Dan Gallagher’s Blog on IT Careers in Investment Banking

Is there anyone out there wondering where to get hold of a decent business analyst with an understanding of products traded in the rates or credit world? It seems that BA’s with any front office experience are in short supply at the moment and if you happen to have the aforementioned skills you will find yourself with a range of opportunities out there. Having spoken to quite a few people about this problem a common theme has appeared in that the BA function in some investment banks is now part and parcel of the analyst developer’s day to day activities. This in turn has led to fewer BA’s coming through the ranks.

I’m currently looking for at least ten business analysts to work in front office positions focussing on structured product integration. The roles allow the business analyst to own the relationship with the business users thereby giving them exposure to new products and to gain further experience in one of the most innovative trading environments.

Typically, the BA will look at trading and risk management systems in this area and hope to build and deliver applications offering trade capture, calculate risk analytics and PnL. The need for BA’s is such that we are now looking at candidates who come from an operations or middle office product control function. If they have an understanding of SQL and know rates or credit products inside out then this is the time to move across to a high visibility area.

So if you’re a BA reading this and you have experience in any of the following; trade capture, risk management (VaR and market risk), managed trades, trade processing, electronic trading then feel free to give me a call to discuss the positions that I have open.
+44 777 1538973 or +44 207151 5105.

And if you want some general information about what a business analyst does then you could do worse then check out this link, http://www.egothemag.com/archives/2006/04/post_12.htm