Finance careers that are hiring

In brief
Finance careers fall into four broad families: analysis and financial data, advisory and wealth management, corporate finance, then financial engineering and tech.
You most often access them after a business school: at Excelia Business School, the Master in Management (Programme Grande École) and the Master of Science (MSc) programmes in the Finance domain train people for these careers.

Why does a career in finance still attract so much interest?

Finance brings together all the professions concerned with money, currency and its representative instruments, including securities: a broad scope, which opens onto careers that are very different from one another, from individual advisory work to the strategic steering of a large group.

It is also a competitive sector, where moving from one position to another is part of the professional culture. Financial operations become more complex as markets evolve, while the renewal of generations opens the way to new profiles, who have not always followed a traditional finance path before arriving there.

Sustainable finance is also one of these in-demand careers: it studies the financial systems and practices that support environmentally and socially responsible investment. A way of combining financial expertise and positive impact, for anyone looking for something beyond a simple return objective.

Analyst and data careers

The financial analyst assesses an organisation's performance and informs its strategic decisions, an expertise that the sector's digitalisation makes increasingly sought-after, particularly among profiles who master artificial intelligence tools.

This cluster of careers notably includes:

• the investment analyst
• the financial data analyst
• the equity analyst
• the risk manager
• the auditor career, presented in detail on the Excelia Business School blog
• the private equity analyst

Advisory and wealth management careers

The advisor brings their expertise on financial products to meet their clients' objectives, whether an individual or a business. Wealth management is expanding as markets evolve and estate planning needs become more complex.

Among these advisory careers:

• the private banker career, available on the Excelia Business School blog
• the wealth advisor
• the estate planning advisor
• the financial investment advisor
• the insurance broker

Corporate finance careers

Within a company, these roles manage assets and steer the organisation's financial strategy, with a constant objective: ensuring its financial health and supporting its growth.

This family includes:

• the chief financial officer, or CFO
• the head of management control
• the portfolio manager
• the corporate treasurer
• the mergers and acquisitions manager

These steering roles are prepared for in particular within the finance programmes that Excelia Business School offers, presented further on in this article.

Engineering and tech careers

Artificial intelligence and big data are transforming these careers rather than replacing them: they are creating new specialised roles, at the crossroads of technology and finance.

Among the sought-after profiles, also detailed on the Excelia Business School blog, are:

• the financial engineer
• the quantitative developer
• the sales engineer career
• the wealth engineer
• the fintech specialist

Which programmes lead to a career in finance?

At Excelia Business School, two paths lead to these careers. The Master in Management (Programme Grande École) is a State-accredited qualification conferring the Grade de Master, a recognition that secures your employability in France and internationally. It is accessible from the first year after the baccalaureate, on a generalist path that gradually specialises over the course of the programme.

For a project with a specialisation already in mind, the Master of Science (MSc) programmes in the Finance domain allow you to deepen a more specific expertise. Between the two, the choice mainly depends on your career project: if this question concerns you, request our detailed programme brochure to compare the programmes point by point.

Frequently asked questions

What are the finance careers?

They fall into four broad families: analysis and data (financial analyst, risk manager), advisory and wealth management (wealth advisor, private banker), corporate finance (chief financial officer, corporate treasurer) and financial engineering and tech (financial engineer, quantitative developer).

Which programme should I take to work in finance?

Excelia Business School's Master in Management (Programme Grande École) is a State-accredited qualification conferring the Grade de Master, accessible from the first year after the baccalaureate. The Master of Science (MSc) programmes in the Finance domain then allow you to deepen a more specific specialisation.

How is artificial intelligence changing finance careers?

It is reshaping the careers of analyst, financial engineer and quantitative developer without making them disappear: the sector's digitalisation is opening new specialised roles, particularly for profiles who master its tools.

What does a wealth management advisor do?

They bring their expertise on financial products to meet their clients' objectives, in a context where evolving markets and growing estate planning needs are driving the growth of this career.

What is a CFO?

The CFO, or Chief Financial Officer, is the company's chief financial officer: they manage assets and steer the organisation's financial strategy, to ensure its financial health and growth.