I recently accepted an offer from a market making firm in NYC that will trade only Fixed Income IG bonds. It's a small company backed by a larger firm and I will be the 6th employee of the company. I wanted to get an opinion if the offer is competitive enough with other tech firms. YoE: 3.5 Current base: $140K Last year's total comp: $160K New base: $162,500 Sign on: $12,500 Bonus: they have 2 bonuses - Performance bonus: 50% of base which will be prorated on number of days I have worked - Incentive bonus: Discretionary bonus which could be cash or equity They're giving me a title bump to VP. I will miss out on my bonus for this year and the new company said that they can't do anything about it and they think that the offer is generous and I will be eligible for the above bonuses this year. I got my H1B this year and my current company won't file GC until renewal. The new company said they will file my GC next year. P.S. one of the reasons I considered it was that it’s a great learning opportunity. I would have to move 3-5 times in my current company to get full exposure about this space
Is it worth it going from GS to a startup?
Considerable increase from what you’re getting now but not competitive with offers at top tech or trading firms
I have been reading a lot about the boom in IG corporate bond market making space and it looks like the next big thing everyone is getting into. That was also a reason behind the move
Wouldn't take it, personally. Doesn't look competitive for 3 YOE in tech or finance. I also don't trust the discretionary bonus. Get something tied to PnL in writing.
The performance bonus is in writing
That's not what I mean at all. It's discretionary, which means even if the firm performs well you could get shit. Like I said, get something tied to PnL in writing, not something discretionary.