Hiring Financial Managers

What do financial managers do?

• Establish and maintain relationships with individual or business customers or provide assistance with problems these customers may encounter.
• Oversee the flow of cash or financial instruments.
• Plan, direct, or coordinate the activities of workers in branches, offices, or departments of establishments, such as branch banks, brokerage firms, risk and insurance departments, or credit departments.
• Recruit staff members.
• Evaluate data pertaining to costs to plan budgets.
• Oversee training programs.

Core tasks, O*NET OnLine, 11-3031.00.

What does it take to become one?

Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

O*NET Job Zone 5, SVP (8.0 and above). O*NET OnLine.

Employers commonly list experience with Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, SAP software, Accounting software for this role.

What do financial managers get paid?

BLS OEWS, May 2025 publishes a wage for financial managers in 92 of the metro areas in this build. The median ranges from $98,510 to $225,280 a year depending on the metro, with a midpoint of $154,140. This is what employers pay, place of work, not a single national figure and not what any one person takes home.

BLS OEWS, BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 11-3031.

What does hiring one cost?

The same as any role: tier, not location or salary, sets the fee. Across all six tiers the published range is $6,240 to $54,340 per search. For scale, the highest published median for financial managers in this build is $225,280. A contingency firm hiring at that level would bill roughly $45,056 to $67,584 on the first year salary alone, 20 to 30%.

Frequently asked

How fast can a financial managers search fill?

23 to 35 days, 2 to 3x faster than a typical contingency search, per the recruiting provider's published figures.

What if the hire does not work out?

A 45-day replacement guarantee, at 50% off a repeat search for the same role.