How much am I worth? Director of human resources - leading investment bank

A panel of specialist headhunters give their assessment of typical London pay packages: Director of human resources, leading investment bank; salary can be more than 250,000, bonus up 100% or more.

In the ever-evolving world of investment banking, few positions have changed as radically as what is today known as HR.

In the 1970s and 1980s, institutions instead had Personnel Departments: seen as dull and ancillary to the main business, their function was largely supportive - and now as outdated as orange flares and disco dancing.

Stephanie Staton, joint managing director of Redwood Search, says: 'Heads of HR today have a lot of influence - particularly in investment banks, but also at retail and commercial banks. They have a seat at the top table and as, a consequence, get paid a lot of money.'

The big surprise is that it took investment banks so long to cotton on to what manufacturing and other organisations already knew - a business can only be as good as the people working within it.

HR directors are responsible not just for finding and retaining key staff throughout an organisation - at investment banks they must also be adept at fire-fighting, alleviating conflict between staff and be fully au fait with all legal, employment and compliance issues.

Thus the good HR director should have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of employment law, be fully aware of bank strategy - ideally, have been instrumental in helping shape it - be diplomatic, and know what competitors are up to.

'HR directors are business people; they must have very strong influencing skills, be strategists with leadership ability: essentially they are people who make things happen,' says Staton.

And that's not forgetting their duller day-to-day functions.

'The individual is directly involved in...re-engineering the HR function itself by taking costs out of the business, perhaps outsourcing initiatives and is key to ensuring the effective implementation of business programmes that impact on people, ' says Lynette Eastman, a non-executive director of Alexander Mann Solutions.

This may seem like asking a lot, but top HR Directors at investment banks are well-rewarded - in part because there are so few in the pool to chose from, but in the main because banks want, and are prepared to pay for, the best.

Staton says a typical base salary at investment banks for a head of HR is between 250,000-350,000 with bonuses up to 100%; however a few individuals at the top institutions, with global responsibilities, can pull in a total package of upwards of 750,000.

Retail/commercial banks tend to pay their HR directors rather less. Eastman suggests a typical basic of 200,000 for individuals with a global or European role, with - again - bonuses ranging up to 100%.

So what sort of a background do HR directors tend to come from?

All sorts, is the answer: Chris Lowney, the former HR director for JP Morgan in Europe famously had a Jesuit background, although a religious vocation is hardly standard.

Eastman says a classic HR Director in London would be a member of the Institute of Personnel and Development, perhaps having started a career in the corporate world on a graduate development programme at a company such as Ford, Grand Met, Kingfisher, or Marks & Spencer before moving into financial services.

However with many HR directors in investment banking now in their mid- to late 40s and 50s, a university education is not a prerequisite: many started their careers in the army or elsewhere in the investment banking world before seeing the potential in HR and moving across.

Headhunters say there is potentially a strong demand for more men. 'Personnel' was always perceived to be a woman's function - but as HR becomes an increasingly central part of the investment bank's overall business, this is changing.

'Men are only now waking up to the career - and earning - opportunities that can exist within HR: it is increasingly being seen as a good, rewarding career', says Staton.

Figures and commentary supplied by Redwood Search and Alexander Mann Solutions.