The jobs that Wall Street banks are most desperate to fill

When applying for banking job, hunting down all the newly-listed positions makes perfect sense, though it has one main drawback: you’re likely to face plenty of competition. A backup strategy could be to focus on older roles – ones that banks can’t seem to fill for whatever reason. Though you admittedly may end up applying to a position or two that aren’t top priorities, you’re also bound to come across more niche vacancies that have frustrated hiring managers dying for fresh resumes.

After scouring career sites of big banks, we’ve compiled a list of 10 active postings based in New York that have remained open for at least three months, though a few have been vacant for even longer. We also cherry-picked a couple of roles that we know anecdotally banks are itching to fill.

J.P. Morgan is looking for an ECM analyst

It’s always interesting to see a top firm have an opening for an analyst within the front-office of its investment bank. Typically, these roles are filled through annual pilgrimages across the campuses of target schools, but attrition can take its toll. If you’re a junior banker who couldn’t find work at a tier-1 bank and want to make the switch, J.P. Morgan has an opening for an experienced analyst within its equity capital markets (ECM) group. They’re looking for one year of investment banking experience, and the responsibilities include supervising junior analysts, so you won’t be starting at the very bottom.

Citi is eyeing a veteran healthcare banker

Citi is looking for a VP-level investment banker to help expand its coverage in the highly-competitive healthcare industry. Interesting, Citi says the role will cover all product areas: M&A, ECM and DCM. Of course, industry experience is highly favorable, as is an MBA or an MD. The bank went out of its way to embolden the fact that the VP will be expected to assume significant levels of responsibility across both the transaction process and new business development.

Goldman Sachs is badly in need of electronic trading help

While Goldman Sachs doesn’t date their job postings, employees who work in electronic trading have been imploring their networks to help them find experienced engineers who’ve worked in fixed income. A search brings up more than a dozen roles across electronic trading, including several front-office engineering roles within its fixed income, currencies and commodities technology (FICC tech) team as well as a FICC-centric quant and strat. CEO David Solomon stressed earlier this year how important electronic trading will be to Goldman’s bottom line moving forward.

Goldman Sachs is hunting for startup-minded engineers

As we reported earlier in the week, Goldman is also pushing for software engineers with high-level programming experience to join their tech incubator, GS Accelerate. New hires will focus on early-stage new product development in greenfield environments, making the team more of a mini-startup within the bank than a traditional tech division. Launched just last year, the program received over 1,000 proposals for new projects from current employees. It appears the bank now has the ideas in place. They just need the engineering talent.

J.P. Morgan needs data scientists

While every bank is always looking for good data scientists, J.P. Morgan seems especially desperate. The bank is advertising several roles within its corporate and investment bank, at both the associate and VP level. They are looking for people who have experience in machine learning and data analytics to help create new products in areas like natural language processing and time series predictions. As an aside, the bank is always looking for artificial intelligence experts as well.

Citi is building out its institutional sales business

Citi is advertising several institutional sales roles within the capital markets business of its private bank. They are looking for a team lead and two mid-level bankers who will cover North America and Latin America, respectively, though all three roles are based in New York. You’ll need experience selling complex products across different asset classes, including equities, commercial real estate financing, derivatives and hedge solutions, among others.

Bank of America needs a philanthropy expert

Perhaps the most intriguing of the senior positions Bank of America seems to be having trouble filling is national practice executive specializing in private philanthropy. As part of the bank’s private wealth management group, the new hire will essentially be the go-to person for high-net worth clients who are looking to give back to charity as part of their money management plans. It’s still a sales role at heart, but the person will also become Bank of America’s national spokesperson and subject matter expert on private philanthropy.

Morgan Stanley needs help catering to high-net worth clients

Some of the longest-standing job postings at Morgan Stanley in New York are for client service roles within the firm’s rather large wealth management unit. The main responsibilities for the associate-level hires include providing operational and administrative support for financial advisors, though it seems they’re looking for more than administrative assistants. Ideal candidates will have a desire to obtain their Series 7, 63 and 65, suggesting the jobs are a potential path toward an eventual role with the investing team.

Bank of America wants senior lending officers

Pretty straight-forward. Bank of America is looking for several people who can sell retail mortgage loans and other lending products. They are looking for two-plus years of experience in a loan origination role. The bank is also advertising several lending officers within its wealth management unit who will partner with financial advisors and high-net worth clients.

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