Tech juniors in banks complain of too much work, directors complain of too little
Bonuses may have been up 24% year-on-year on the sell-side in 2024, but technologists did not feel the love. In our new 2024/25 salary and bonus report, bonuses for tech staff were up a meagre 5.7% overall.
Tech associates had a particularly bad year; bonuses for them were down 30% despite their workload increasing. An associate at a UK bank in London said that he was given "more work and less resources, we're really struggling here."
Bonuses also fell for directors, but they're suffering from the opposite problem. One director at a major European bank in London said she recently quit because the role was "dull and dead-end." Another director at a US bank said that his team has a "toxic culture." His bonus fell by 10% this year.
Vice presidents (VPs) in banking technology, meanwhile, did okay. Bonuses for them were up a modest 4.6%. One UK-based VP said his workload hasn't changed much but that he was facing increased "outside pressures." VPs appear quite vulnerable to layoffs in 2025; Goldman Sachs' recent layoffs have disproportionately affected people of that seniority. Time spent in the office is thought to have been a criterion for those layoffs, despite insiders suggesting that only the technology team has hybrid working arrangements.
Analysts working in financial technology had their bonuses double, but average compensation for them was a paltry $23k. - A reflection of the high volume of juniors working in low-cost locations like Mumbai.
While most sectors of finance saw a decrease in working hours, technologists found themselves working more. They worked 52.9 hours per week on average in 2024, earning an average hourly pay of $80.89.
Our '24-'25 financial services salary & bonus report is available for download now on this page.
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