bet you could make $250K to start plus bonus and potentially stock, depending on where you go. The real difference is the potential upside after 5-10 years. I left as a GS13 ten years ago and now make $450K plus a bonus of $100K+. But the flip side is that I have no job security. I do like my job more now than I did in the government, but YMMV.

I think this is a good target salary. I left fed govt as a similarly aged GS 15 and most private sector jobs are not giving feds VP/SVP titles/salaries unless you are bringing a lot of connections (Hill, political appointees etc). The real $ is in job growth with time - like if you get promoted to be a manager, you will make a lot more than SES track in govt.

I was also manager of 10 (attorneys) and took a staff role at a F500 that paid in the range above. It is a real tradeoff with job security but also make sure you understand your total comp in comparison to TSP etc that you are giving up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bet you could make $250K to start plus bonus and potentially stock, depending on where you go. The real difference is the potential upside after 5-10 years. I left as a GS13 ten years ago and now make $450K plus a bonus of $100K+. But the flip side is that I have no job security. I do like my job more now than I did in the government, but YMMV.

if OP is managing economists, then they could probably also make ~$250k at a FIRREA agency, keeping their pension. they'd lose the healthcare focus, but there should be some decent economist/management roles.

[Anonymous]

If you are going to move to private sector, there is something to be said for doing it early and starting to climb the ladder and accrue stock. I was on very prestigious hill committee and had to go private and be junior to people with far less hill and agency experience because they made the leap earlier.

I’d guess $200 to $300, plus stock and bonus, depending on what (e,g, pharma pays more than device).

Start networking w alums of your agency who made the move. They’ll tell you what kind of comp to expect at your various options.