Investment Banking
Moelis & Company Application Guide
Leading independent advisory firm and a premier US restructuring house: founder-led, lean deal teams, top-of-market pay and elite buy-side exits. Every stage of the process, the questions Moelis & Company actually asks, and the prep that gets candidates through, in one place.
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The firm
About Moelis & Company
The business today
Moelis & Company is a leading global independent investment bank built on a pure-play advisory model. Founded in 2007 by veteran dealmaker Ken Moelis and a core group of partners, it provides unconflicted strategic advice to corporations, financial sponsors, governments and institutional investors. Unlike a bulge bracket, Moelis does not engage in commercial lending, proprietary trading, equity research or retail brokerage, so its incentives are aligned with clients and it competes on advice and judgment rather than balance sheet.
The firm operates as a single integrated global partnership, analyzing problems holistically rather than in rigid silos: a client facing complex capital constraints might be advised simultaneously by the M&A team and the Recapitalization and Restructuring group. Moelis is headquartered in New York (399 Park Avenue) with its historic secondary anchor in Los Angeles (Century City), and runs 23 locations across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. As of early 2026 its platform is staffed by over 1,020 professional bankers, and it reported $2.26 billion in revenue for full-year 2025, an 18% increase over 2024 driven by financial sponsor activity, strategic M&A and private capital advisory.
In a leadership transition effective October 1, 2025, Ken Moelis became Executive Chairman, co-founder Navid Mahmoodzadegan stepped up from Co-President to Chief Executive Officer, and co-founder Jeff Raich became Executive Vice Chairman. For an analyst, Moelis means lean deal teams, early client and MD exposure, and intellectually demanding work spanning healthy M&A and complex distressed situations.
Why people apply to Moelis & Company
Candidates accept unpredictable and extreme hours, with 80-90 hour weeks common during live transaction sprints, under a strict five-day in-office mandate. Because Moelis does not lend, it occasionally loses plain-vanilla financing mandates to balance-sheet banks, and the name carries less recognition outside finance than Goldman Sachs. You trade balance and brand breadth for early responsibility, complex work and elite exits.
You want a founder-led, entrepreneurial culture that kept its nimble 2007 DNA: little red tape, and proactive juniors take on greater responsibility fast.
You want lean deal teams with high early responsibility. A typical execution team might be one MD, one VP, one Associate and one Analyst, so the analyst owns the model, the data room and the materials, accelerating technical learning.
You want the powerhouse Restructuring franchise and the generalist model. Training across M&A and Recapitalization and Restructuring gives an elite understanding of the entire capital structure, making analysts versatile and highly sought by mega-cap PE, private credit and distressed hedge funds.
Divisions inside Moelis & Company's Investment Banking
Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Advisory
Day-to-day
The cornerstone platform: sell-side and buy-side assignments, carve-outs, joint ventures and activist defense. Juniors run DCF, LBO, public comps and precedent transactions, build buyer lists, draft CIMs, manage data rooms and coordinate diligence. Largest footprint in New York, then LA and Chicago.
Interview style
Conversational but technical: a DCF walk-through, accretion and dilution, deal rationale, and a recent transaction you can discuss in depth.
High difficultyRecapitalization and Restructuring
Day-to-day
Advises companies, creditors and sponsors through distress, debt maturities and liquidity shortfalls: out-of-court exchanges, debt-for-equity swaps, liability management and Chapter 11 asset sales. Analysts model 13-week cash flows, analyze credit agreements and debt-waterfall recoveries, and draft lender presentations. Concentrated in New York and LA.
Interview style
The hardest group to break into, with a high quantitative bar: capital-structure seniority, leverage ratios, fulcrum security, recovery analysis and liability management mechanics.
Extreme difficultyCapital Markets Advisory
Day-to-day
Helps corporations and sponsors raise debt and equity without underwriting or lending conflicts. Analysts monitor credit spreads and issuance trends, prepare market pages and interface with external institutional lenders. Centered in New York with support in San Francisco and Houston.
Interview style
Markets-aware and communication-led: financing alternatives (term loans vs high-yield bonds), accelerated bookbuilds, rights issues and fast-moving macro data.
Moderate-high difficultyPrivate Funds Advisory
Day-to-day
Advises alternative asset managers on raising primary capital, secondary liquidity solutions and GP-led continuation funds. Juniors track LP allocations, draft private placement memorandums and forecast fund returns. New York and Boston.
Interview style
Highly specialized: how PE and credit funds operate structurally, GP-led secondaries, continuation vehicles and LP portfolio sales.
