An analyst at an investment bank researches companies, builds financial models, and prepares documents that help the bank's deal teams pitch mergers, acquisitions, and capital raises to clients.

The role is not about managing your savings account or advising you on where to put your money. Investment banking analysts work for the bank itself, not for depositors. They sit in the corporate finance side of the business—the part that makes money by charging fees when it arranges large transactions between companies, not by taking deposits or lending to individuals.

Most analysts are recent college graduates hired into a two- or three-year program. They are the workhorses of deal teams. They do not make the pitch to clients or negotiate the terms, but they do the research and number-crunching that makes those conversations possible. If you work as an analyst, you will spend most of your time in spreadsheets, PowerPoint, and financial databases—not on the phone with clients.

Key Takeaways

  • Investment bank analysts build financial models and research companies to support deal teams pitching mergers, acquisitions, and capital raises.
  • The job is entry-level and typically lasts two to three years before analysts move to other roles in finance or leave banking entirely.
  • Analysts work long hours—often 60 to 80 per week—because they are responsible for turning around client presentations and due diligence documents on tight deadlines.
  • The role requires strong Excel skills, attention to detail, and the ability to work under pressure with minimal supervision once you understand the basics.

What analysts build: models, pitches, and research

A financial model is a spreadsheet that projects a company's future revenue, expenses, and cash flow under different scenarios. Analysts build these models from scratch using historical financial statements, industry data, and assumptions about growth rates. The model shows what a company might be worth under different conditions—crucial information when the bank is advising a buyer on how much to pay or helping a seller understand what they should ask for.

Analysts also prepare pitch books—PowerPoint presentations that the bank's senior bankers show to clients. These decks include research on the target company, comparable companies, recent deals in the industry, and the bank's proposed strategy. An analyst might spend a full week building a 50-slide pitch book, pulling data from financial databases, cleaning it up, and designing charts that tell a story to the client.

Due diligence is the process of investigating a company before a deal closes. Analysts create lists of questions, organize documents, build timelines of the target company's history, and flag potential problems—litigation, customer concentration, regulatory issues—that the buyer needs to know about. This work is often done under extreme time pressure because deals move fast once they are public.

The daily work: spreadsheets, databases, and tight deadlines

A typical day for an analyst starts with checking email for overnight requests from senior bankers. You might be asked to update a model with new financial data, pull comparable company information from Bloomberg or FactSet, or add new slides to a presentation. Most requests come with a tight turnaround—often the same day or next morning.

You spend hours in Excel, building formulas that calculate enterprise value, debt multiples, and returns under different scenarios. You cross-check numbers against source documents to catch errors. You format spreadsheets so they are readable and defensible—because if a client questions a number, you need to trace it back to its source in seconds.

Analysts also spend time in financial databases like Bloomberg, FactSet, and S&P Capital IQ, pulling historical stock prices, revenue figures, and transaction data. You learn to navigate these systems quickly and to spot when data looks wrong. You become the person on the team who knows where to find obscure information about a company's debt structure or historical acquisitions.

The hours are long because deals do not close during business hours. If a client calls at 4 p.m. asking for a revised model by 8 a.m., you stay until it is done. Analysts regularly work 60 to 80 hours per week, with occasional stretches of 100-hour weeks during active deal periods. Weekends are not may provide off.

Who supervises you and what they expect

Analysts report to associates, who are typically three to five years out of college and managing day-to-day work on one or two deals. Associates assign tasks, review your work, and push back if numbers do not make sense or if a slide does not tell the right story. They are usually the first person to catch your mistakes.

Above associates are vice presidents and managing directors, who lead client relationships and make strategic decisions about deals. They set the direction but do not review every spreadsheet. You will rarely interact with them directly unless you are presenting work or asking a specific technical question.

The expectation is that you work independently once you understand the task. You are not micromanaged, but you are expected to ask questions early if something is unclear, to catch your own errors before submitting work, and to deliver on time. Missing a deadline or submitting sloppy work damages your reputation quickly in a small team.

