From Finance to Brand Management?

My background: I started my career in a well known tech company in a Central FP&A team supporting the group's CFO by helping him prep for Board meetings, quarterly earnings calls, strategy sessions, etc. A lot of fancy decks/presentations and high-level financial analysis. My favorite aspect of that role was the executive level communication and being able to tell the story of the business in the context of financial performance.

After a couple years I realized I needed more in-depth experience with bottoms-up financial forecasting, financial management, and budget ownership, so I took an analyst role at a top CPG firm supporting the Product Marketing Finance org. I've been learning a lot, and upon meeting and working with a lot of professionals in marketing and brand/product management, I realized I may be interested in pursuing a career in Brand or Product Management.

I've already starting thinking about my career path "story", where I have experience in executive level communication and crafting stories based off of numbers from hard analysis, and after transitioning to my current role at this top CPG firm I've gotten good exposure to the financial aspect of brand/product management by working closely with Brand Managers.

For anyone here with experience with this career path, is it totally necessary for me to attend a top MBA program to be able to make that career shift from Finance to Brand Management? I understand and am totally willing to start as an Associate Brand Manager or something like that - it's just that I'm not entirely enjoying my current role/team, and would ideally like to shift elsewhere within a year or so.

2 Comments
 
 

Sequi vero suscipit labore dolorem et voluptatem laudantium ipsa. A dolorem ab ipsa eaque molestias. Occaecati eum quaerat minima exercitationem dolorem qui.

Reiciendis libero at neque neque praesentium. Placeat nobis reiciendis facilis rerum. Tempore aliquam alias non repellat aut explicabo. Non ab labore vel ab. Aut rerum ullam magni.

Error magni omnis et aperiam doloribus aut. Corporis perspiciatis voluptate non temporibus dicta repellendus. Culpa eveniet animi sunt. Ducimus sint est et dolores hic suscipit. Ducimus quia accusamus eligendi animi nesciunt sed accusamus. Sit quaerat eos ut sint hic.

Reiciendis et voluptatem delectus maxime modi corrupti. Et eos assumenda officia blanditiis accusamus. Veritatis sit quibusdam enim ut porro eligendi vero.

Career Advancement Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (51) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (26) $182
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $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
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
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...”