Moderate-high difficultySector Coverage Groups
Day-to-day
Industry verticals including TMT, Healthcare, Industrials, Consumer & Retail, Energy and Real Estate / Gaming / Lodging & Leisure. Juniors maintain industry databases, track sector valuation metrics and draft trends reports. TMT and Clean Tech in SF and LA; Energy in Houston; Aerospace, Defense and Government in Washington, D.C.; Healthcare and Consumer in New York and Boston.
Interview style
Sector-specific valuation metrics and trends paired with the same core technical and commercial-awareness bar.
High difficultyTry it now
Score your Resume against Moelis & Company's screen
Moelis & Company talent acquisition screens thousands of Resumes per cycle. Most are read in under 30 seconds. The candidates who get to interview have Resumes that signal commercial relevance fast, in the format Moelis & Company expects.
What Moelis & Company looks for in a Resume
Quantified impact
Numbers in every bullet: deal size, team size, percentage uplift, revenue managed. "Led a team" is filler, "led a 6-person team that delivered £400k of revenue" is a signal.
Named firms and deals
Moelis & Company recruiters skim for brand names they recognise. Name your prior internships, the deals you observed, the clients you worked on. Specifics beat generic descriptions.
Industry-relevant language
Use the vocabulary of the investment banking world: DCF, comps, LBO, league tables, deal flow. Generic "analysed data" reads as not-yet-in-the-industry; the right terms read as ready.
Tight, structured layout
One page max. Reverse-chronological. Three to five bullets per role. No long paragraphs, no dense blocks. The skim test decides the read.
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The application
How Moelis & Company hires
6 stages, real interview questions, the criteria that decide it, and the moves that separate offers from rejections.
The process, stage by stage
- 1
Online Application
Opens early spring of sophomore year (around February-March) for the following summer; closes on a rolling basis as tracks fill.Apply in the first week with a clean one-page resume that mimics standard Wall Street formatting and clears the practical 3.5+ GPA bar. Network beforehand.
- 2
Suited Online Assessment
Automated invite within ~24-72 hours of submitting; 48-72 hours to complete.Suited cognitive (numerical, verbal, logical) plus an untimed behavioral inventory. Practice timed reasoning and answer the personality module authentically and consistently.
- 3
HireVue Video Interview
Triggered within ~2-5 business days of clearing the resume screen; link active 48-72 hours.Recorded fit, behavioral and light-technical prompts. Look at the lens, not the screen, use STAR, and land each answer cleanly before the timer.
- 4
First Round / Phone Screen
Late spring (around March-April) of sophomore year; 30-45 minutes.Live Zoom or phone call with an Associate or senior Analyst. Master core accounting and valuation and be ready for restructuring basics.
- 5
Superday
April through June; 4-6 hours of back-to-back interviews.3-5 interviews of 30-45 minutes each with VPs, Directors and MDs, plus an analyst lunch. Stay consistent, reason out loud, and keep your energy up all day.
- 6
Offer
Same-day; calls typically between 5:00pm and 8:00pm, with acceptance windows of about 1-2 weeks.Decisions are made in a same-evening MD roundtable. Send tailored thank-you notes within a few hours and respond promptly.
What Moelis & Company asks at each round
First Round
- Why investment banking rather than private equity or corporate strategy straight out of undergrad?
- Why Moelis specifically, over a bulge bracket or another elite boutique like Evercore or Centerview?
- Why our generalist platform rather than a dedicated industry vertical?
- Walk me through your resume.
- Which of our recent transactions has caught your eye, and why?
- Walk me through a DCF from revenue down to unlevered free cash flow, and how you calculate terminal value.
Superday
- Walk me through how a $100 write-down of an asset flows through the three financial statements (40% tax rate).
- How do you calculate free cash flow to the firm starting from EBIT, and why use unlevered FCF for a highly leveraged client?
- Company A at a 10x EV/EBITDA acquires Company B at 7x, all-cash. Is it automatically accretive? Walk me through the catch.
- Walk me through a basic LBO and the three primary levers that drive a sponsor IRR.
- Tell me about a time you completed a complex financial deliverable with zero guidance.
Restructuring
- Walk me through the capital structure priority waterfall, from super-senior bank debt down to common equity.
- What is the fulcrum security, and why is it valued by distressed investors during a restructuring?
- Explain the structural difference between a Chapter 11 reorganization and a Section 363 asset sale.
- Given a distressed capital structure and a restructured enterprise value, who recovers in full, who recovers partially, who is wiped out, and which tranche is the fulcrum?
- Name three out-of-court restructuring tools to address an upcoming maturity when public credit markets are locked.
Curveballs
- I think your GPA is below the average we interview from your school and you lack a bulge-bracket name. Why should I pass you to the Superday?
- Take two minutes to sell me this blank notepad, focusing on its structural utility.
