Winkelried worked as an intern in the trading department at Goldman Sachs in the summer prior to graduating in 1982. He later accepted a permanent job at Goldman in the investment banking department in the Utilities Group. In 1984, he moved to the trading floor and soon was heading up the bond syndication business. In 1990, he became a partner. From there, he moved to London to turn around the European side of the Goldman's fixed-income, currency, and commodities business (known as FICC). He was made co-head of FICC with Lloyd Blankfein. Cohn and Winkelried were a good team but were more competitors than friends. FICC was returned to solid profitability.
