How To Become A Finance Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a finance engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Finance engineers use math and technology to develop and implement tools that are used in financial investment. They usually work for financial institutions such as banks and investment firms and are especially useful in derivatives trading and speculation.

Finance engineers need to be experts in engineering technology and financial analysis. They know how to perform data analysis and develop analytical programs. They're proficient in coding languages such as Python and R and technological tools such as MATLAB. They use their business knowledge to leverage technology to manage risk, analyze portfolios, and monitor trading data in order to help their employer make a profit.

Although finance engineering is a somewhat controversial field because people consider it to be partially responsible for the 2008 financial crisis, it is still a growing one. The demand for finance engineers is set to grow by 6% by 2028 and on average, finance engineers make $106,507 a year.

ScoreFinance EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.7

Avg. Salary $102,921

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

Growth Rate 9%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.34%

Asian 10.00%

Black or African American 8.57%

Hispanic or Latino 9.58%

Unknown 3.87%

White 67.65%

Gender

female 24.07%

male 75.93%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Complexity Level

10.0

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Key steps to become a finance engineer

Explore finance engineer education requirements

Most common finance engineer degrees

Bachelor's

56.3 %

Master's

36.7 %

Doctorate

4.4 %

Start to develop specific finance engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Python	13.42%
Java	10.16%
Risk Management	7.35%
Derivative	4.59%
Analytical Tools	4.45%

Complete relevant finance engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New finance engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a finance engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real finance engineer resumes.

Research finance engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage projects involving product upgrades, new feature deliveries for major equity derivative clients.
Manage financial statements and work independently to produce accurate records for petty cash, bank reconciliations, and data inventory.
Perform full reconciliation of results between MatLab codes and C++ system.
Work with banks and mutual funds on monthly valuations of various fix income securities.

Prepare your finance engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your finance engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a finance engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Finance Engineer Resume templates

Build a professional Finance Engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Finance Engineer resume.

Apply for finance engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a finance engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do finance engineers rate their job?