The middle rung of an investment bank, managing analysts and running the day-to-day of deals.
You review an analyst's model at midnight, catch a mistake in the revenue forecast, then lead a call with the client's CFO the next morning about a buyer's offer.
BLS groups investment bankers with securities sales agents (median ~$78k), which hides Wall Street pay; figures here are typical total pay (salary plus bonus) at major banks.
Master's degree, about 8 years after high school. Usually promoted after 2-3 years as an analyst, or hired out of an MBA program.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $60k – $150k.
Majors to look at: Finance, Business Administration (MBA), Economics.
Growing about average (about 3% over 10 years). Tracks deal activity.
Medium risk for 10 years. With AI doing more analyst work, associates manage smaller teams and check AI output; client-facing deal work remains.
Classes: AP Statistics, Accounting, AP Macroeconomics, Speech.
Official data: O*NET occupation 41-3031.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.