Timing and Exit from Middle Office Ops

Straight and to the point: I graduated from a large state school in May 2018 and I've been working in operations for a large French bank since July. The gig is contract-to-hire. I accepted the offer because they made it sound like moving to front office was a real possibility. About a month ago I interviewed for the full-time position competing with two other contractors. When asked about my career goals, I reiterated that I want to work in IB--something they previously entertained. It became clear at this point that signing on full-time would mean signing on for the ops life indefinitely. They went with hiring the other guy who is quite satisfied with this kind of work.

I think my best shot now--with no deal experience whatsoever--is to leverage my experience with the bank into a job with a regional firm doing small M&A transactions.

My current plan is to finish out the year and then begin interviewing with regional firms in January.

But I wonder . . . should I tell my VP that I'm already looking at other opportunities?

This would give him time to start training a replacement, but then he also might fire me before I have time to secure an offer. If I wait until I've actually accepted an offer and give my two weeks notice mid-January, then I might really piss him off and burn bridges, because as far as he knows I will be around for at least another year.