Investment Banker Job Description Templates
Free investment banker job description templates: analyst, associate, VP, managing director, and boutique firm versions. Download as DOCX.
Investment Banker Job Description Templates
5 free templates by level and firm type. Download as DOCX or copy-paste.
The investment banker job description is one most firms either copy from a generic one-pager that lists "build financial models" and stops, or skip writing carefully because they assume every candidate already knows the job. Both miss what the posting is for: specifying the level precisely, analyst versus associate versus VP, and stating the FINRA registration the role actually requires, since an investment banker who advises on securities offerings generally needs the Series 79 and must be sponsored by a FINRA member firm to hold it.
At FirstHR, we build templates for small firms that hire without an HR department, including the boutique and regional advisory shops that run on teams of five to fifty people. The five templates below cover the role by level and firm type: analyst, associate, VP, managing director, and a dedicated boutique version. Each states the FINRA registration expectation and the compensation structure as fillable fields. Fill in the brackets and post. For the fundamentals behind any posting, the guide to writing a job description covers the basics.
What Does an Investment Banker Do?
An investment banker advises companies and institutions on financial transactions: mergers and acquisitions, raising capital through debt or equity offerings, and restructuring. In federal occupational data the role falls under securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents, who buy and sell securities or provide financial services to businesses and individuals, with investment bankers in corporate finance forming a specialized, deal-focused part of that group.
For the employer writing the posting, the key is that the function stays constant while the responsibilities climb with level: an analyst builds the models and materials, an associate owns the work product, a VP runs execution and the client relationship, and a managing director originates business and carries revenue. That is why the templates below differ by level. If the role you actually need is adjacent, the financial analyst templates and accountant templates cover those seats with the same structure.
Investment Banker Duties and Responsibilities
Investment banker duties center on modeling and valuation, materials and research, deal execution, and the coordination and compliance that keep transactions on track. The level shifts the weights, an analyst lives in the model while a managing director lives in client meetings, but the categories hold. These are the duties grouped the way the templates use them.
A strong posting grounds these in the level and the firm: the modeling and materials load for an analyst, the team management and client interface for an associate or VP, the origination and revenue responsibility for a managing director. Candidates read banking postings for the level signal first, what they will actually own, before compensation. For a structured way to scope any role before posting, the guide to defining job responsibilities walks through the process.
Investment Banking Levels Explained
Investment banking runs on a clear ladder, and naming the level precisely in your posting sets the right expectations on experience, responsibility, and pay. Here is how the levels relate.
| Level | Core focus | Typical entry point |
|---|---|---|
| Analyst | Modeling, materials, research | Recent graduate, entry-level |
| Associate | Owns work product, manages analysts | MBA or a few years as analyst |
| Vice President | Runs execution, manages clients | Several years of execution |
| Managing Director | Originates business, carries revenue | Senior, with a client network |
At large banks these levels have sharp boundaries; at a boutique firm one person often carries several at once, modeling in the morning and sitting in a client meeting that afternoon. That is why the boutique template is built as its own version rather than a level on the ladder. Pick the level you are hiring for and the template matches the responsibilities and experience bar to it.
Which Template Should You Use?
Pick the template by level and firm type. The function runs through all five, but the responsibilities, the experience bar, and the compensation structure differ enough that the matched version always reads more credibly to candidates. Use this guide to choose.
5 Free Investment Banker Job Description Templates
Download all five as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: firm overview, job summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, compensation, and how to apply, with the FINRA registration expectation as a fillable field. Fill in the brackets and post.
Template 1: Investment Banking Analyst (Entry-Level)
The entry-level version: financial modeling, pitch books, research, and due diligence support, with the SIE and Series 79 path stated. The seat most firms hire for.
Template 2: Investment Banking Associate
The associate version: owning models and materials, managing analysts, and interfacing with clients, with a few years of banking experience or an MBA.
Template 3: VP / Senior Investment Banker
The senior-execution version: leading transaction teams, owning the client relationship day to day, and beginning to originate, with a proven execution record.
Template 4: Managing Director, Investment Banking
The origination version: sourcing mandates, owning senior client relationships, leading pitches, and carrying revenue responsibility for the coverage area.
Template 5: Boutique / Small Advisory Firm Investment Banker
The small-firm version: a hands-on role spanning the whole deal lifecycle, direct partner access, real ownership, and a built-in note on FINRA member sponsorship for Series 79.
FINRA Licensing to Require
Investment banking hiring runs through a registration gate the generic templates ignore, and the posting should state it plainly. An investment banker who advises on or facilitates securities offerings generally needs FINRA registration, and the core credential is the Series 79, the Investment Banking Representative exam, which measures the knowledge needed to advise on or facilitate debt and equity offerings and mergers and acquisitions. Candidates must also pass the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam as a co-requisite, and the two together qualify a person for the Investment Banking Representative registration.
