Goldman Sachs: Pay, Layoffs, Culture & How It Makes Money

Mention Goldman Sachs around anyone who has ever applied for a finance job, and the reaction is usually the same: raised eyebrows, a question about money, and a quieter worry about whether the hours are survivable. The firm has been around since 1869, and its London arm, Goldman Sachs International, is a major presence in UK finance — here’s what the public record shows about pay, headcount, hiring, and office rules, with sources attached so you can judge for yourself.

Founded: 1869 ·
Headquarters: New York City ·
London entity: Goldman Sachs International ·
CEO: David Solomon ·
Stock ticker: NYSE: GS

That’s the frame. Six data points nail down the basics before the questions candidates actually ask:

How do Goldman Sachs make money?

Goldman reports its revenue in four segments: Investment Banking, Global Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions. The first three are the classic investment bank; Platform Solutions is the newer home for transaction banking and consumer finance (SEC EDGAR (U.S. securities regulator filings)).

In plain terms, the firm earns fees for advising on deals, profits from trading, and charges for managing money. That mix is why a bad year in one business does not automatically sink the others.

Who is Goldman Sachs’ biggest rival?

• JPMorgan Chase — the larger, more universal bank
• Morgan Stanley — the closest rival in wealth management

Goldman does not publish a rivals list, but the names that come up in any comparison are JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. All three chase the same M&A mandates and the same clients, which is why pay and culture get compared so often.

What is Goldman Sachs International?

• Full name: Goldman Sachs International
• Base: London, United Kingdom
• Role: the London-based subsidiary responsible for much of the firm’s international business

For UK job seekers, Goldman Sachs International is the entity that appears on the contract. The London office runs the same core business lines as the parent and handles much of the firm’s business outside the US.

The pattern: Goldman is a diversified revenue machine, not a single bet on markets — which is why its pay stays high even when one segment stumbles.

Is Goldman Sachs doing layoffs?

Layoffs are the first question job seekers ask, and the answer changes with the market cycle. The public record shows the firm has trimmed before and adjusts headcount when dealmaking slows; whether a round is active right now is only ever confirmed by the firm itself.

What caused Goldman Sachs layoffs?

• 2023: dealmaking revenue dropped as central banks raised rates (SEC EDGAR (U.S. securities regulator filings))
• Revenue declines triggered cost-cutting across the bank
• The reductions followed market conditions, not a permanent restructuring

Investment banking is cyclical, and Goldman’s headcount moves with the cycle. When mergers and IPOs slow, the firm trims; when markets warm up, hiring returns.

How do layoffs affect hiring at Goldman Sachs?

For candidates, the practical check is simple: look at the postings. The official list reflects real hiring needs far better than any rumor thread.

What this means: applying during a downturn is not futile. The same cost rounds that trim one desk usually keep graduate and internship recruiting open in others.

Do Goldman Sachs pay well?

Yes — and now there is data to prove it. Goldman does not publish a salary list, but the UK workplace research firm Best Companies publishes a rare look inside Goldman Sachs International’s payroll.

What is the average salary at Goldman Sachs in the UK?

• Nearly three-quarters of employees earn £55,000 or more (Best Companies (UK workplace research firm))
• Four in ten earn more than £100,000 (Best Companies (UK workplace research firm))

Those figures cover the whole London operation, not just front-office bankers. £55,000 is a strong base by most UK standards, and £100,000 changes what “well paid” means outside banking.

Review platforms tell the same story: Indeed UK users rate pay and benefits at 3.9 out of 5 (Indeed UK (employee-review platform)), while Glassdoor UK scores compensation at 3.6 (Glassdoor UK (employee-review platform)).

What is the highest salary in Goldman Sachs?

• No official “highest salary” figure is published
• Base salary is generally high, and performance bonuses can substantially increase total pay in senior roles (Glassdoor UK (benefits profile))
• Total compensation varies by division, seniority, and year

The biggest packages are generally found in trading, investment banking, and senior leadership — the same roles where hours run longest and the bonus swing is widest.

What is the lowest salary at Goldman Sachs?

• Goldman does not publish a single “lowest salary” for the UK
• The strongest public signal is the distribution above: most staff earn more than most UK employees

Entry-level analysts and operational staff sit below traders in the pay order, but the Best Companies data suggests the London floor is still well above the typical UK salary.

The trade-off: Goldman pays at the top of the market, and the review data consistently shows work-life balance scoring far below pay — so “well paid” arrives with a measured catch.

The pattern: the data confirms high pay but at the cost of work-life balance – a trade every candidate must weigh.

Who pays more, JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs?

The honest answer is that public data does not declare a winner. Neither bank publishes a UK pay scale, and individual offers depend on role, level, and negotiation.

• JPMorgan is the larger firm by market value (Yahoo Finance (market data site))
• Goldman’s revenue leans more on trading and investment banking fees
• Claims that one bank “always pays more” are anecdote, not data

So the direct answer: no public dataset shows a consistent winner — and the review scores below are the closest concrete comparison available.

One table, two review platforms, one pattern:

The pattern is sharper than the headline scores: pay and benefits outrank work-life balance by 0.7 points on Glassdoor and 0.6 on Indeed. Glassdoor’s 68% recommendation rate also suggests the firm’s culture, whatever its flaws, earns real loyalty.

The implication: candidates comparing GS and JP Morgan are usually choosing between comparable pay and different pressure profiles — Goldman’s own scores make the trade-off explicit.

Is it hard to join Goldman Sachs?

Yes. Goldman is one of the most selective graduate employers in finance, and the firm’s own careers site describes a multi-stage process built around analytical, quantitative, and communication skills (Goldman Sachs Careers (official recruitment site)).

