IBD analyst with $100bn deal experience takes small tech job

One of the advantages of being an analyst in the investment banking division (IBD) of a major bank is supposed to be 'the exposure'. You a buzz from working on some of the biggest deals with the biggest corporate clients. A hit from listening in on a call with a big cheese CEO. But what if it's not such a thrill? One 23-year-old banker whose fleeting finance career ticked all those boxes, has opted for a lower-key existence at a tech firm instead.

Ilja Moisejevs joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) in 2015 after graduating with a first class degree in food sciences from the University of Nottingham. Over the next 16 months, Moisejevs worked on the kinds of deals that are meant to make junior bankers excited. The $100bn ABI-SABMiller merger, Deliveroo's August 2016 $275m funding round, and the purchase of Grolsch and Peroni, example.

It wasn't enough. Moisejevs quit BAML last October. Now he's turned up in a more diminutive-sounding role at GoCardless, a London-based company with around 100 employees which claims to be "building a new payment network for the internet."

What inspired Moisejevs to quit the investment banking promised land?  "It's a super exciting business which I personally consider to have HUGE potential and which I feel extremely lucky to be able to join," he says. For the moment, though, he won't be schmoozing with the executive suite. He's joined GoCardless as a product manager and will be working with developers to improve the tech firm's product. Maybe that's the most exciting thing for an aspirational 20-something to work on now?

Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com