The detail a small firm cannot skip: a candidate cannot hold the registration on their own. They must be sponsored by a FINRA member firm, which files Form U4 in the Central Registration Depository and requests the investment banking registration, so the hiring firm must itself be a FINRA member to sponsor at all. Senior roles often add the Series 63. The job description should state whether the role requires the registration on arrival or supports obtaining it after hire, so candidates self-qualify. Keep the rest of the posting job-related and neutral, since the EEOC prohibits job advertisements that show a preference based on protected characteristics. None of this is legal advice; confirm requirements with FINRA and qualified counsel.
Investment Banker Qualifications to Include
Investment banker qualifications are skill-anchored and verifiable, which makes the posting's job precision: state each requirement in a form a candidate can answer concretely rather than a vague adjective.
| Weak requirement | Strong requirement |
|---|---|
| Finance background | Bachelor's degree in finance, economics, or accounting |
| Good with models | Strong DCF, LBO, and comparable-company modeling in Excel |
| Licensed | SIE and Series 79, or eligibility to obtain with firm sponsorship |
| Deal experience | [2 or more] years of M&A or capital-raising execution |
| Hard worker | Able to manage multiple workstreams under transaction deadlines |
Stating the registration as required or supported with sponsorship matters practically: a posting that demands the Series 79 on arrival narrows the pool sharply, while one that supports obtaining it after hire opens the role to strong candidates who have the SIE but not yet the Series 79. Keep every line job-related throughout, and for the standard sections of a posting, the SHRM job description tools describe a good job description as a plain-language summary of a position's tasks, duties, and responsibilities.
How to Write an Investment Banker Job Description
A strong investment banker posting takes about 30 minutes, and the document does double duty: it specifies a level precisely and it sells the firm against larger competitors. Here is the process the templates are built around. If this is among your first hires, the small business hiring guide covers the steps around the posting itself.
Investment Banker Salary
Investment banking compensation is structured rather than flat, rises steeply by level, and sits well above the broad federal category it is grouped under, three facts that argue for showing the structure in your posting.
That broad category understates investment banking specifically. Total compensation in banking is base plus a performance bonus that frequently equals or exceeds the base, especially at senior levels and in strong deal years, and national compensation surveys put analyst total pay well above the category median. Pay rises sharply with level, from analyst to associate to VP to managing director, where it ties heavily to origination and revenue. At a boutique, packages vary widely and may use a deal-based bonus or a percentage of fees instead of a large fixed bonus. A small firm does not need to win a base-salary contest against a bulge-bracket bank: the posting that shows its structure honestly lets a candidate compare the whole package, which is what bankers actually weigh.
Hiring an Investment Banker for a Boutique Firm
Large banks hire bankers with recruiting teams, compliance departments, and structured analyst programs. A boutique or regional advisory firm does it with the partners and a small team, often without an HR department, for a hire that carries a real regulatory gate. Here is how to write the posting and run the hire for that reality.
From Hiring to Onboarding
The job description is step one, and an investment banking hire adds a registration layer on top of the standard paperwork: if the role requires FINRA registration, file Form U4 in the Central Registration Depository to request the Investment Banking Representative registration, confirm the Series 79 and SIE status, and store the registration with its renewal dates tracked. Alongside it runs the employment layer every hire requires: the signed offer, an employment or partnership agreement where relevant, Form I-9 within the first days along with the rest of the new hire paperwork, and tax forms documented and stored.
Then the integration that decides the first months: access to financial databases and the deal pipeline, a walkthrough of the firm's process and templates, introductions to the team and active clients, and a clear first deal to start on, the kind of structured start the employee onboarding guide lays out. Once your offer is ready, the offer letter template handles the next step and sets the compensation structure clearly, and the employment contract template carries the formal terms. FirstHR connects the offer, e-signature paperwork, document storage with renewal-date tracking, training checklists, and the onboarding workflow in one place, built for small firms without an HR department. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an investment banker do?
An investment banker advises companies and institutions on financial transactions: mergers and acquisitions, capital raising through debt or equity offerings, and restructuring. The day-to-day work depends heavily on level. An analyst builds the financial models, prepares pitch books and client materials, and runs research and due diligence. An associate owns that work product and manages analysts. A vice president runs deal execution and manages client relationships. A managing director originates new business and carries revenue responsibility. At a boutique firm, one banker often spans several of these roles at once. This page covers the role across all five levels and offers a template for each, since the function is the same while the responsibilities shift up the ladder.
What is the difference between investment banker and investment banking job descriptions?
