The elite boutique on the hunt for $650k associates

Ducera Partners, an ultra-elite boutique firm based in New York and Los Angeles, is still in the market for bankers.

Ducera – a private company which does not publish its revenue, income, or other related statistics – has continued to hire this year. 

We understand that the firm has added 11 people at all levels, which isn’t much compared to big investment banks, but is a significant proportionate increase when you consider that Ducera only had 45 employees in March 2022. 

Ducera is one of the best paying boutiques, with analysts earning up to $330k and associates earning up to $650k, significantly higher than many of its competitors. Insiders say that many of this year’s hires were at associate level, with a few analysts added too. 

Ducera’s biggest hire was probably also the most telling. Lauren Kobernick was appointed as the new chief of human resources, in a move that could be seen as an indicator of ongoing expansion. Kobernick came from fellow elite boutique PJT Partners, where she’d worked for seven years.

Other recent Ducera recruits include Alex Rowley and Ori Maoz, who joined the firm after internships as investment banking analysts. Rowley’s background is quite standard in finance, but Maoz spent five years in the medical industry as a researcher before joining Ducera. He also holds a degree in biology.

Alexander Bizanek, meanwhile, joins the firm’s restructuring group after a summer internship last year. 

Ducera’s new recruits come amidst a difficult time for some boutiques. Last week, Evercore revealed a 31% year-on-year drop in third quarter advisory and 47% year-on-year drop in third quarter underwriting revenues. 

One MD at a boutique that’s hiring said job losses in investment banking have led to difficulties differentiating between bankers let go for personal underperformance or simply because of market conditions. 

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