Finance Jobs in the Bay Area: How to Find Them and Get the Offer

The San Francisco Bay Area is often associated with specific industries. Most Americans are familiar with Silicon Valley’s prosperous tech sector and the luscious hills of California’s Wine Country. Yet among these world-renowned sectors, another key segment of the local economy often gets overlooked. While finance may not be San Francisco’s most high-profile industry, it remains a vital part of the Bay Area’s business landscape.

The San Francisco metropolitan area is home to nearly 150,000 finance jobs, while over 37,000 financial professionals live around the San Jose metropolitan area. Thanks to a powerful banking presence, San Francisco continually battles with Charlotte, North Carolina, for the title of America’s second-largest financial center, with over $2 trillion in assets under management.

Although no financial hub can quite compare to New York, the City by the Bay definitely holds its own. Long hailed as the “Wall Street of the West Coast,” San Francisco’s Financial District is still a mecca for the money-minded.

More generally, the Bay Area’s economy is booming, producing appealing income growth. In recent years, San Francisco and San Jose have seen some of the fastest-rising personal income figures in the United States. If you currently work in finance – or aspire to enter the industry – the Bay Area could be a lucrative place to advance your career.

Of course, earnings must be considered in relative terms and weighed against local costs of living. Because the Bay Area is such a desirable place to live and work, even seemingly high salaries can leave little left over after monthly expenses. In some parts of the region, households earning up to $200,000 a year are considered middle class. If you’re looking to break into finance in the Bay Area, you’ll need a job that pays well enough to keep up with exorbitant costs.

Not to worry, that’s exactly why we created this guide. If you’re eager to begin or continue a career in the finance world of the Bay Area, you’ve landed on the perfect article. First, we’ll unpack some of the major finance verticals and employers across the Bay, unpacking the local employment landscape. From there, we’ll offer tangible tips for finding opportunities in finance and landing a great gig.

Ready to get started? Let’s dive into the details of the Bay Area financial services sector – and what you need to do to break into it.

The Bay Area is home to a vast array of finance positions, encompassing virtually every aspect of the industry. However, certain employers and external factors (including proximity to tech companies) exert an outsized influence on the local scene. Here are some of the major segments of the finance industry in San Francisco, San Jose, and surrounding towns throughout the Bay Area.

For those who hope for careers in commercial banking, San Francisco is home to many institutions with large national and regional profiles. Wells Fargo is the city’s dominant player, with roots in the area dating back to the mid-19th century. Bank of the West, a subsidiary of giant BNP Paribas, is also headquartered nearby.

Broadly defined as the intersection of financial services and new technologies, “fintech” represents a powerful and expanding component of the Bay Area finance sector. Indeed, the category includes some of the Bay Area’s most compelling startups, many of which have attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in seed funding.

Bay Area companies make up roughly half of the Forbes Fintech 50, a roundup of the most promising businesses in this exciting space. Some of them are popular consumer-facing apps and companies, including:

• Lending companies, such as Affirm and Nova Credit
• Investing companies, such as Betterment and Guideline
• Personal companies, such as Chime and Credit Karma
• Payment companies, such as Bolt and Brex
• Cryptocurrency apps, such as Coinbase and Ripple

When the founders of Silicon Valley need investment capital to fuel their tech endeavors, they often turn to the Bay Area’s robust array of venture capital firms. No other region boasts a similar concentration of deep-pocketed investors. Of the nation’s top 20 venture capitalists, 16 are based in the Bay Area.

Wealthy individuals and firms need plenty of help evaluating Bay Area businesses. San Francisco startups are a vacuum for VC dollars, attracting a disproportionate amount of investment. Accordingly, Bay Area-based financial professionals play a crucial role in exploring potential investments and developing terms for all parties involved.

In addition to these specific sectors above, firms in the Bay Area offer the full spectrum of consumer-oriented financial services, including wealth management and insurance. Charles Schwab, for example, maintains a large team in San Francisco, despite moving its headquarters to the Dallas area. Franklin Templeton is headquartered in San Mateo, a city located in between San Francisco and San Jose.

In terms of identifying career opportunities, finance professionals now enjoy an unprecedented number of options. From interpersonal networking to digital platforms, there are plenty of effective ways to find good gigs. Here are some specific tips to aid your search around the Bay Area.

Sometimes, who you know really does matter more than what you know. In the Bay Area’s finance community, friendly connections can help you learn about impending job openings before a pack of other qualified professionals can even apply for them. Whether you love networking or hate it, developing industry relationships is essential.

