Guide to Working at JPMorgan

As the largest bank in the United States, JPMorgan Chase is a well-established and respected player in the financial services industry. Could you imagine your future with them?

This guide walks you through what you should know if you’re considering applying or currently applying for a position with JPMorgan Chase:

• What is JPMorgan?
• Types of Jobs and Salaries With JPMorgan
• JPMorgan Benefits
• JPMorgan Culture
• JPMorgan’s Competitors
• How the JPMorgan Interview Process Works

>>MORE: Explore investment banking at JPMorgan Chase with this Forage virtual experience program.

What is JPMorgan?

With roots stemming back to 1799, JPMorgan is one of the oldest and well-known investment banking companies in the world. JPMorgan is made up of thousands of predecessor institutions, but the institution as you know them today — JPMorgan Chase & Co. — was established in 2000 after JPMorgan merged with Chase Manhattan.

Since then, this institution has been embracing new financial technology, rolling out programs for mobile banking and express checkout. It has also merged with other well-known firms such as Bank One and Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual.

JPMorgan’s leadership switched in 2005 from former CEO, William B. Harrison to the current CEO, Jamie Dimon. Currently, Glassdoor reports 90 percent of those who left reviews view the current CEO favorably.

Today, the company holds over $2.6 trillion in assets worldwide and is actively operating in more than 60 countries. Presently, their corporate headquarters is located in New York and is undergoing a complete renovation. The company also has another 136 office locations worldwide with impressive campuses — some offering exercise facilities, on-site healthcare services and extensive food options.

Types of Jobs and Salaries With JPMorgan

JPMorgan is known for highly sought after careers in banking and finance, but it offers opportunities in other departments as well. Employing over 240,000 employees, the financial firm has roles in engineering, business, and more areas.

Salaries vary based on positions and experience level, dive into the core responsibilities and typical salaries of JPMorgan employees:

Finance and Accounting

As such a prominent financial institution, JPMorgan’s positions are competitive. Breaking up Its finance team is broken up into 4 main jobs. Here are the breakdowns in average salaries, according to Glassdoor:

• Financial controllers average about $71,000 a year.
• Program managers average about $134,000 a year.
• Global finance and business management analysts average about $67,000 a year.
• Financial analysts average about $75,000 a year with average bonus of $6,000.

JPMorgan gives bonuses to their teams which are a substantial part of compensation. On average, employees earn $9,000 in bonuses annually.

Alongside the financial team, accountants help make the important financial decisions. At JPMorgan, the average accounting salary is about $60,000 a year.

Tech

JPMorgan has recently started betting big on tech and innovation. Investing $12 billion annually on tech with $3 billion going directly to innovation, JPMorgan employs about 50,000 tech employees.

JPMorgan’s three main areas of tech are software engineering, infrastructure, and cybersecurity. On Glassdoor, the average salary for a software engineer is about $102,000 a year, the average salary for an ​​infrastructure engineer is about $103,000, and the average salary for a Cyber Security Analyst is about $95,000.

Other Positions

• Business Positions: Closely associated with the financial team, JPMorgan’s business team is also very competitive. Business analysts make an average of about $72,000 a year while higher up business managers make an average of about $100,000 a year.
• Engineering Positions: Engineers are the innovative problem solvers at J.P. Morgan. On average, a JPMorgan engineer makes about $113,000 a year
• Student Positions: No matter what department at JPMorgan you’re interested in, there are student opportunities and programs at both the high school and college level. Hourly rates vary greatly depending on field and expertise level.

JPMorgan Benefits

Working at JPMorgan comes with some serious perks. Depending on your position, benefits may look a bit different but, on top of health insurance and time off, you can expect:

• 401(k): As for their retirement saving fund, JPMorgan matches up to 5% of pay based on the contributions of the employee for most of their employees.
• Parent Benefits: New parents working at JPMorgan can expect 16 weeks of paid parental leave for the main guardian and 6 weeks paid for the secondary guardian. You can also take advantage of lactation coaches, a parental mentoring program, and childcare once they return back to work.
• Health/Wellness Support: JPMorgan provides health coaches, onsite wellness centers, medical reimbursement accounts, and wellness screenings.
• Discounts: JPMorgan offers discounts on a range of fitness memberships, weight watchers, banking products, and on legal/financial consultations.