Why the hours are so long and what that means for your life

Investment banking deals are time-sensitive. When a company decides to sell itself or raise capital, the process moves fast. Competitors are bidding. Market conditions change. Regulators have deadlines. The bank charges a percentage of the deal value as a fee, so every day of delay costs money. That pressure flows down to analysts.

Additionally, senior bankers often do not plan work efficiently. A pitch book that should take three days gets assigned on Friday for Monday delivery. A model gets rebuilt three times because the client changed their mind about assumptions. Analysts absorb this inefficiency because they are the cheapest labor on the team and because the work has to get done regardless.

The long hours mean limited time for a personal life during active deal periods. You miss dinners, skip gym sessions, and work through weekends. Some analysts thrive on this intensity; others burn out. The job is explicitly temporary—most analysts leave after two or three years, either moving to a different finance role, going to business school, or leaving finance entirely.

Skills you need and how you develop them

Excel is non-negotiable. You need to build models from scratch, use advanced formulas, and work fast. Most analysts spend the first few months learning the bank's model templates and financial modeling conventions. You learn by doing—building models under deadline pressure, getting feedback, and doing it again faster next time.

Financial analysis skills come next. You need to understand what revenue multiples mean, how to calculate returns on an investment, and what makes a company's financials look healthy or troubled. This is taught partly in training and partly on the job as you work through deals in different industries.

Attention to detail is critical. A single wrong number in a model can lead to a client making a bad decision or the bank pitching the wrong price. Analysts who catch errors before they reach clients are valued highly. This means checking your work, asking someone else to review it, and building in time to fix mistakes.

Communication skills matter, even though analysts do not present to clients. You need to write clear emails, create slides that tell a story, and explain your work to senior bankers who are busy and impatient. If you cannot explain why a number is in your model, you do not understand it well enough.

Career path after the analyst program

Most analysts move to one of three places after two or three years. Some go to business school, using the banking experience as a credential and the time away to reset before returning to finance in a more senior role. Some move to the associate level at the same bank or a competitor, staying in investment banking but with better hours and higher pay. Others leave finance entirely—moving to corporate finance at a large company, private equity, venture capital, or a completely different industry.

The analyst role is designed as a training ground, not a career. The bank expects turnover. They hire smart people, work them hard, teach them financial analysis and deal-making, and then most of them leave. Some return to banking later; many do not. The experience is valuable in almost any finance role because you have seen how large transactions work and you can build a model under pressure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do investment bank analysts make a lot of money?

Analyst salaries vary by bank and location, but base pay for entry-level analysts typically ranges from $80,000 to $120,000 per year. Bonuses can double or triple that amount depending on the bank's profitability and your performance. The money is good for someone fresh out of college, but it does not account for the hours worked—your hourly rate is often lower than you might think.

Is the analyst job the same at every investment bank?

The core work is similar everywhere—building models, preparing pitches, and supporting deal teams. But the culture, hours, and deal flow vary. Larger banks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have more formal training programs and more deals, which means more work. Smaller banks or boutique firms may have longer hours but more direct exposure to senior bankers and clients.

What if I do not have a finance background?

Most analyst programs hire people with no finance experience. They expect you to learn on the job. You should understand basic accounting and be comfortable with numbers, but you do not need to have worked in finance before. The bank will teach you financial modeling and deal mechanics during training and through your first few deals.

Can I get an analyst job without going to a target school?

It is harder but not impossible. Large investment banks recruit heavily from a small set of universities, but smaller banks and regional firms hire from a wider range of schools. Networking, internships, and strong grades help. Many analysts started at smaller firms and moved to larger ones after a year or two of experience.

What happens if I cannot handle the hours?

Some analysts realize within a few months that the lifestyle is not for them and leave. There is no shame in this—the job is explicitly demanding and not right for everyone. If you stay, you learn to manage the intensity by building routines, setting boundaries where possible, and remembering that it is temporary. Most analysts who leave do so after completing their two-year commitment.