Careers
We hire fewer people and give them more responsibility sooner. If you want to be the person whose judgement the client relies on rather than the person who prepared the pack, this is the right firm.
Senior work, earlier than elsewhere.
Northbridge is a small firm by design. Teams are three or four people, partner-led, and you will be in the room where the advice is given rather than assembling it from a distance. Nobody here spends two years in a document room.
We train by apprenticeship. You draft, you are challenged on it, and you are expected to hold a view in front of people who can tell whether it is right. Feedback is direct, specific, and given the same week — not saved for an annual form.
It is a demanding culture and an unusually stable one. People stay because the work is interesting and because the firm does not ask them to defend advice they did not believe in.
- 1:3
- Partner to associate ratio
- 94%
- Associate retention, five-year average
- 18 mo
- Median time to first solo client meeting
Terms that assume you intend to stay.
We would rather invest in fewer people properly than compete on headline salary alone. Everything below applies firm-wide, from graduate to partner.
- 01
Compensation reviewed twice yearly
Banded, published internally, and benchmarked against the London and Zurich advisory markets. No individual negotiation premium for those who ask loudest.
- 02
Profit participation from year three
Every fee earner shares in firm performance once qualified, well before any partnership conversation begins.
- 03
Protected study and qualification support
Course fees, exam leave, and a mentor for every professional qualification the firm recognises — including CFA and ICSA routes.
- 04
Thirty days plus firm closures
Annual leave is taken, not carried. The office closes between Christmas and the New Year and for one full week each August.
- 05
Private health and family cover
Comprehensive medical, dental, and optical cover for you and your dependants, plus fully funded counselling from day one.
- 06
Twenty-six weeks parental leave
Fully paid, available to every parent regardless of gender or route to parenthood, with a phased return over the following quarter.
- 07
Two research days each quarter
Time held back from client work to write, study a jurisdiction, or develop a view we can publish under your name.
- 08
Secondments and mobility
Client-side and cross-office secondments of three to six months, offered from the second year onward rather than as a reward.
Eight mandates open across two offices.
We recruit against real capacity, never speculatively. If nothing here fits, write to us anyway — we keep a short list and revisit it each quarter.
8 positions
- Transactions
Senior Associate, Transaction Advisory
Lead workstreams on mid-market acquisitions and carve-outs, running diligence and completion mechanics with direct partner exposure.
- Office
- London
- Experience
- 5–8 years
- Type
- Permanent
- Regulation
Counsel, Regulatory & Compliance
Own authorisation files and control reviews for payments and asset management clients across two supervisory regimes.
- Office
- London / Zurich
- Experience
- 7–10 years
- Type
- Permanent
- Investment
Associate, Investment Advisory
Support fund formation and capital structuring mandates, drafting investment committee papers and term comparisons.
- Office
- Zurich
- Experience
- 3–5 years
- Type
- Permanent
- Disputes
Associate, Dispute Resolution
Work on institutional arbitration and expert determination matters from first instruction through award.
- Office
- London
- Experience
- 2–4 years
- Type
- Permanent
- Governance
Manager, Corporate Governance
Run board effectiveness reviews and governance diagnostics for listed and sponsor-backed boards.
- Office
- London
- Experience
- 4–6 years
- Type
- Permanent
- Business Services
Knowledge & Insights Lead
Commission, edit, and publish the firm's research programme alongside the partners who author it.
- Office
- London
- Experience
- 5+ years
- Type
- Permanent
- Graduate
Northbridge Fellow — 2027 intake
Two-year rotational programme across transactions, regulation, and investment advisory with a sponsoring partner throughout.
- Office
- London
- Experience
- Penultimate or final year
- Type
- Graduate
- Graduate
Summer Placement, Advisory
Four-week paid placement on live mandates, with a written exercise assessed for a Fellowship offer.
- Office
- London
- Experience
- Undergraduate
- Type
- Internship
Five stages. Three weeks. Feedback either way.
We keep the process short because good candidates are choosing between firms, and long recruitment tells you something unflattering about how a firm runs.
- 01
Application
20 minutesA CV and a short written answer to one question about a decision you would have taken differently. No cover letter, no competency form.
- 02
Written exercise
Two hours, at homeA realistic instruction from a fictional client. We read for judgement and structure, not for the answer we would have written ourselves.
- 03
Partner conversation
60 minutesOne partner from the relevant practice discusses your exercise with you and pushes on it. Expect to disagree and to be listened to.
- 04
Team and client-facing panel
90 minutesYou meet the people you would work beside daily, plus one senior client-facing lead. Half the time is yours to ask questions.
- 05
Decision and offer
Within five working daysA decision either way, with written feedback whatever the outcome. Offers are made verbally by the partner who interviewed you.
The Northbridge Fellowship.
Eight places a year, opened each October for the following September. Two years, four rotations, one sponsoring partner throughout — and real instructions from the first month rather than the second year.
- 24 months
- Programme length
- 4
- Rotations
- 8
- Places each intake
- 100%
- Retention offers, 2024–2026
- Months 1–6
Corporate & transactions
Diligence workstreams, disclosure, and completion mechanics on live mid-market deals.
- Months 7–12
Regulatory & compliance
Authorisation files, permission mapping, and control reviews across two jurisdictions.
- Months 13–18
Investment advisory
Fund terms, capital structuring, and investment committee papers alongside the sector leads.
- Months 19–24
Elected specialism
You choose the practice you qualify into, with the partner who will sponsor you.