- If you had $100 million to invest in any US sector right now, where would you put it and why?
- Tell me an industry trend you find fascinating and how Moelis could monetize it via advisory mandates.
What Moelis & Company looks for
Technical precision
Lean deal teams mean juniors own the model from day one. Interviewers test flawless accounting linkages, valuation and transaction math, and push follow-ups until they find your limit.
Restructuring literacy
Moelis runs a generalist M&A and Restructuring program, so every applicant is fair game for credit and distressed questions. Knowing the capital-structure waterfall and the fulcrum security is a real differentiator.
Entrepreneurial drive and ownership
The founder-led, flat culture rewards self-starters. They want hustle, initiative and the maturity to operate without constant oversight.
Resilience and stamina
Lean staffing and high deal flow produce 80-90 hour weeks during live sprints. They screen for grit, composure under pressure and the energy to last a full superday.
Commercial awareness
They expect genuine market curiosity: tracking the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and live deals, and linking macro shifts to advisory and restructuring pipeline activity.
Executive presence
Juniors interface with C-suite clients early, so senior partners screen for articulate, composed communication and the poise to represent the Moelis brand.
The edge: what separates offers from rejections
Specific moves most applicants skip. None of them need talent, only preparation.
- 01Network early with US analysts and associates and weave specific, current insights into your answers
- 02Know restructuring cold (capital-structure waterfall, fulcrum security, Chapter 11 vs Section 363) even as an M&A generalist
- 03Have a recent Moelis deal you can break down: rationale, structure and why an independent advisor won the mandate
- 04Anchor your why-Moelis on the pure-play model, lean teams and the generalist cross-staffing platform, not prestige
- 05Verbalize your reasoning on every technical: state your framework, then walk the numbers out loud
Prep, stage by stage
Drill each Moelis & Company round
Dedicated pages for the four rounds Moelis & Company runs. Practise each one free on Intervyo.
Pay & culture
Working at Moelis & Company
What they pay
Graduate
~$110,000-120,000 base (Year 1 Analyst); ~$160,000-215,000+ total comp
Internship
Pro-rated on the first-year analyst base (~$110,000-120,000 annualized)
Perks
| Company | Comp | Hours / week | Exit options |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evercore | ~$110-120K base / ~$190K+ total | 80-90/week | Pristine mega-buyout PE |
| Centerview Partners | Top of market base / bonus | High / demanding | Elite PE |
| PJT Partners | ~$110-120K base / ~$190K+ total | 80-90/week | Very strong (PE, special situations) |
| Houlihan Lokey | ~$110K base / ~$180K+ total | 70-80/week | Strong (special situations, mid-market PE) |
What working at Moelis & Company is like
- Pure-play independent advisory: no lending, trading, research or retail brokerage
- Founded 2007 by Ken Moelis; founder-led and entrepreneurial
- ~80-90 hour weeks on live deals; intense, high-performance reputation
- Lean deal teams (often one MD, one VP, one Associate, one Analyst) with outsized early responsibility
- Flatter than a bulge bracket: analysts join client calls and sit across from MDs
- Generalist M&A and Restructuring cross-staffing rather than rigid silos
- Strict five-day in-office mandate across US hubs
- Tiered performance buckets; bottom-bucket consistently leads to managed departures
Timeline
When Moelis & Company programmes open and close
By programme. Use these dates to plan applications across the cycle and submit early on rolling lines.
| Programme | Opens | Closes | Assessment | Offers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Insight / First-Year Diversity | December (freshman year) | January-February (freshman year) | February-March | March | Converts into sophomore and junior tracks; an early pipeline for underrepresented candidates. |
| Sophomore Internship | January (sophomore year) | February-March | March-April | Mid-August (end of summer) | Boutique and PE-search internships at this stage strengthen the junior-summer application. |
| Summer Analyst (Junior Summer) | January-February (sophomore year) | Rolling (closes around June) | April-June (sophomore year) | Mid-August (end of junior summer) | The main on-cycle window; extreme acceleration, so apply in the first week. |
| Full-Time Analyst | July (end of junior summer) | Late August / September | August-September | Immediate, rolling | Most of the class is filled by summer conversion; direct full-time hiring fills shortfalls or expansion seats only. |
FAQ
Moelis & Company application questions
How is Moelis different from a bulge bracket in the US?
Moelis is a pure-play independent advisory firm: no commercial lending, proprietary trading, equity research or retail brokerage, so it competes on advice and judgment rather than balance sheet. That means leaner deal teams (often one MD, one VP, one Associate and one Analyst), a flatter hierarchy and earlier responsibility, plus a generalist model that cross-staffs M&A and Restructuring rather than siloing analysts. The trade-offs are intense hours, a strict five-day in-office mandate, occasional loss of plain-vanilla financing mandates to balance-sheet banks, and less brand recognition outside finance. In exchange you get advisory depth, an elite restructuring training ground and outstanding buy-side exits.
