Desk Analyst, High Yield Municipal Bond Trading

Why Stifel

Stifel strives for a culture that puts its clients and associates first: a culture where everyone belongs, everyone is welcome, and everyone contributes to the success of our clients, their careers, and the firm as a whole.

 

Let’s talk about how you can find your place here at Stifel, where success meets success.

What You'll Be Doing

Stifel is seeking a highly motivated High Yield Desk Analyst to join our Municipal Bond Trading Desk in Los Angeles. This is a high-impact role within a market-leading franchise.  Stifel’s Municipal Securities Group includes sales, trading and underwriting of municipal and corporate tax-exempt bonds. The origination platform, Public Finance Investment Banking, works closely with borrowers including state and local governments, while the trading desk interfaces with buy side customers.  The High Yield desk trades securities in the low investment grade and non-rated categories across many sectors, including real estate development, charter schools, utilities, P3, project finance, corporate tax-exempts and distressed situations. 

 

The successful candidate will work directly with the head of High Yield Municipal Trading and will interact with team members across the fixed income platform, including Municipal Capital Markets and Public Finance. This position supports the secondary market trading business group and serves as a critical bridge between secondary market liquidity and our industry-leading Public Finance Origination department, ensuring seamless execution and comprehensive coverage for high yield municipal credits. A candidate in this role would be expected to grow into an increasingly senior role in fixed income trading, sales or credit analysis.

What We're Looking For

• Trade Support: Provide end-to-end support for the High Yield Municipal Trading desk, including trade entry, hedge monitoring, and reconciliation of daily activity.
• Credit & Information Posting: Maintain real-time internal posts regarding desk positions, bids-wanted, and specific credit developments to keep the broader Fixed Income Capital Markets team informed.
• Bid List Management: Organize and run bid/offer lists, tracking competitive outcomes and providing the desk with actionable data on market clearing levels.
• Phone Coverage: Act as a primary point of contact for broker-dealers and internal sales desks, handling high-volume inquiries with speed and professional rigor.
• Origination Synergy: Collaborate closely with the Public Finance Origination department to provide market feedback on new-issue pricing and structures, helping to market and execute new municipal bond issues.
• Credit Analysis: Update and maintain financial models to analyze credit projections for a variety of debt structures.
• Market Analysis: Collect and synthesize data relating to high yield fund flows, high yield supply, default rates, rating changes, and credit spreads to inform a macro view on high yield market technicals and fundamentals.

What You'll Bring

• Technical Proficiency: Advanced Excel skills (financial modeling, VLOOKUPs, Pivot Tables) and familiarity with Bloomberg terminals are highly preferred.
• Communication: Exceptional verbal communication skills are required for high-pressure phone interactions and cross-departmental collaboration.
• Attributes: Ability to multi-task in a fast-paced environment, high attention to detail, and a deep interest in the municipal "high yield" and "distressed" sectors.

Education & Experience

• Minimum Required: Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, or a related quantitative field.
• Minimum Required: 0–2 years of experience in fixed income, preferably with exposure to municipal bonds, high yield credit, or trading desk operations.

Licenses & Credentials

• Minimum Required: Possession of FINRA Series 7, 63, and 52 (Municipal Securities Representative) licenses is expected to occur within the first year.

Systems & Technology

• Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook

Compensation Range

Salary: USD $85,000.00/Yr. - USD $95,000.00/Yr. Actual salaries may vary, and may be based on several factors, including but not limited to each candidate’s qualifications, skills, and overall competencies for the position. The base salary is one component of Stifel’s overall compensation package for each individual employee. Other benefits and offerings include, but not limited to, discretionary bonuses, health / dental / vision / prescription insurance offerings, Stifel Total Health Connect, flexible spending accounts, tuition & certification assistance programs, paid time off, and much, much more! To view a more comprehensive list of Stifel’s current offerings, please visit https://www.stifel.com/careers/benefits. Applications are accepted until the position is filled.

About Stifel

Stifel is more than 130 years old and still thinking like a start-up.  We are a global wealth management and investment banking firm serious about innovation and fresh ideas.  Built on a simple premise of safeguarding our clients’ money as if it were our own, coined by our namesake, Herman Stifel, our success is intimately tied to our commitment to helping families, companies, and municipalities find their own success.

 

While our headquarters is in St. Louis, we have offices in New York, San Francisco, Baltimore, London, Frankfurt, Toronto, and more than 400 other locations.  Stifel is home to approximately 9,000 individuals who are currently building their careers as financial advisors, research analysts, project managers, marketing specialists, developers, bankers, operations associates, among hundreds more.  Let’s talk about how you can find your place here at Stifel, where success meets success.

 

At Stifel we offer an entrepreneurial environment, comprehensive benefits package to include health, dental and vision care, 401k, wellness initiatives, life insurance, and paid time off.

 

Stifel is an Equal Opportunity Employer.