"It's hard to be a man in operations in a bank"

18 June 2025

2 minute read

I am trying to get a job working as a chief operation officer (COO) in an investment bank. Any investment bank. I am experienced in this role and yet no one wants to hire me.

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I believe it is because I am male. Most banks have targets for female hires, but those targets are not specific to particular divisions.

It's very difficult to find good senior women for jobs in the front office, but there are women who can fill jobs in the middle and back office. For this reason, banks like to fill their middle and back office vacancies with women wherever they can.

I know this because I have been told it by senior line managers. - The head of macro trading at one bank told me that he is obliged to hire the best possible people for his roles and that because most of them happen to be men, he ends up skewing heavily male in the front office. But when he hires for middle and back office roles, he is more able to give female and other diversity candidates a chance.

This makes it very difficult for people like me to find a job. It is frustrating.

Dany Poullain is a pseudonym

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AUTHORDany Poullain

Insider Comment

Mi
Mistymoon
20 June 2025
I'm more concerned that the head of macro trading is the one hiring middle and back office people, hello Nick Leeson
Reply
An
Anon123654
18 June 2025
I have some sympathy with what you are saying - you need to earn a living and well-meaning diveristy / DEI targets created by HR can make you life difficult if you don't fit into a diversity category. That said, you might be looking at this the wrong way. Are you sure operations is where you want to be ? It sounds like all the strong job candidates end up in trading, while operations is being used as the place to tick the diversity boxes - i.e. where innate ability isn't so important. Should you perhaps look to work in a different role instead, where things are a little more meritocratic ? Yes, that probably will mean learning new skills - but there are plenty of modestly priced online training courses which can help with this. Low-meritocracy departments whose staff don't need much talent and which are used to fill DEI criteria will likely be seen as good targets for offshoring or AI replacement in the near future. Or failing that, play HR at their own game - just put on a skirt and some make-up, tell HR that you identify as female and perhaps HR will be so scared of their own shadow that they just give you the COO job.
1 reply