Are you fearless and willing to take risks to make money? Are you great at giving advice? If you want to use your interest in investments to raise funds for your clients, a career as an investment banker could be perfect.
We’ll take you through everything you need to know in our investment banker job profile:
- What is an investment banker?
- What does an investment banker do?
- Investment banker career path
- Investment banker salaries – average income for investment bankers
- Qualifications and training
- Investment banker skills
- Pros and cons of being an investment banker
- Investment banker work-life balance
- Typical employers
- Related jobs
What is an investment banker?
Investment bankers are a type of banker that focuses on helping businesses, governments and other organisations raise capital (ie. money) by suggesting investment opportunities. The objective of an investment banker is to make money for their clients by taking charge of their invested assets.
They’ll either work for investment banks (a bank that only offers investment services) or a wider bank’s investment banking division (IBD).
What do investment bankers do?
The specific job description of an investment banker will vary depending on their employer and level of seniority. However, typical day-to-day investment banker job duties include:
- Meeting with clients to discuss the size of their assets and what their goals for the money are.
- Creating financial plans for clients.
- Building relationships and trust with clients so they’re happy for you to manage (potentially large) sums of money.
- Looking out for investment opportunities for your clients.
Investment banker career path
Your career in investment banking can take you high within a company. You can also explore other related career paths. For example, if you like the financial side but not the investment, you could become a financial adviser. You don’t have to follow the same route as everyone else but it’s good to know where a typical career will lead.
Here’s a common career path associated with investment bankers:
Entry-level
You’ll usually begin your career in a trainee or analyst role. In an entry-level position, you’ll learn the skills you need. You’ll also do background work. For example, you’ll research investment opportunities and support senior colleagues. To squeeze everything out of the experience, you’ll have to put in the hard work. You’ll also need to work long hours.
Career progression
Once you’ve got some experience and have proven you’ve got the skills, the next step is to become an associate investment banker. In this role, you’ll model potential investment strategies, work with clients to discuss their needs and deliver presentations. You’re given more responsibility as an associate. However, it’s considered a time of training, so you’ve still got lots to learn.
Future career
Once you gain more experience, you’ll continue to grow your investment banking career and climb the ladder.
Once you’re a senior investment banker, expect to take a lead role in more negotiations and get involved with the buying and selling of large businesses (ie. mergers and acquisitions AKA M&As).
If you continue to progress, you could go on to become a managing director (MD). As an MD, you’re in a senior role which means stepping back from doing investment banking. Instead, you’ll manage the department. Your job involves bringing in new clients and making sure existing ones are satisfied with the service they’re receiving.
Investment banker salaries – average income for investment bankers
There’s the potential to earn great salaries in investment banking. How much you’ll get paid will depend on your experience, the organisation you work for, your location and your seniority.
While wages will vary from employer to employer and job to job, it’s still useful to know a rough estimate.
Here are the average income ranges for different levels of investment banking work:
- In entry-level positions like investment banking analyst, your salary could be anywhere between £23,000 and £65,000 (with the potential to earn more if you specialise here).
- As a mid-level corporate investment banker (ie. where you advise companies, institutions and governments), you could start around £30,000 to £40,000 and then go to between £50,000 and £70,000 within a few years. If you keep gaining experience, you could earn between £150,000 and £165,000.
- An investment banking managing director will earn the highest salaries. Your exact wages will vary depending on the scale of the bank you work for, but average earnings span from £156K to £278K.
Typically, larger banks pay higher salaries. You’ll also usually earn more if working in London.
It’s also worth knowing that investment bankers often earn bonuses that won’t be reflected in salary figures. If you hit your targets, you could earn a bonus that’s worth as much as your salary. So, you can earn more than fixed salaries suggest.
Qualifications and training
Securing a role as an investment banker can be tricky as the investment banking and asset management sector is particularly competitive. Having the right qualifications will help you get noticed by a hiring manager and begin your dazzling career.
Education
Most investment bankers have a degree. Why? Because most people get their entry-level start through a grad scheme or internship programme.
The most relevant degrees are related to finance, maths or economics as they teach you the maths skills and theoretical knowledge you’ll need to succeed. However, while having a conventional degree for the sector is beneficial, it isn’t essential. It’s possible to get into investment banking without a finance degree.
You don’t need to have a master’s degree. However, it’ll help you stand out. You could even study a specialised master’s in investments. A degree like that will give you an in-depth understanding and help you specialise before you begin your career. It’s certainly not a requirement though.
Work experience
Gaining relevant work experience is usually your first step to becoming an investment banker.
Getting into the investment banking career path as a graduate typically begins with an internship programme. The internships give you the chance to show your skills, work ethic and why the bank should employ you. As with any role in the sector, the internships are highly competitive and require you to work hard – but we’ve got faith in you.
If you’re interested in gaining practical experience, check out currently available internships in investment banking.
Investment banker skills
Combining your education with your skills is a great way to impress a recruiter. When you’re putting together your application, share examples that prove you’ve gained the below skills through your education and work experience. Make sure you big them up in any job interview too.
Here are the key skills you need for working as an investment banker:
- Maths and finance. Great maths and finance skills will help you manage money and give great advice to your clients.
- Multitasking. As an investment banker, you need to stay on top of all the clients you’re working with. You’ve got to be good at managing multiple accounts, making sure that you do your best work for each client. You’ll need time management and organisational skills here, too.
- Attention to detail. You need good attention to detail to spot opportunities which are relevant to your clients.
- Presentation skills. Part of being an investment banker is pitching your ideas to clients. Having great presentation skills means you’re more likely to persuade them to get on board with your suggestions. If you need help here, check out our guide on improving your presentation skills.
Pros and cons of being an investment banker
As with any job, there are positive and negative parts to working as an investment banker. Understanding the good and bad will help you decide if it’s the right career for you.
Here are the pros and cons of working as an investment banker:
Pros
- You usually earn a large bonus every year (with the opportunity to earn even more by hitting targets).
- Once you get into the sector, you can work your way up from low-level positions.
- Upward movement is connected to your job performance so if you do well, you’re rewarded.
Cons
- You can have long working weeks which means maintaining a good work-life balance is difficult.
- It’s tricky to enter the career path as it’s a competitive field.
- The working environment is sometimes negative as you’re always competing with other investment bankers, including your colleagues.
- The work is repetitive, which some people will find boring.
Investment banker work-life balance
Maintaining a good work-life balance as an investment banker can be difficult because your working hours can be very long – particularly in the first few years of your career.
Being committed to dedicating most of your week to working is a requirement of most investment banker jobs, which means the role can cause high stress levels.
If you want to become an investment banker, it’s important to develop healthy stress management strategies before you start your first job. Doing that will help you be more productive at work and, most importantly, less stressed and able to enjoy your job (and life).
Typical employers
Knowing about the employers that hire investment bankers means you can find out more about them and discover which ones you’d like to work with.
Here are some employers hiring investment bankers:
Top tip: When you apply for a role, always tailor your application to reflect what the hiring company is looking for. Make sure you research every employer and remember that different firms want different things.
Related jobs
This article was last updated in May, 2025.