# Private Credit Executive Search

### Executive Search

Private credit is one of the largest and fastest-growing corners of institutional finance. Global private credit AUM is above $2 trillion and expected to approach $4 trillion by 2030 (Moody’s, 2026). Direct lending alone is about $3 trillion; asset-based finance, the adjacent and increasingly complementary strategy, is around $7 trillion (Brookfield Alts Institute, 2026). The whole thing took off after the financial crisis, when tighter bank capital rules under Dodd-Frank and Basel III pushed middle-market lending to non-bank managers. It hasn’t let up since.

We run a dedicated private credit executive search practice inside our broader alternative credit platform. Hiring is fast, the market is competitively recruited, and the economics of a lower-middle-market direct lending seat look nothing like an upper-market CLO-backed platform or a NAV facility desk.

## What Is Private Credit Executive Search?

We place senior people across directly-negotiated credit strategies. What makes this work different from generalist credit recruiting: you have to evaluate candidates on their sponsor relationships, deal-sourcing track record, ability to structure covenants, portfolio construction judgment, and workout experience — not just credit analysis. 2026 is a discipline market. The best managers are tightening covenants, pulling back on PIK, and insisting on first-lien senior secured cash-pay structures (Barings, December 2025). The people who can actually navigate that — with origination range and workout experience — are the ones in demand.

## Strategies We Cover

- **Direct Lending — Upper-Middle-Market** — first-lien senior secured loans to larger sponsor-backed borrowers
- **Direct Lending — Core Middle-Market** — the traditional middle-market, where the established direct lenders and BDCs have the deepest franchises. Origination yields have held around 9% over the past year, with a 100–150bps premium over broadly syndicated loans in North America and 200–250bps in Europe (Barings, June 2025)
- **Direct Lending — Lower-Middle-Market** — smaller borrowers, more relationship-driven, distinct regional talent
- **Business Development Companies (BDCs)** — the public and non-traded vehicles at the center of direct lending
- **Private Credit Secondaries** — trading LP interests and portfolios in closed-end funds, one of the faster-growing sub-strategies
- **Special Situations and Opportunistic Credit**
- **Distressed Credit** — workout-oriented
- **Mezzanine and Unitranche**
- **Senior Secured Lending**
- **NAV Lending** — crosses over with our [fund finance practice](https://abfglobalsearch.com/strategies/fund-finance/)
- **Asset-Based Private Credit** — crosses over with our [asset-based finance practice](https://abfglobalsearch.com/strategies/asset-backed-finance/)

We also cover adjacent products that share talent — venture debt, specialty finance, royalty credit, and rated-note wrappers. Mandates increasingly cross regions — North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

## Who Hires Private Credit Professionals?

- **Alternative asset managers** running direct lending, special situations, and distressed platforms
- **BDCs** — public and non-traded
- **Pension and insurance allocators** building internal teams
- **Family offices** standing up direct lending and opportunistic strategies
- **PE-backed credit platforms**
- **Banks with private credit desks** — partner or captive strategies alongside non-bank lenders
- **Sovereign wealth funds, foundations, endowments** building in-house underwriting

## Roles We Fill

- Heads of Private Credit / Direct Lending
- Portfolio Managers
- Underwriters
- Originators
- BDC and Private Fund PMs
- Credit Analysts
- Workout and Restructuring Specialists
- Capital Markets Professionals
- BDC-Specific Investment Officers (RIC compliance, 1940 Act work)
- Investor Relations and Product Specialists

## Why ABF Global Search

**We know the product.** Private credit has its own vocabulary — covenant structures, unitranche vs. first-lien, OID, PIK, call protection, workout strategy, BDC regulatory mechanics. We test for that.

**Deep relationships.** Our network of 35,000+ credit professionals has a dense concentration of private credit PMs, originators, underwriters, and workout leads.

**Cross-product context.** Private credit overlaps with leveraged finance, ABF, fund finance, and distressed.

**Pace.** The best candidates are in multiple processes at the same time. We move accordingly.

## Frequently Asked Questions

**What’s the difference between private credit and direct lending?** Private credit is the umbrella. Direct lending — first-lien senior secured loans to corporate borrowers, usually PE-sponsored — is the biggest sub-strategy. Others include mezzanine, opportunistic, distressed, asset-based, and NAV lending. Asset-based private credit is increasingly seen as a complement to direct lending, not a substitute (Brookfield Alts Institute, 2026).

**What sub-segments are hiring most right now?** Direct lending at the upper-middle and core middle-market is still the center of gravity as of early 2026, with yields near 9% and that 100–250bps premium over BSL. Asset-based private credit and NAV lending are growing fast. Scaled managers with permanent capital and disciplined documentation are better positioned as the market matures.

**How is BDC hiring different from private fund direct lending?** BDCs carry public-company and RIC regulatory requirements that private funds don’t — 1940 Act compliance, public reporting, board governance, investor communications.

**How do you source candidates in a crowded market?** Private credit is one of the most competitively recruited spaces in finance. Our sourcing is relationship-driven, built over three decades of direct engagement with PMs, originators, and platform heads.

## Looking for Top Alternative Credit Talent?

Whether you’re launching a new private credit platform, adding a direct lending PM, building a distressed or special situations team, or staffing a BDC, we can help.

Bill Ebinger \| Founder, ABF Global Search \| bill@abfglobalsearch.com \| 917-719-6413

## Citations

- Moody’s — _Private Credit Outlook 2026_ — https://www.moodys.com/web/en/us/insights/credit-risk/outlooks/private-credit-2026.html
- Barings — _Direct Lending: Views on the Year Ahead_, December 2025
- Brookfield Alts Institute — _Inside Private Credit: Comparing Direct Lending and Asset-Based Finance_, 2026
- KKR — _Asset-Based Finance Primer Part 1_, June 2025
- Private Debt Investor — https://www.privatedebtinvestor.com/
- Preqin — https://www.preqin.com/
- Creditflux — https://www.creditflux.com/