How technical are Moelis interviews?
Very. Because the firm runs a generalist M&A and Restructuring program, every applicant is fair game for both. Expect flawless three-statement linkages, DCF down to unlevered free cash flow, LBO mechanics and the levers of sponsor IRR, accretion and dilution nuance, and enterprise versus equity value. For restructuring you should know the capital-structure priority waterfall, the fulcrum security, liquidation and recovery analysis, Chapter 11 versus a Section 363 sale, and liability management tools like up-tier exchanges and asset drop-downs. Interviewers deliberately push follow-ups to find your boundary, and bluffing is an instant disqualifier, so verbalize your framework and reason out loud.
What online assessment and HireVue does Moelis use?
In the US, Moelis anchors its digital screen on Suited, a predictive platform built for elite professional-services firms. It combines timed cognitive modules (numerical, verbal and logical reasoning) with an untimed behavioral and personality inventory, scored on industry-normed percentiles rather than raw marks, with a 48-72 hour completion window and one attempt per cycle. The HireVue video stage follows: most recent accounts describe five recorded questions with about 30 seconds to prepare and a 90-second recording window, though some earlier accounts cite three to four prompts with up to two minutes. Both feed an integrated applicant scorecard, and a single severely weak cognitive section can sink the application.
When does Moelis US recruiting open?
It is on-cycle and heavily accelerated, often running a full year ahead of the program start. The main junior summer analyst window opens around January to February of sophomore year and closes on a rolling basis around June, with superdays from April to June. Earlier still are the Spring Insight and first-year diversity programs (opening around December of freshman year) and the sophomore internship cycle (around January). Because review is rolling and slots fill continuously, the single most important step is to apply in the first week and to have networked beforehand.
What are exit opportunities from Moelis in the US?
Outstanding. Analysts place into mega-cap and upper-middle-market private equity (Blackstone, KKR, Apollo, Carlyle, Bain Capital, TPG, Warburg Pincus, Thoma Bravo), and the restructuring training is especially prized by credit, distressed and special-situations hedge funds (Oaktree, Centerbridge, Silver Point, Ares) and multi-strategy platforms (Citadel, Millennium, Point72). Others move into growth equity and VC, corporate development at major tech and healthcare companies, or top MBA programs. Moelis takes a neutral, supportive stance on on-cycle PE recruiting (which can start just 2-3 months into the first year) provided daily deal work stays pristine, and senior bankers frequently act as references.
How not to fail
Mistakes that cost candidates Moelis & Company offers
Specific failure modes the firm screens out. None of these need talent to avoid, only awareness.
- 01Generic, prestige-led motivation. Saying you want Moelis for prestige rather than the pure-play model, lean teams or generalist cross-staffing reads as canned and earns a fast rejection.
- 02Weak financial-statement mechanics. Stumbling over basic accounting flows, like how a write-down or inventory change moves through the three statements, is an unrecoverable failure at a technically demanding boutique.
- 03Failing to network. Dropping a cold online application without speaking to current analysts or associates signals no real interest in the firm or its deal culture.
- 04Arrogance under pressure. Getting defensive or argumentative when an MD pushes back on your assumptions fails the stress test; stay calm, coachable and clear.
- 05Weak restructuring knowledge. Applying without knowing debtor versus creditor mandates, or confusing Chapter 7 liquidation with Chapter 11 protection, is a real risk given the generalist model.
- 06Behavioral inconsistency and fading energy. Contradicting yourself across panels, treating juniors with less respect than MDs, or running out of stamina by the afternoon superday rounds all surface in the roundtable debrief.
If you are rejected
What to do next
Moelis maintains a strict cooling-off policy: if rejected during a sophomore or junior summer cycle, you generally cannot reapply until the next major cycle the following year. A rejection is not a verdict on your ability given the tiny intake. Ask for feedback, address skill gaps and target comparable platforms on slightly delayed timelines.
Elite boutiques
Perella Weinberg Partners, Guggenheim Securities and Jefferies recruit similar profiles.
Top middle-market banks
William Blair, Baird and Piper Sandler for strong analyst training on a slightly later timeline.
Restructuring specialists
Alvarez & Marsal, FTI Consulting and Houlihan Lokey for those drawn to distressed work.
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Intervyo is not affiliated with or endorsed by Moelis & Company. Process details are sourced from past applicants, the firm's published guidance and our own research; verify timings on the firm's official careers site before applying. Last updated July 2, 2026.
Moelis & Company
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