lateral hire from Corp Dev to ECM IB (No IB experience)
Hello all, what do we think the prospects are like for lateraling into an ECM Investment Banking role from a Corp Dev associate role where I have been leading the IPO process and also have closed a couple of buy-side deals?
Have been working as an Associate in a Corp Dev role for the last 2 years (no IB experience prior, 3 years total exp). My company is dual-tracking, and I have been leading the IPO. Have had good exposure to the ECM side of things, wrote 85% of our S-1, modeled our deal structure, drafted deal terms, managed diligence, and also helped PM the company readiness which could be a cool interview story. Have been getting reached out to by recruiters for M&A IB and some ECM roles.
My questions are as follows; please feel free to answer as little or as much as you would like:
- What seniority should I look into: Senior Analyst, Associate 1 (VP colleague told me he thought Associate 1 wasnt a stretch)
- Culture, exit ops, and work load at BB vs MM? Shooting from the hip here, but I could imagine there is a more precipitous difference in reputation, hours worked, and exit ops between each tier of bank in the ECM world compared to M&A because most IPOs flow through the larger institutions.
- perspective on different teams (ie origination, v syndication v convertible)
Refreshed look on hours, hiring trends, and such as of Q2'26 ? Lots of WSO info is a little stale.
Thanks any insights help!
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here’s a breakdown of your situation and questions:
1. Seniority Level to Target
2. Culture, Exit Opportunities, and Workload at BB vs MM
3. Perspective on Different Teams in ECM
Convertible: Deals with convertible securities, blending equity and debt. This is more niche and may require additional technical expertise.
Your IPO and deal structuring experience would likely make you a strong fit for Origination roles, but you could also explore Syndication if you have a strong interest in market-facing activities.
4. Refreshed Look on Hours, Hiring Trends, and Q2 2026 Market
5. Additional Insights
If you’re targeting ECM, focus on banks with strong ECM platforms (e.g., BBs like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, or MMs like Jefferies and Piper Sandler). Tailor your pitch to emphasize your IPO expertise and readiness to hit the ground running.
Sources: ECM Exit Opportunities, ECM, the high finance brain drain, Q&A: Corp Dev Professional at Large-Cap Tech Company
definitely associate 1, job market is brutal right now though. Why do you want to leave corp dev? that is generally considered an exit opp for IB.
There gets to a point in any corporate role especially early on when it just doesnt make sense to stay. You get promoted, next promotion is a couple of years away and you have already learned nearly all you can from the role. IB and PE may be different based on the structured career progression but Corp Dev functions more like any other corporate role. You get more $ and ownership if you look elsewhere (if those are your prioirities).
When I was an analyst at a MM firm that was very ECM heavy (in a coverage group), I once worked with a guy that left strategic finance/corp dev hoping to find the work and comp exciting after his 2 years there. His excel skills were leaps and bounds above others in the group. He came into IB as a 1st year (probably could've negotiated to come in as analyst 2), but then left after the first bonus cycle to go work in strategic finance again with his former boss at another company.
The culture of IB especially at the analyst level can make you very jaded doing ECM work vs what you were doing for the IPO and other work at your company. In ECM, half the work you do will be filling out committee memos and dialing into calls for IPOs your firm is a comanager for to just take call notes.
At the junior level in Corp Dev, you and your boss are often the buyer asking the questions, and as a banker at the junior level - you're just the middle man between them and the company being sold, inputting files into datarooms and exchanging documents back and forth where you kind of wish you were on their side of the table.
You will still have to deal with the politics of facetime and staying late for the sake of staying late, and in ECM, sometimes you won't even open up excel to do anything beyond inputting numbers for charts in a deck. It can be incredibly mind-numbing, and what you're doing at your current job is the exit opportunity for a lot of people. You will very likely, miss it and go back.
Appreciate the candid insights, I have been seeing entering into ECM as a stepping stone for other opportunities. The reason I am interested in ECM IB is for a few reasons.
1) Thematically, I really enjoy IPOs as a whole. I find the ability to affect market dynamics, spur intense research from lay investors into different sectors etc to be really cool. I really enjoyed working on ours (although it has not been complete yet).
2) I am not that interested about the industry I currently work in FIG (insurance focused) and am hoping a broader ECM mandate might give me additional exposure to different industries.
3) I understand this is not the traditional path of most finance professionals but I want to exit to a T10 MBA or top startup and right now I dont feel like I am as competitive a candidate because while my experience honestly is great and ownership of projects is truly unique for my age, my company doesnt have name recognition and I didnt go to a target school. Quality startups in this day an age get so many apps they need signals ie IB or Consulting experience to break into them (speaking from my exprience, happy to be challenged here). Consulting is a little stricter with their hiring practices (ie centered only around new grads) so looking at IB as the more realistic entry point to get into via networking and the help of recruiters.
Interested to hear your thoughts and would love to connect directly if you would be open to it!
You’re leading an IPO process and think you should be an analyst??
Hoping to not be-- just wanted to get some more unbiased opinions!
Appreciate the vote of confidence
Going to go against the grain here, but do you actually know what ECM does? Would strongly suggest you just ask the ecm juniors of the deal you’re working on what their day to day looks like.
- Draft the prospectus - That’s a job for the coverage team & the lawyers. I honestly can’t tell you the last time I joined a drafting call. ECM sends the precedents for the peers, the banks base form, and the provides value add comments like what order the banks should be in on the cover
- Diligence - i schedule the call with all parties, take roll call and then tell the coverage team to listen. If something is off, I have the coverage team tell me, I call the lawyer who then comes back with the answer that I add to page 293 of our internal memo
- Modelling - there is 0 modeling I do. I check that the IPO discount was slapped on correctly in the AVP, and occasionally ask if we can show slightly different multiple range on the slide.
I feel like in ECM, you’re a mix between an assistant for your seniors, and a chief of staff. It’s a lot of paper pushing and recalling some random precedent page somewhere.
I love my job, but honestly IPOs are the worst product. Super time consuming and terrible fees. You should push for an AS1, but personally think long term you’d be better off as a senior analyst with 3 years of experience. At the BBs and stronger MMs, most don’t hire MBAs as majority of the class goes A2A or moves internally from an industry team so has strong industry knowledge so you’re likely setting yourself up for failure. Wouldn’t bother going anywhere that’s primarily passive/co-manager roles. You literally join a single diligence call and and fill out an internal memo + research form and no interaction from the client. We don’t even answer their emails or phone calls.
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