Wall Street has long been one of the most competitive industries to break into, and last year’s dealmaking slump and resulting layoffs have not made things easier. But the finance industry is wide, and there are still pockets of hiring.
Investment banks have been reducing headcount amid a decline in their bread-and-butter business of mergers, acquisitions, and capital raising. But experts in the sector also seem optimistic that 2024 could see M&A activity pick up again. During its fourth-quarter earnings call this month, JPMorgan said it expects expenses to increase by $2.8 billion in 2024 as it hires across consumer and community banking, asset and wealth management, and corporate and investment banking.
Private equity firms are also not doing as many deals as before, but top dealmakers say it’s only a matter of time before the $12 billion industry starts selling portfolio companies or taking them public in order to increase payouts to investors. Additionally, we’re still living through the “golden age of private credit,” and many asset managers are scrambling to capture a piece of the boom in corporate lending.
Anthony Keizner, who focuses on buy-side recruiting at Odyssey Search Partners, says the big private-equity firms are continuing to hire despite the lull in dealmaking.
“Many of the new roles being created are at the most established multi-strategy firms, as opposed to at smaller and mid-market players,” he told BI.
“I see hiring being very active in 2024 in credit, infrastructure, and marketing,” Keizner added.
And then there are the behemoth hedge funds, which are waging wars in some cases to hire top talent. Billions in capital has flooded into multi-strategy giants like Citadel, Millennium, and dozens of their peers, and they’re eager to put that capital to work across an array of strategies. The latest launch — from ex-Millennium exec Bobby Jain — is expected to be one of the largest ever.
“This has led to a voracious appetite for talent to support this business model,” said Adam Harwood, a hedge-fund recruiter and founder of Cornice Recruiting. “Given the establishment of yet another multi-strat, the battle for talent will not cease for years to come, and it will be interesting to see who’s left standing and who thrives.”
To help financial pros navigate this market, Insider compiled a list of headhunters who help find talent for Wall Street firms. We gathered contact information for 380 names across roughly 120 firms.
We focused on recruiters who help place talent at investment banks, hedge funds, private-equity firms, asset managers, proprietary trading firms, and family offices, although some of the professionals listed have expertise in other areas, such as real estate, venture capital, and fintech.
The searchable database is made up of recruiters who focus on what’s known in the industry as front-office investment professionals — traders, dealmakers, portfolio managers, bankers, and the executives those people report to. We also omitted recruiters for non-revenue-producing roles such as risk, compliance, and legal. We limited the list to recruiters who help place talent for US-based firms, and we didn’t list people who recruit primarily temporary or support staff.
Think we missed someone? We’ll update this database periodically. Fill out this form explaining the recruiter’s role, focus areas, and contact information. Alternatively, you can email ebrownstein@businessinsider.com.