JPMorgan Culture

What do JPMorgan employees think of the company? When looking at the frequency and attitude of employee’s reviews, collaboration is the most positively discussed quality at JPMorgan. On the other side of the spectrum, lack of agility is the most frequent negative quality.

According to Comparably, employee reviews give the JPMorgan’s overall culture 3.5 out of 5 stars. As for work-life balance, 63% of employees reported they are happy with their current balance.

Major Initiatives

JPMorgan has been making strides to improve themselves and the world around them. Look into some of their recent initiatives:

• New Skills at Work: This $350 million initiative centers around “creating economic mobility and career pathways for underserved communities.” JPMorgan predicts the future of the workplace is focused more on skills than degrees. The firm aims to create more economic opportunities around high-demand technical and digital skills.
• Women on the Move: Demonstrating the company’s commitment to women empowerment and equity, this ongoing initiative works to expand women-run businesses, better women’s financial health, and fuel women’s career growth. After initial success, expansion plans are underway.
• Military and Veterans: JPMorgan co-founded the Veterans Jobs Mission which is a group of companies committed to employing former members of the military. So far, the initiative has hired more than 750,000 veterans at 250 companies.
• Advancing Black Pathways: JPMorgan committed $30 billion to help black, Hispanic and Latino communities access homeownership, affordable housing, small business loans and banking.

JPMorgan’s Competitors

Wondering how working for J.P. Morgan differs from its big competitors in the financial industry. Part of the “Big 3” investment banks in the United States, the companies compete for top financial talent. Here’s how they compare to J.P. Morgan:

JPMorgan vs. Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is also a prestigious financial institution, but there are small differences between the work environments. JPMorgan is more collaborative while Goldman Sachs is more competitive between employees.

Here’s how they match up:

• Per Glassdoor, JPMorgan employees rated their work-life balance .5 stars above Goldman Sachs 3 stars.
• Per Comparably, Goldman Sachs’ overall culture ranks 3% higher than JPMorgan at 70%.
• Both sites compared the CEOs of both companies and found, on average, JPMorgan’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, had a higher approval rating than Goldman Sachs’ CEO, David Soloman.

JPMorgan vs. Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is the final financial institution in the “Big 3” and employs more than 60,000 people. The company values hard working employees, but are deemed fair in their decisions regarding work situations.

Here’s how they match up:

• Per Glassdoor, Morgan Stanley employees most commonly positively discuss work-life balance in their reviews while JPMorgan employees most commonly positively discuss benefits.
• Per Comparably, JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon, had an 8% higher approval rating than Morgan Stanley’s CEO, James Gorman.
• Per Indeed, 60 percent of Morgan Stanley employees think they are compensated fairly compared to 57 percent of JPMorgan employees.

Learn more about working at Citi.

How the JPMorgan Interview Process Works?

JPMorgan is notorious for being incredibly selective in the hiring process. In 2021, JPMorgan received 50,000 applications for only about 400 internship positions. As competition increases, here’s what you need to know about the interview process.

It takes a certain personality to work for JPMorgan. According to JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon, knowledge, character, and reliability are three traits he looks for in potential employees. Use your application and past experiences to highlight these characteristics for a better chance of landing a position.

As for the process, there are multiple stages of JPMorgan interviews and, depending on the stage you are in, interviews can be done virtually or in-person.

If you’re still in their “explore” phase of finding a job at JPMorgan, you can experience what it is like to work in a number of their departments through Forage’s virtual experience programs.

Glassdoor reviewers, on average, rated JPMorgan a “2.9” or “average” in terms of interview difficulty, with “5” being considered “hard” and “1” being considered “easy” on the site’s scale. Also, 64% of applicants had a positive experience with their interview process.

Takeaways

• JPMorgan is an elite financial company offering competitive salaries and benefits.
• The company offers a pathway specifically designed for college students, and another for people with previous work experience.
• Collaboration is one of the most positive aspects of the company while lack of agility is one of the most negative aspects.
• Although selective in the interview process, Glassdoor reviewers rated JPMorgan in the “average” difficulty category for interviews.