Can techies move from the sell side to the buy side?

More IT roles are being created in asset managers than investment banks, but what are your chances of switching from the sell side to the buy side?

Well, if you're at the top of the pile, it seems quite likely. Fidelity, for example, has recently appointed Daniel Petrozzo as chief information officer from Morgan Stanley, and Ronald DePoala is set to join him as chief technology officer from Merrill Lynch.

This is becoming an increasingly common move, says Nick Finlay, managing consultant, investment programs and projects at Michael Page.

"They see it as an opportunity to broaden their experience whilst being eager to move into a sector of financial services that is bucking the current market downturn and retaining healthy IT budgets."

Further down the pecking order, though, IT professionals may find it difficult to move from an investment bank to a fund manager.

Oliver Hinchliffe, who focuses on fund management IT hires at recruiters Project Partners, says: "The trade flow, the operations platform and the technical requirements are very different within the two types of organisations.

"There are still a lot of opportunities within asset management and one or two years ago firms would have invested time training individuals up. Now, however, they are not willing to compromise because of a greater selection of potential candidates."

So, what kind of roles are being created within asset management firms?

Finlay says: "We are still seeing major software and systems implementations, particularly across order management, electronic trading and investment administration. This creates senior programme and project management opportunities."

In fund management, a programme manager can earn 70k-120k, a project manager 70k-90k and a business analyst/implementation consultant 50k-80k, according to the Michael Page salary survey.

"It's hard for a buy-side CIO to greatly exceed 250k base and bonus," adds Finlay.