Associate Relationship Manager

Just want to add my 2 cents.

An Associate RM sounds like a Junior RM position which is probably a 1-2 year entry ramp to see if the RM life is right for you. Depending on your previous experience, you'll likely start out shadowing a senior RM to get comfortable with client/prospect meetings, learn the market, and learn bank products/services/procedures. They'll probably shift some of their book your way but obviously it's not going to be the most profitable and/or fun to work with clients. It'll be the clients that require a high amount of touching due to compliance issues, overdrafting, or just the guy that negotiates every 10bps fee.

Your pay scale and career trajectory are highly dependent on how your bank classifies Commercial Banking and what revenue bracket your touching. If you deal mainly with $5MM-$20MM companies, they are infinitely less complex (ie, less money producing to the bank) than a $500MM company. You wouldn't pitch a bond issue to a family owned bakery looking to open up another location... This is to say that I would expect your base pay as an Associate RM to be ~$70-90,000 depending on your city. Bonuses can also vary wildly for the same reasons, anywhere from 10-50% starting out. Some banks structure their RMs to reward heavily during the good years which is great but sucks during the down years. Some banks go for a more flat line approach where your ceiling is lower during the good years but the floor is higher during the down years.

Career progression is pretty much up to you. Some people are RMs for their whole career and do very well for themselves. You can transition into a more credit focused role such as a loan supervisor or go for a leadership type position, heading up the efforts for a region/district. There's no one way to skin the cat here. I recommend not getting too wrapped up in this part yet and learn more about how your bank is structured and various promotion paths within it before narrowing it down too far. Be wary however, some banks put up a wall between sales and credit, making it difficult or even frowned upon to switch sides. Other banks employ a more communal approach, allowing or even encouraging going to the other side at some point. Everyone's experience will be highly individualized further based on immediate management and supervision so speculating at this point is difficult.

My recommendation to folks coming into Commercial Banking is to learn credit as much and as solidly as you can before going to sales. Credit is a strong foundation that can only help you as you go out and meet with clients or prospects. You'll be more well versed on different products that the bank offers, what qualifies or disqualfies companies for those products, and what it'll take to get the deal approve from your credit officer. It'll make you more efficient out in market, both for your own sanity but you'll find that companies appreciate it when you straight up tell them that banking with your bank, at least at this point in time, wouldn't be a good fit. Call it a negative sell or whatever, but I find that CFOs are hammered from every direction with every possible sales pitch that honesty is breath of fresh air. Remember that the sales cycle in Commercial Banking isn't 10 days, it can be 3-4 years at times. You aren't selling cell phones here. You're positioning yourself to be a strategic advisor to the company.