How to get a job in asset management

• Asset management firms manage money for investors around the world. They primarily invest in public markets, such as in equities (stock) or debt (stock) markets.
• This money comes from a large range of sources – for example, pension funds, family offices, and the private savings of individuals.
• The role that most people aspire to is that of “portfolio manager”, where you manage a pool of funds yourself on behalf of clients.
• You don’t necessarily need to be highly analytical or mathematical for these roles, unless you work for a “quant fund".

Large asset management firms are the backbone of the financial services industry. Part of the “buy-side,” they manage huge sums of money on behalf of their clients, which include pension funds, family offices, and retail investors. Asset management firms aim to increase the value of clients’ investments over time, and they receive a fee for their services – both for their performance and for their management of the money.

Unlike hedge funds which “hedge” investments and try to make money even when markets fall, asset management firms typically only “go long”. This means that they invest in products in the hope that their prices will rise. For this reason, they are also known as “long-only investors.” They can also be called “institutional asset managers”, as they manage money mostly for institutions.

The scale of the asset management industry is huge. Market intelligence provider Dataintelo said that the asset management industry managed $130tn in assets under management (AuM) in 2025, a figure which it anticipated will reach $200tn in 2034. It also estimated that it extracts around $98bn in fund management fees from this sum, a figure which Dataintelo expected to reach $173bn by 2034.

If you work in asset management, you’ll be helping to manage these enormous pools of money and helping today’s working population save for the future.

The experience you have will depend on the kind of fund you work for. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of asset management funds:

Passive: Also called "index trackers", passive funds mirror the performance of large financial indices like the S&P 500 or the FTSE 100. The money going into an index tracker is put into stocks or bonds in the same proportion as in the relevant index. The advantage for investors is that the fees are low, the risks of human error are minimal, and turnover in the portfolio is also lower. As well as passive mutual funds run by huge institutional investors like BlackRock, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are a good example of passive investment. They track an index, or a basket of assets, but are also a tradable security, so their value goes up and down like a stock on a stock exchange.

Active: This is where human skill and experience come into the fund management industry. A team of portfolio managers, analysts and researchers use their expertise and a plethora of research, quantitative analysis, forecasts and judgement to decide on what assets to invest in with the aim of beating the market. Asset management firms make much more money from an active investment or fund than a passive one, as they can charge much more in fees.

A fund is judged on how far above or below it is on a particular index – in equity markets this could be, say, the Dow Jones Industrial average, but funds also compete in bond markets and a host of other asset classes. It is hard to beat the index – 90% of funds do not – but this is the measure of a good portfolio manager.

Despite being a huge part of the asset management industry, passive funds generate an extremely small part of its revenue. According to BCG, in 2024, 23% of the industry’s AUM was passively managed - but in turn, those funds generated just 5% of the industry’s revenue. The firm anticipates that, by 2029, this will rise to 26% of AUM. It will still generate just 5% of revenue, however.

Active investment, meanwhile, is falling out of favour with investors. BCG also estimated back in 2024 that 32% of assets were actively managed that year, a proportion that will fall to 29% in 2029. Pressure on actively managed funds (which charge fees) also comes from alternative investment strategies such as hedge funds and private equity.

Part of the drop in popularity for actively managed funds is due to their poor performance. As we noted above, just 10% of asset managers, roughly, manage to beat the S&P 500. It’s hard to justify high fees when passive investments can provide better results.

But active vs passive management is only one of the great divides in the fund management industry; another is top-down versus bottom-up investment. Top-down investors are concerned with a big picture view of a particular sector, asset class or geography first, before delving into the finer financial details. Bottom-up investors are more interested in the financials of a particular company than broad macro themes. This assumes that gems can be found even in industries that are generally not doing well. 

Many funds today use quantitative methods to analyze markets and determine where to invest their money and therefore rely less on humans to make decisions. These are the so-called “quant funds”, which includes firms like Renaissance Technologies, also known as RenTech. A firm like RenTech hires more PhDs and statisticians than finance types.

Career paths in asset management

When people think of asset management, they tend to think of portfolio managers. Portfolio managers, also known as fund managers, are the top dogs of the asset management world. They run funds on behalf of their clients based on a range of investment experience and expertise. However, you won’t be a portfolio manager from the outset. This is the pinnacle of an investment career, and you’ll need to work your way up.

These are the jobs you can do in the asset management industry:

Investment jobs: This is where you find the portfolio managers who run investment strategies. They tend to specialize in one asset class, whether that’s equities, fixed income, or property. They manage the day-to-day investment decisions across the funds they are responsible for. In big fund management firms, there are dozens of portfolio managers with various areas of expertise including multi-asset funds, which decide on which ‘blend’ of financial investments to include in a portfolio.

Portfolio managers don’t work in isolation. Supporting them are teams of research analysts, whose role focuses on generating investment ideas for portfolio management teams to act upon. Research analysts spend their days poring through company reports and industry insights, building their knowledge base and contact list until they become portfolio managers themselves.

