Business & Finance

Investment Banker

Advise companies on buying other firms, merging, or raising money by selling stock and bonds

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What does an Investment Banker do?

Investment bankers work in city offices, helping companies with very large deals. Junior bankers build models and slide decks late into the night. Senior bankers win clients and negotiate. It suits driven people who can handle pressure and long, unpredictable hours.

A day in the life

8:00 AMSkim market news and emails from clients and senior bankers
9:30 AMBuild a model that estimates what a company is worth
12:00 PMJoin a call with a client about a possible merger
3:00 PMEdit a slide deck for tomorrow's pitch meeting
7:00 PMFix comments from a senior banker on the pitch materials
11:30 PMSend the final version and check the numbers one last time

What's great

  • Fast learning from very sharp coworkers
  • Exit options into many finance jobs
  • Work on deals that make the news
  • Strong training in modeling and writing

The hard parts

  • Junior years mean very long weeks
  • Nights and weekends often go to deals
  • Very competitive to get hired
  • Stress runs high when a deal falls apart

What is an Investment Banker's salary and outlook?

$57k – $143k
Salary Range
Bachelor's degree
Typical Education
Growing

Typical pay in this guide runs from about $57,000 to $142,500 a year, with a midpoint around $95,000. These are planning figures for students, not a job offer or an official wage.

CareerLens rates the outlook as Growing.

For the official national outlook, see BLS Occupational Data.

How do you become an Investment Banker?

A common path is Bachelor's in finance, economics, or business; internships matter a lot. The ladder often runs from Investment Banking Analyst to Associate, then Vice President, and Managing Director. Other routes: Securities licensing exams (SIE and Series 79); Summer analyst internship that leads to a full-time offer; MBA, then join as an Associate; Start in accounting or corporate finance.

  • Securities licensing exams (SIE and Series 79)
  • Summer analyst internship that leads to a full-time offer
  • MBA, then join as an Associate
  • Start in accounting or corporate finance

Career path

Entry level
Investment Banking Analyst
Mid career
Associate
Senior
Vice President
Executive
Managing Director

Will AI replace an Investment Banker?

How much will AI change this job?

A lot

AI will change many everyday tasks in this job. The work shifts toward judgment, checking, and people.

There's no exact match for this career in the research, so this is based on similar jobs: Financial and Investment Analysts; Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents.

AI handles number crunching so bankers focus on advice and trust.

Investment bankers help companies raise money and make big financial deals. AI now helps build models, scan reports, and spot patterns fast. This frees bankers to focus on advising clients and making smart judgment calls.

AI can help with

  • Building financial models and spreadsheets quickly
  • Scanning company reports for key details
  • Drafting summaries and slides for presentations

What stays human

  • Building trust with clients and companies
  • Negotiating deals and handling tricky conversations
  • Making final judgment calls on big risky decisions

Skills to build now

  • Practice math and basic statistics regularly
  • Join a debate or public speaking club
  • Read business news to understand markets

Based on public research from Anthropic and OpenAI, drafted with AI, checked automatically, and read by a person. How we know

This describes how the work may change. It is not a prediction that the job will disappear.