A friend, a phone call, and a foot in the door
Marcus' route to Third Bridge came through a university friend who had joined our Client Services team and couldn't stop talking about it. The pitch was simple: it was a great introduction to finance, the people were good, and it wasn't a traditional Analyst role.
He came in for an interview, immediately liked the person who interviewed him, Lucy Peacock, who is also still at Third Bridge more than a decade later, and found that the role ticked enough boxes to make the decision easy. What he didn't fully anticipate was quite how fast things would move once he started.
"Every day was something new,” he explains. “There was a challenge or a problem to be solved. It was fast-paced, intense and exciting."
Shocked with trust
Marcus joined in a role focused on sourcing, screening, and vetting industry experts. Within six months, he was client-facing.
"Shock with trust was one of our big values back then," he says. "I think it still rings true today. Within six months I was talking to credit investors and private equity investors, understanding what they wanted to invest in, and going out to find the right experts. It was a pretty cool experience."
That willingness to throw people in at the deep end, and help them to swim, is something Marcus credits as central to his development. The learning curve was steep, the pace was fast, and every day brought something new to figure out. For someone who thrived on challenge and connection, it turned out to be exactly the right environment.
Rising through the ranks
After two years in Client Services, working predominantly in the credit vertical, Marcus made the move into Account Management.
"I love talking to people. I love building relationships," he says. "When I got thrust into the client-facing side, it really hit on the things I wanted in a role."
He joined the Commercial team as a Senior Associate. Within a year, he was promoted to Associate Vice President, becoming the youngest AVP in Third Bridge's history at the time.
"Going from university, being very green, to managing my own book of business – I thought ‘wow, I've got quite a lot of responsibility here’." The milestone energised him. "It made me feel like I was doing a good job and got me really hungry to keep going."
Two years as an AVP followed, managing a mix of Private Equity and Credit clients, before another promotion took him to Vice President (VP). His book of business broadened further, and with that wider view of the landscape came a realization: there was a gap worth going after.
Creating something new
By his second year as a VP, Investment Banks represented one of the most complex and rewarding client types in Marcus's portfolio. With multiple stakeholders, significant red tape, and clients who were perpetually time-strapped, they were also, he felt, an enormous opportunity waiting to be unlocked.
So, he put together a business case and took it to Tom Fletcher-Manuel, Third Bridge's Head of Commercial for Credit & Public Equities. The proposal: to create a strategic banking business unit covering both Europe and North America, with an Associate in each region. The answer was yes.
"I could see there was a gap. It was going to be quite difficult, but there was definitely something to get into and be excited by,” he recalls. “I've never put together as thorough a business case as I did for that, and for the business to say yes – that was a big moment."
He describes it as another example of something he's felt at every stage of his career here.
"Third Bridge is very good at allowing you to be the CEO of your own business,” he explains. “You have real autonomy over how you get the most out of your role, how you grow, how you progress. Tom gives me targets, but the way I go about hitting them is up to me."
Trusted enough to leave
In early 2022, Marcus did something that didn't fit neatly into any company policy: he asked for a six-month sabbatical. There was no formal framework for it. He simply sat down with his manager and made the case honestly.
He'd been at the business for around seven years and had hit his targets consistently throughout. But he was also aware that, on a personal level, he had a window of opportunity that wouldn't stay open forever. No children, no mortgage, fewer commitments. The timing felt right.
"I said: I'm committed to this business. I know where my bread's buttered and I know the direction of travel is Third Bridge. But I don't think I'm going to get this chance again."
The answer, again, was yes: "That was a big thing for me," he says. "It said a lot about how much they trusted me."
He spent the next six months traveling through 13 countries across Central America, South America, and Southeast Asia with his now-wife Maddy. He shared some highlights with the enthusiasm of someone who still can't quite believe it happened: Machu Picchu, the salt flats in Bolivia, the Iguazu Falls, a motorbike trip through the mountain ranges of northern Vietnam.
"It was the trip of a lifetime," he says simply. Then Marcus came back, as promised, and got to work.
A culture worth staying for
In a climate where moving companies every two or three years is common practice, Marcus has never felt the need to.
"Whenever I tell friends and family I've been here ten years, they're surprised,” he says. “But there's a good reason I'm still here, and that reason is predominantly the people."
He describes the culture as inclusive, fun, and genuinely caring – a place where you’re trusted with autonomy but never feel like you're figuring things out alone. One piece of advice from his manager has stayed with him over the years.
“If you find that you’re still at your desk at 7pm in the evening, ask yourself: is what you're doing right now going to materially benefit the business or you?” Marcus recalls. “Often the answer is no. I think it's great advice, and it really distills the Third Bridge’s love and care for the people.”
The message, in other words, is simple: if it can wait until tomorrow, close your laptop and go home. That’s the ethos of a company that praises hard work, but also respects work-life balance.
Life outside the office
Music has always been central to Marcus' life outside work. He's an avid record collector, a passionate DJ, and last year played at his own wedding twice – lightheartedly referring to the process of getting Maddy’s approval as “a bit of a stretch.”
Every year he organizes a charity gig called When It All Blows Over, which he started during the pandemic as a way to raise money for NHS charities. DJs play for free, tickets are sold, and all proceeds go to a different charity each year. It's now in its sixth year, with a loyal crowd that includes plenty of fellow Third Bridgers.
When he's not behind the decks, he's kite surfing along the South Coast, or sailing a hundred-year-old wooden boat in North Wales in what he describes, with some affection, as an extremely competitive regatta essentially sailing furniture. .
Advice for future joiners
For anyone considering a role at Third Bridge, Marcus' career is its own best argument for what’s possible when you stop sitting back and start making a case: "Don't wait for opportunities to come to you. Create them for yourself."
Third Bridge, he says, rewards those who think creatively, build a solid case, and back themselves to make a difference: "If you sit there waiting to be told when you'll get promoted and what the timeline looks like, I don't think you'll be as successful as if you go out and identify those things yourself."
From a friend's recommendation to a role he designed himself, Marcus' ten years at Third Bridge are proof that a successful and exciting career is there for those willing to go and find it.
