How much am I worth? Senior Fixed Income Performance Analyst, leading financial institution

A panel of headhunters gives its assessment of typical London pay packages: Basic salary: around 45,000 (€81,000); bonus - up to 20%.

Argue with you boss recently? Find your colleagues obnoxious? Many of us have crosses to bear in dealing with awkward workmates, but if headhunters are to be believed it would seem few suffer quite so much as the fixed income performance analyst.

'The front office, fixed income fund managers and fixed income client relation teams comprise notoriously pedantic individuals. Fastidious attention to detail is vital as there is no margin for error,' says Torquil Warren, an asset management consultant at Project Partners (part of the Partners Group). He suggests that to become a fixed income performance analyst one must possess confidence to deal with 'often ferocious' senior colleagues.

One should also have a good head for figures, as grappling with sums will comprise much of the day. Typically, senior fixed income performance analysts - not surprisingly, given their job title -look at the performance of fixed income securities within funds, analysing the portfolio to carry out performance attribution and, depending on the size of the organisation, risk analysis as well.

Jeremy Canning, manager of Morgan McKinley's asset management division, says, 'A senior fixed income performance analyst will be responsible for attributing why the performance of a fund has increased or decreased, and this analysis will be passed on to fund managers to make decisions on their fund investments, sales and marketing to develop product promotion and development, (as well as) forming part of client reporting.'

With shares in the doldrums for much of the past few years, fixed income has had a good run, and still looks pretty good: for this reason, demand for good quality performance analysts, with a strong track record and all the requisite skills - including getting on with colleagues who behave like prima donnas - remains good.

'Fixed income performance analysts with a demonstrable record of success in the position will never have to worry about a lack of employment,"agrees Warren. "It is crucial that you have someone who comes from an analytical background and possess the personality to get on with the business.' He says that with investment vehicles and portfolios becoming more complex, individuals who can present and manipulate detailed data are strongly in demand.

The really good analyst will also have a good overall understanding of the business and be able to liase with the operations and marketing departments, as well as fund managers and, sometimes, clients. Many will have an understanding of equities, having possibly before worked as an equities performance analyst.

So what sort of salary can a senior fixed income performance analyst expect to earn? Canning says a senior analyst with a good history should get a basic salary between 35,000-50,000, with a bonus between 10-20%; Warren is more sanguine, suggesting a basic of up to 55,000, and adding that promotion is relatively easy for the success-focused individual.

'Once you have experience in this type of role is very easy to move up through the business,' he says. An attractive prospect surely, not least because it's an ideal way to get some distance from that awful boss and those persnickety colleagues.

Figures and commentary by The Partners Group and Morgan McKinley.