Senior J.P. Morgan technologist escapes to Google

Do you want to work for an investment bank? Or do you want to work for Google? In the case of Gokhan Topalhan, a former J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley technologist, the answer appears to be the latter:  Topalhan has just quit J.P.M for Google.

After 15 years in banking (three at J.P. Morgan and 12 at Morgan Stanley), Topalhan is joining Google as a technical program manager based in NYC. At J.P. Morgan he was an executive director working on the bank's automation initiatives.

J.P.  Morgan has big aspirations in technology. Matt Zames, J.P. Morgan’s chief operating officer, said last month that the bank spends around $9.5bn on technology and needs more staff for cyber-security in particular.  It also has an "automated code scanning" program under which code faults are automatically checked before implementation. The bank is in the process of building a cool and trendy space for 1,700 technology staff in NYC and could add around 7,000 staff across the bank this year.

How and why did Topalhan eschew J.P.M for Google? He didn't respond to our inquiry. However, this isn't the first time he quit banking for something different: Topalhan left banking tech to set up his own business in 2013, but came back a year later. This time his exit may be a little more permanent.

Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com

Photo credit: Googleplex by John Marino is licensed under CC BY 2.0.