Medical device (orthopedics) Sales to IB

Hi all,

I’m 31 years old. Im a territory manager for Zimmer Biomet. I’ve been in medical device sales for the duration of my career (since I graduated undergrad from University of Florida in 2010).

I live and work in NYC. I’m thinking heavily about trying to transfer into IB.

I’m looking for advice. Is the transition with it financially? Would I be required to go back to school for an MBA or would my industry experience get me into a position somewhere?

I’d like to work in healthcare/med devices IB.

Thoughts??

Thank you in advance.

13 Comments
 
Best Response

You would definitely need an MBA to make this transition without any relevant finance experience. If you are already 31 you will be on the older side, so start to take the GMAT and work on applications if you are serious about applying.

As for banks, there are plenty of boutique healthcare shops to look at. Piper Jaffray has a great medical device group, and other good healthcare specialty banks include Cain Brothers, Leerink, MTS Health Partners.

 

You can try to get into business development at your current company or a competitor and make the jump after a couple years. Definitely not guaranteed though and may have to relocate to company HQs.

You are making more money with less hours now (assumption) than you will as an associate and you will have to shell out for an MBA and forgo two years comp...Hard to justify that one.

Best of luck.

 

One person's opinion: I'd get an executive MBA at Columbia or NYU then look into healthcare VC, PE, management consulting, or corp dev (at your current company or a different one). Believe it or not, sales is a the most common path to the C Suite in medical devices. Add an MBA to your sales experience and you could get on a fast track to a much more lucrative career, risk adjusted, than IB would give you. (And your quality of life will be way better).

 

Earum dicta et iusto. Eos ut praesentium minima ut ut. Nihil quas ducimus molestiae ipsum enim sapiente vel. Quia et doloribus esse. Temporibus maxime dolorem sed expedita. Qui est eos aliquid.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.3%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (44) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”