Whether you’re networking online, at an event, or over coffee, think about nurturing a collegial bond, rather than making an immediate request. You never know when your contact’s company will need someone on short notice. If you build a real relationship, they’re far more likely to think of you.

LinkedIn is a great tool for professional advancement, no matter your chosen field or location. In the Bay Area financial community, it’s an especially good idea to take your LinkedIn game to another level. In a tech-centric area, a generic profile with meager activity won’t impress anyone.

Make the most of the platform’s more advanced features, including endorsements and referrals. Enroll in notifications for new positions, join industry groups, and engage actively with your connections. As far as finding job openings and getting recruited, this kind of online presence is crucial to building your professional brand.

In a place as rich in opportunity as the Bay Area, any old job site can show you hundreds of listings in the finance industry. The real question is whether they’ll be relevant and reliable. You don’t want to spend time composing a cover letter for a position that’s already been filled. By the same token, you don’t want to miss out on a great position that happened to slip through the cracks.

While we’re hardly impartial, we believe strongly in the power of our platform. At Joblist, we use AI and other advanced algorithms to aggregate the most recent job postings from a wide range of sources. That means less time spent wading through irrelevant listings and more options that actually appeal to you. Try searching on our site and see the difference for yourself.

Finding an opening in finance is one thing; and landing a job is another. Bay Area finance professionals face plenty of competition, thanks to a well-educated workforce and exceptional local universities. Not to fear, we’ve compiled some specific suggestions to help you appeal to prospective employers and get an edge over other applicants.

In some instances, the best path to a career in finance begins in another field entirely. The Bay Area’s venture capital firms, for example, may be eager to hire alums from thriving startups, or professionals with extensive experience in an industry of interest. Similarly, fintech startups may look to hire from leading tech companies, rather than traditional financial institutions. As you contemplate a move to the Bay Area, don’t necessarily assume that your first gig should be in finance. You might actually be more attractive after gaining experience elsewhere.

Going back to school can be a tall order, both in terms of effort and expense, but doing so could be hugely helpful to your career trajectory, especially if venture capital is your intended area of specialization. In those firms, leadership tracks are sometimes reserved for those who hold MBAs, typically from highly regarded institutions. Moreover, in an area where bachelor’s degrees from top universities are quite common, a graduate degree can give you a real advantage as an applicant.

Whether you have extensive experience in finance or very little, there are some simple ways you can boost your industry credentials. One option, the Securities Industry Essentials Exam, is a handy way to prove your general competence to prospective employers. Similarly, you can use online resources, such as guides and courses, to increase your comfort with industry lingo and emerging concepts.

You can also obtain impressive certifications in skills that are not inherently related to finance, but coveted by many companies. For example, the number of finance jobs requiring knowledge of artificial intelligence tools has rapidly expanded in recent years. Taking an online course in AI fundamentals could set you apart from the competition.

The nerve-wracking reality is that financial industry interviews can be fairly demanding. From logic puzzles to tricky inquiries like “tell me about the worst boss you have ever had” — hiring managers may put you through your paces. In the hyper-competitive Bay Area, you may be more likely to have to jump through these hoops than in less intense labor markets. Don’t get offended and don’t sweat mistakes. Part of the assessment is handling a challenge with grace.

In the Bay Area’s tight orbit, interpersonal abilities are important. Whether you’ll need to charm prospective clients, negotiate contract terms, or simply collaborate effectively with colleagues, your people skills are probably relevant to your position in finance. So while you’re presenting yourself as a qualified and capable applicant, don’t forget to showcase your soft skills as well. From your cover letter to your interview, make a concerted effort to demonstrate that you possess emotional intelligence, and work well with others.

We hope the guidance we’ve offered in this article will prove instrumental in your search for finance jobs in San Francisco and the broader Bay Area. We have one final suggestion to leave with you: be patient and thorough in your hunt for the right position.

Even with the advice we shared above, you’ll still face considerable competition for attractive roles with esteemed employers. So if your attempts are unsuccessful at first, persist with more applications. In the interim, network actively and look for ways to boost your skill set. Throughout the process, keep an eye out for new opportunities. You don’t want to focus exclusively on one job and overlook interesting alternatives.

To stay on top of the latest job openings across the Bay Area’s finance industry, give our platform a try. You can even sign up for email updates, so you’ll never miss out on the perfect listing. With an endless stream of new opportunities headed to your inbox, your finance career in the Bay Area may be closer than you imagined.