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Finance & AccountingVice President, Investment Banking

Vice President, Investment Banking Resume Example

Professional Vice President, Investment Banking resume example. Get hired faster with our ATS-optimized template.

Vice President, Investment Banking Salary Range (US)

$400,000 - $900,000

Why This Resume Works

Origination verbs change the conversation

Originated, Pitched, Converted. At VP level, your CV is judged on whether you brought deals in, not just whether you executed them well.

Fee revenue is the VP scorecard

$42M in fees from converted pitches, $58M in fees from sponsor roundtables. Fees are the metric MDs use to evaluate VPs. Make them legible.

Deal-type breadth shows VP versatility

Carve-outs, take-private, IPO, PIPE. Naming distinct deal structures shows you can run any process the franchise needs, not just plain-vanilla M&A.

Talent metrics matter at VP

100% retention across 2 review cycles, 4 associates and 8 analysts coached. VPs run the people machine that lets MDs sell. Quantify the people work too.

Sector thesis-led origination signals strategic chops

Healthcare consolidation theses, banker-investor roundtables. Originators bring ideas, not just relationships. Show how you packaged ideas into mandates.

Essential Skills

  • Origination and pitch conversion
  • Deal team leadership (6+ bankers)
  • Sector thesis development
  • Client interface ownership
  • Fee negotiation and engagement structuring
  • ECM execution (IPO, follow-on, PIPE)
  • Carve-out and take-private experience
  • Talent development and promotion sponsorship

Level Up Your Resume

An Investment Banking CV is judged in 30 seconds by people who read hundreds of them. Recruiters at bulge brackets, elite boutiques, and middle-market banks look for three things: deal sheet credibility, technical chops in DCF/LBO/M&A modeling, and a coverage or product fit that maps to an open seat.

The banking career ladder is unusually rigid - Analyst, Associate, Vice President, Managing Director - and each level has its own scoreboard. Analysts are judged on model depth and pitch book quality. Associates are judged on process leadership and quality control. VPs are judged on pitch conversion and origination. Managing Directors are judged on fee revenue and client book durability.

This guide covers what each level of investment banker CV must include, common drafting mistakes, and the technical, certification, and origination signals hiring committees actually weight.

Best Practices for VP CV

  1. Open with origination, not execution - At VP, the value question is whether you can convert pitches to mandates. Lead with conversion numbers and fee outcomes.

  2. Quantify fee revenue you generated - $42M in fees from converted pitches reads differently than '$3.8B in transactions'. Fees are how MDs are paid; VPs should think the same way.

  3. Show breadth across deal types - Sell-side, buy-side, carve-out, take-private, IPO, PIPE. VPs are expected to run any product the franchise needs.

  4. Document talent retention metrics - Promotions you sponsored, retention percentages, junior banker development. VPs run the engine room.

  5. Tie pitch theses to sector consolidation views - Concrete consolidation thesis examples show strategic origination, not relationship-only origination.

Common Mistakes for VP CV

  1. Execution-only narrative - VPs are evaluated on origination. If your CV reads like a senior associate, you'll be passed over for VP roles.

  2. No fee numbers - Banks pay you in fees. CV should reflect them.

  3. Skipping talent leadership - Coaching, retention, promotions sponsored. Critical at VP.

  4. One-sector tunnel vision - Even if focused, show adjacent sub-sector breadth (digital health alongside core healthcare).

  5. Underselling pitch conversion ratio - Number of pitches presented vs. converted is the truest VP metric.

Tips for VP CV

  1. 1-2 pages. Two pages acceptable for 10+ years.
  2. Include 'Selected Originated Transactions' as a distinct section.
  3. Quantify pitch volume: number presented, converted, fee outcome.
  4. List speaking engagements or industry conference moderations if any.
  5. Include any board observer or steering committee roles from sponsor work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Top-tier banks routinely set a 3.5+ GPA floor for analyst hiring, with elite boutiques pushing closer to 3.7. List GPA prominently if 3.5+; omit if lower and rely on coursework, internships, and deal exposure.

Very important at analyst entry — bulge brackets and elite boutiques recruit heavily from a narrow target list. After 3+ years, deal sheet weight overtakes school weight, and by VP the school becomes almost irrelevant.

List only completed (or announced) transactions where you played a meaningful role. 8–12 selected transactions is enough for an associate; VPs and MDs should curate top 10–15 by relevance to the seat.

Yes at the deal level inside the transaction list. No in the header. Naming sponsors on the deal line signals your relationship-level coverage to recruiters reviewing your franchise fit.

Even small wins count: a single add-on mandate sourced from a sponsor, a corporate development relationship that became a pitch, a thesis you authored that the VP took to a client. Document the chain.

Recommended Certifications

Series 79 (Investment Banking Representative)

FINRA

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Series 63 (Uniform Securities Agent)

FINRA / NASAA

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MBA from M7 / Top-tier program

Wharton, HBS, Booth, Columbia, Kellogg, Sloan, Stanford GSB

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Interview Preparation

Investment banking interviews are structured around four pillars: technicals (DCF, LBO, accretion / dilution, EV bridge), behaviorals (Why banking? Why this bank? Why this group?), deal experience (walk me through a transaction on your resume), and fit (judgment under pressure, attention to detail). Analyst interviews emphasize technicals; associate interviews shift toward deal narrative; VP and MD interviews focus on origination, client interface, and team leadership. Superdays at bulge brackets typically include 4-6 thirty-minute interviews with bankers from analyst through MD.