Distribution: While investment teams deal with the money management side of the business, distribution teams bring client money into the fund.

Sales: Also known as business development professionals, sales professionals deal with large institutional investors, finding out what their investment needs are and try to recommend their employers’ products. Sales professionals also spend a lot of time developing and maintaining relationships with clients in an attempt to increase loyalty. One of the biggest challenges any fund manager faces is maintaining assets under management – particularly if performance dips.

Traders: In asset management firms, traders execute (ie. 'action') the trades required to maintain the portfolio as required by the portfolio managers. Working as a trader in asset management involves market timing and breaking large trades into manageable chunks. Algorithms are increasingly being used to do this instead of human beings.

Product development/management: These roles ensure that a fund manager is present in all the markets and asset classes it should be, has the right funds available to investors in the right markets, and that there are no obvious gaps. Product developers also work with the risk and compliance teams to ensure any new products will keep regulators happy, that a fund’s pricing structure is correct, and that a firm isn’t falling behind competitors in any areas.

Marketing professionals make sure that the right messages about the products reach potential and existing clients. Marketing professionals today spend less time wining and dining clients and more ensuring that the fund manager is well represented online and on social media.

Business operations: Fund managers employ risk and compliance professionals, investment operations professionals performing back-office functions, as well as technology, HR, and accounting positions.

If you’re a graduate starting out in fund management and you’re on the portfolio management track, you’ll start out as an analyst. Analysts in fund management learn the trade. They study the financial results of companies, consume huge amounts of information and news on the companies and sectors they cover, and (when they’re good enough) make investment recommendations.

Some people choose to remain as analysts throughout their careers. Others move across to become junior portfolio managers, and eventually work their way up to a portfolio management position.

Which skills do you need for a career in asset management?

Read More: What skills do you need for a career in asset management?

Asset management isn't easy to break into, and a finance degree might not be the entry ticket.

Alex Torrens, US head of asset management firm Walter Scott & Partners, told us that he doesn't rule anyone in or out on the basis of subject or university. He wants people who are inquisitive and interested in how businesses work. AI has made that more valuable, not less, as firms can now produce first-pass analysis at scale, which puts the premium on whoever interprets it.

Climbing the ranks changes the job completely. CFA Institute lists investment idea generation, strategy development, and risk management as the core skills of a portfolio manager. Resilience is also key, as 79% of large-cap US equity funds trailed the S&P 500 in 2025, one of the worst rates this century. “You are not your P&L,” one equities portfolio manager at Capital Group said.

How is AI changing asset management?

Read More: How AI is changing asset management careers

Asset management is a slow-moving industry, and AI is no exception. KPMG's Q2 2026 AI pulse survey found just 19% of asset management and private equity firms had deployed AI agents, against 39% of banks. 

Where AI does land, it lands on juniors. BCG estimated that 50% to 65% of a traditional analyst’s work could be freed up – things like data gathering and first-pass modelling – against 5% to 10% of a portfolio manager's. The workload shifts from producing analysis to deciding what to do with it.

That changes how analysts learn. Jeremy Leung, AI solutions manager at T. Rowe Price and former UBS portfolio manager, wrote in March that the early years spent reading filings, updating models and listening to management teams is exactly what AI can do. The pressure from AI is being felt in the industry, as a director at a US asset manager told us earlier this year that his boss used "intimidation tactics" to make him do more with less, including threatening to replace him with AI.

Which education do you need for a career in asset management?

Read More: The qualifications you need to work in banking, trading, and more

Asset management roles are relatively broad, but they take a range of graduates depending on function, most of which have an overlap with their investment banking counterparts, such as compliance analysts having a legal background. For front-office (research roles, mostly) roles at major firms such as BlackRock and State Street, most graduates that we looked at appeared to be in finance and economics again, although there was a wider variety of qualifications than in investment banking front-office roles.

If the CFA exams and CFA Charter are critical anywhere, it's in asset management roles. There’s a lot of overlap between what equity researchers and asset managers do, actually – one just puts their money where their mouth is. For that reason, the Financial Modelling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA) qualification could also be highly valued in an asset management career, especially for interviews. There's also the Institute of Asset Management's IAM Certificate, which we've also seen in our research, even though it isn't as popular as the FMVA.

Salaries and bonuses in asset management

Read More: Pay for hedge fund portfolio managers vs. long-only PMs in London

Asset management can be very lucrative. Data from recruitment consultancy Octavius Finance found that London-based junior long-only professionals (asset management analysts) could earn between £75k ($102k) and £120k ($164k), while. Those with 10+ years of experience, likely portfolio managers, could earn between £250k ($341k) and £600k ($819k).

In our 2026 Compensation & Lifestyle Report, we found that asset management professionals averaged annual compensation (salary plus bonus) of $350k, while working just 49 hours a week on average. They earned $140 per hour worked on average, which was on par with investment banking, where pay was higher – but so were the hours worked. Asset management, therefore, appears the better lifestyle option.

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