There is no meaningful difference. Investment banker job description and investment banking job description describe the same hiring need: a posting for a professional who works in investment banking, whether titled analyst, associate, vice president, or managing director. Investment banking is the field and investment banker is the person, so the two phrases return the same templates. Use whichever title matches your posting, and name the specific level you are hiring for, such as investment banking analyst or investment banking associate, since that is how candidates search and it sets the right expectations on experience and compensation. The templates on this page cover both phrasings across all levels.
What are the levels of investment banking?
The standard progression runs analyst, associate, vice president, then managing director, with director or senior vice president sometimes sitting between VP and MD. Analyst is the entry-level seat, usually filled by recent graduates, focused on modeling, materials, and research. Associate is the next step, often after an MBA or a few years as an analyst, owning the work product and managing analysts. Vice president runs deal execution and manages the client relationship day to day. Managing director sits at the top, responsible for originating business and generating revenue. At large banks these levels are distinct with sharp boundaries, while at a boutique firm the same person may carry several levels of responsibility at once, which is why this page includes a dedicated boutique template alongside the four level-specific ones.
What should an investment banker job description include?
A strong investment banker job description includes a firm overview, a job summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, the employment type, the compensation structure, and how to apply, all matched to the level you are hiring for. List the core duties: financial modeling and valuation, pitch books and client materials, research and due diligence, and deal execution, weighted toward the level, since an analyst models while a managing director originates. State the FINRA registration expectation explicitly, typically the Series 79 with the SIE co-requisite, and whether it is required on arrival or supported after hire. Show compensation as a structure rather than a single number, because banking pay combines base and bonus and, at boutiques, sometimes a fee percentage. Match the template to the level, since analyst, associate, VP, MD, and boutique roles emphasize different things.
What licenses does an investment banker need?
An investment banker who advises on or facilitates securities offerings generally needs FINRA registration, and the core credential is the Series 79, the Investment Banking Representative exam. Candidates must also pass the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam as a co-requisite, and the two together qualify a person for the Investment Banking Representative registration. The critical detail for hiring: a candidate cannot hold the registration independently. They must be sponsored by a FINRA member firm, which files Form U4 to request the registration, so the hiring firm must itself be a FINRA member. Senior roles often add the Series 63. In the job description, state whether the role requires the registration on arrival or supports obtaining it after hire, and confirm your own firm's registration status before advertising. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm with FINRA and qualified counsel.
How much does an investment banker make?
Federal wage data groups investment bankers under securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents, which had a median annual wage of $78,140 in May 2024, with the lowest 10 percent under $47,080 and the highest 10 percent above $215,210. That broad category understates investment banking specifically, where total compensation is structured as base plus a performance bonus that often equals or exceeds the base, especially at senior levels and in strong deal years. Pay rises steeply by level, from analyst to associate to VP to managing director, where compensation ties heavily to origination and revenue. At boutique firms, packages vary widely and may include a deal-based bonus or a percentage of fees rather than a large fixed bonus. Employment in the broader category is projected to grow about 3 percent through 2034, with roughly 38,100 openings each year. Show the structure in your posting, because bankers compare total compensation, not base alone.
How do I write an investment banker job description for a boutique firm?
Pick the boutique template, then compete on what a small advisory firm can actually offer that a large bank cannot, stated concretely. First, sell the firm honestly: the deal types and sectors you advise on, the deal sizes, and the things candidates join boutiques for, direct partner access, real deal ownership from day one, and exposure across the whole transaction instead of one narrow slice. Your posting lands next to bulge-bracket listings, and specificity is the differentiation. Second, handle the FINRA piece deliberately: your firm must be a FINRA member to sponsor the Series 79 on Form U4, so state the registration expectation and confirm your own status first. Third, set the compensation structure clearly, since boutique pay mixes base, deal bonus, and sometimes a fee percentage. Keep the posting job-related and neutral throughout. None of this is legal advice; confirm with FINRA and an attorney.
What happens after I hire an investment banker?
First the registration and compliance layer that is specific to the role: if the position requires FINRA registration, file Form U4 in the Central Registration Depository to request the Investment Banking Representative registration, confirm the Series 79 and SIE status, and complete any firm-element and conduct training, storing the registration with its renewal dates tracked. Then the standard employment layer every hire requires: the signed offer letter, an employment or partnership agreement where relevant, Form I-9 within the first days, tax forms, and any compliance acknowledgments documented and stored. Then the integration that decides the first months: access to financial databases and the deal pipeline, a walkthrough of the firm's process and templates, introductions to the team and active clients, and a clear sense of the deals the new banker will start on. FirstHR handles the offer, e-signature paperwork, document storage with renewal-date tracking, training checklists, and the onboarding workflow in one place, built for small firms without an HR department. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.