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Finance Careers

Every major finance career, broken down honestly, pay, hours, how to get in, and whether it's really for you. Roles, divisions and firm types are kept separate so you always know what you're looking at.

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Advisory

Investment Banker

Architect of billion-dollar deals.

Investment banking is one of the most prestigious and demanding careers in finance. Bankers advise corporations, governments, and institutions on their most complex financial decisions, raising capital, merging with competitors, acquiring companies, or going public. The work is intellectually rigorous and relentlessly demanding.

Salary

£70,000 - £500,000+

Hours

80-100 hrs/week

Management Consultant

Strategic advisor to the world's top companies.

Management consultants are parachuted into organisations facing their hardest problems, market entry, cost reduction, digital transformation, restructuring, growth strategy. You bring analytical firepower and structured thinking, with a fresh perspective. Then you move to the next client and do it again.

Salary

£50,000 - £350,000+

Hours

55-70 hrs/week

Direct entry

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Alternative Investments

Private Equity Associate

Buy, build, and transform businesses.

Private equity firms raise capital from institutional investors (pension funds, endowments, family offices), use it to acquire private companies, typically with significant borrowed money (leverage), improve those businesses over 3 to 7 years, then sell them for a profit. You're not just advising; you own the outcome.

Salary

£120,000 - £600,000+

Hours

70-90 hrs/week

Not direct entry

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Alternative Investments

Hedge Fund Analyst

Pure meritocracy in the world's most competitive arena.

Hedge funds manage money for institutional investors and ultra-high-net-worth individuals with one goal: absolute returns. Unlike mutual funds, they can go long and short, use leverage, trade derivatives, and employ almost any strategy. Analysts generate investment ideas, if your ideas make money, you are rewarded. If they don't, you're out.

Salary

£90,000 - £600,000+

Hours

60-80 hrs/week

Quantitative Analyst / Researcher

Where mathematics meets markets.

Quants use advanced mathematics, statistics, and computer science to build models that drive trading decisions, price financial instruments, or manage risk. You are the unseen infrastructure behind billions of pounds in systematic strategies, and among the highest-paid people in any industry.

Salary

£80,000 - £500,000+

Hours

50-70 hrs/week

Equity Research Analyst

The analyst whose words move markets.

Equity research analysts study publicly listed companies and publish detailed investment reports ('buy,' 'hold,' or 'sell') that institutional investors (hedge funds, asset managers) use to make trading decisions. You become the world's leading expert on a group of 15-25 companies in a specific sector.

Salary

£60,000 - £300,000+

Hours

55-70 hrs/week

Trader

Live by the tick. Die by the tick.

Traders buy and sell financial instruments (equities, bonds, currencies, commodities, derivatives) to generate profit. The work is fast, quantitative, emotionally demanding, and intensely competitive.

Salary

£65,000 - £600,000+

Hours

60-80 hrs/week

Portfolio Manager

The conductor of capital.

Portfolio managers are responsible for making investment decisions across a pool of capital, an equity fund, a bond fund, a multi-asset portfolio. You decide what to buy and sell, and how much risk to take. Every day, you are accountable for the performance of the capital entrusted to you.

Salary

£80,000 - £600,000+

Hours

55-70 hrs/week

Not direct entry

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Alternative Investments

Venture Capitalist

Betting on the future before anyone else.

Venture capitalists invest in early-stage companies that could reshape industries. You meet hundreds of founders, assess thousands of pitches, and back the rare few you believe will define the next decade. The work is equal parts investing, networking, mentoring, and thesis-building.

Salary

£50,000 - £350,000+ (+ carry)

Hours

50-65 hrs/week

Financial Adviser / Wealth Manager

Building trust, one financial plan at a time.

Financial advisers help individuals, families, and high-net-worth clients manage their money across their lifetime, building investment portfolios, creating retirement plans, managing tax efficiently, and protecting wealth. Relationships are your core product.

Salary

£35,000 - £350,000+

Hours

45-55 hrs/week

Risk Analyst / Risk Manager

The guardian of the firm.

Risk professionals identify, measure, and mitigate the financial risks that could destroy an institution, market risk (losing money on positions), credit risk (borrowers defaulting), liquidity risk (running out of cash), and operational risk (systems failures, fraud). Every bank, insurer, and fund needs them.

Salary

£40,000 - £250,000+

Hours

45-55 hrs/week

FP&A / Corporate Finance

The strategic brain inside the business.

FP&A (Financial Planning & Analysis) professionals sit inside companies, not at banks or funds. You build budgets, financial forecasts, and management reporting that helps business leaders make better decisions. You are the CFO's right hand, translating numbers into strategy.

Salary

£35,000 - £180,000+

Hours

45-55 hrs/week

Actuary

Quantifying the uncertain with mathematical precision.

Actuaries use mathematics, statistics, and financial theory to analyse and price risk, primarily for insurance companies, pension funds, and government bodies. You put a precise number on uncertainty. It's one of the most stable, well-regarded, and consistently well-paid careers available.

Salary

£40,000 - £200,000+

Hours

40-50 hrs/week

Direct entry

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