Making MD at a BB at a non-NYC office?

How likely is it to make MD out of a risk function that is not based in NYC? Specifically I’m thinking of Wilmington DE for JPM or SLC for GS. I see associate roles pop up for risk functions (not necessarily market risk) fairly often but they all strike me as being VP-for-life type roles, and if you do a quick LinkedIn search there are some people who have been VPs for 5-10 years.

Long story short, the question is...how likely is it that I will get stuck at a VP level for life if I take a role like this?

To clarify, I’d be applying for an associate role but the associate to VP promotion doesn’t seem nearly as unlikely as the VP to MD jump.

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Heads up a lot of people just put their length at the bank and their most current title. So it might seem like they’ve been a VP for 10 years but it’ll include analyst and associate years. Seen this pretty often for senior bankers who don’t really care for their LinkedIn profile

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To add to this question, what does it take to make MD in back/middle office roles? In IB, the MD-VP distinction rests largely on revenue generation, but risk seems like much less of a relationship-driven business... is it just an experience thing?

 
Most Helpful

Great question and I think about this because I'm at a BB in a non-NYC office. 1 - Not every company has VP to MD, some have other levels there, especially if you're talking about BO 2 - I think it's definitely possible outside of NYC especially for BO since fewer and fewer BBs are keeping BO in NYC. Makes no sense to have those people there when you could have them in any number of cheaper places.

So, I'm in the same boat as you and I think it's possible (user name checks out)

 

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