What is the Goldman Sachs internship process?

• The path runs from online application through screening rounds to interviews
• The candidate pool is global and places are limited
• Interns work inside real teams and are assessed for return offers

Internships are the single most common route into a full-time analyst role, which is why the summer class is effectively one long assessment.

What does the Goldman Sachs interview process look like?

• Multiple rounds of interviews are the norm
• Candidates face analytical and behavioral questions
• Preparation and structured problem-solving separate finalists

Interviews typically include both technical and behavioral components, and candidates often meet several team members before an offer. The firm is looking for people who can think clearly under pressure, not just recite facts.

Do Goldman Sachs interns get full-time offers?

• Internships are the most common route into full-time analyst roles (Goldman Sachs Careers (official recruitment site))
• Return offers depend on performance during the internship
• An internship is not a guaranteed job offer

The practical reading: the internship is the interview. Strong performers convert; the others leave with a valuable line on the CV.

How to apply to Goldman Sachs in five steps

1. 1. Check the official careers site for open analyst and internship roles.
2. 2. Submit an online application with your CV and academic record.
3. 3. Complete the screening assessments — expect multiple rounds.
4. 4. Prepare examples that demonstrate analytical, quantitative, and communication skills.
5. 5. Treat the internship as a long interview; strong performance is how offers happen.

The implication: getting in is hard, but the route is transparent. Apply early, prepare for volume, and treat every round as data about whether the culture fits you as much as you fit it.

The pattern: persistence and preparation matter more than a single perfect interview.

What is the 15-minute rule at Goldman Sachs?

The 15-minute rule is an internal workplace norm that shows up in employee conversations, but no official definition appears in the firm’s public materials. Treat any precise description you read online as unverified.

Is Goldman 5 days in office?

• Goldman has pushed for more in-office days than most of its peers (Goldman Sachs Press Center (official newsroom))
• Attendance expectations vary by division and role
• The day-count has changed before and can change again

Since the return-to-office debate began, Goldman has been one of the loudest voices for in-person work, and CEO David Solomon has repeatedly tied office presence to the firm’s culture and training model.

What is the Goldman Sachs return-to-office policy?

For candidates, the practical takeaway is to ask about attendance expectations in the interview. What is true for one team often differs on the floor next door.

What is the dress code at Goldman Sachs?

• 2019: the firm introduced a flexible dress code (BBC News (public broadcaster))
• Formal suits are no longer required in most non-client environments
• Client-facing roles still operate on a more formal standard

The 2019 change is the reason the old image of a uniform wall of suits no longer matches the London office. The remaining rule of thumb is simple: dress for the clients you will actually see that day.

The pattern: Goldman is tightening around presence and loosening around formality. For candidates, that means more days in the office and fewer rules about what to wear there — which is exactly the trade to weigh before accepting an offer.

The implication: the firm’s culture demands physical presence but offers flexibility in appearance – a balance worth verifying with the team you’d join.

Key dates in Goldman Sachs’ history

Six dates tell the story from 1869 to the 2023 cost cuts:

The pattern: Goldman moves in cycles — expanding in booms, trimming in downturns, and periodically rewriting how its people are expected to show up. That rhythm is the backdrop for every current job search.

What’s confirmed and what’s unclear

Confirmed facts

• Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 and is based in New York City (Wikipedia (corporate history)).
• David Solomon is the chief executive officer (Bloomberg (financial data service)).
• Goldman Sachs went public in 1999 (Wikipedia (corporate history)).
• Revenue is reported across Investment Banking, Global Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions (SEC EDGAR (U.S. securities regulator filings)).

What’s unclear

• Whether a layoff round is active depends on official announcements; no public tracker confirms it.
• The exact scope of the 15-minute rule is not defined in public materials.
• Return-to-office rules vary by division and region, so a current policy can shift.
• Anonymous London reviews describe long hours, weak work-life balance, and management quality that varies by team (Indeed UK (employee-review platform)).
• Glassdoor reviewers rate work-life balance at 3.0 out of 5 — the lowest score across both major platforms (Glassdoor UK (employee-review platform)).

The split tells its own story: the pay is documented, the culture is contested, and office policy keeps moving. Candidates should hold all three in mind at once.

What the firm and its employees say

Three voices matter when weighing a move to Goldman: the annual report, the employee data, and the CEO’s public stance.

Revenue is diversified across investment banking, global markets, and asset and wealth management — which is why a weak year in one business does not erase the others.

Goldman Sachs Annual Report, segment commentary (via SEC EDGAR (U.S. securities regulator filings))

46% of the workforce has been at the firm for at least five years — a retention figure that suggests the intensity is survivable, and often worth it.

Best Companies, UK workplace research firm — Goldman Sachs International profile (Best Companies)

Goldman’s culture is built on in-person collaboration and apprenticeship, and leadership has said that being in the office is how the firm develops people.

David Solomon, Chief Executive Officer, Goldman Sachs — public commentary on workplace expectations (via Goldman Sachs Press Center (official newsroom))

The pattern: the institution talks about diversification, the data talks about retention, and the CEO talks about presence. Candidates should weigh all three lines together.

What this means for job seekers

Goldman Sachs pays well — that part of the reputation is now documented, not anecdotal. The less comfortable truth is that the same sources which praise compensation also flag long hours, uneven management, and work-life balance scores well below pay scores. For a UK finance professional weighing an offer, the calculation is clear: negotiate the base, treat the bonus as upside rather than income, and probe the team and hours as hard as the salary — or watch the culture gap turn a great pay cheque into a short tenure.

Frequently asked questions

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