new grad: data analyst offer at well known bank or software developer offer at insurance company

graduated may 2026, and am deciding between two offers.

for context, during my undergrad i completed a cs and data science double major and a minor in business administration. i want to be in finance long term and would prefer to work within some type of risk management domain in a bank but im not sure if i want to do swe, data engineering, data analytics, or quantitative engineering type roles (not like quant at a hedgefund or something lol not skilled enough for that, but more statistical modeling while also applying swe principles).

i have an offer at a greatt company (very well known bank) for a data analyst role, and another offer at an insurance company (lesser known) for a software developer role. prior to this, i had a data science internship also at a bank (well known custodian bank).

with ai and everything, i'm honestly scared about pigeonholing myself into data analytics, though i recognize at a big bank, data analytics probably involves more than just excel and power-bi, and i do hope i get to touch some data-engineering esque workflows. and the brand name is just so good and would be fantastic to have on my resume.

at the same time, the experience i get at the insurance company, while lesser known, could directly set me up for future swe work (and i would hope to pivot to a larger bank after maybe 1.5 years at this company). im super close to nyc so i have plenty of options. it also sounds like the company is doing some AI-type stuff (RAG work, which at my internship last yr i realized is increasingly prominent in the industry), and i wonder if I could also work on some data science projects in the claims teams, while also gaining more production swe knowledge (which honestly dont have much exposure to). these are things i'd love to either shadow or directly contribute to in some capacity.

total comp for the data analyst role is much higher, but given that im in the nyc area rn (and i should clarify the data analyst role is not in nyc), i wonder if i can achieve similar comp levels by changing companies after 1.5 years or so..i also wouldnt have to spend money on relocation expenses if i stay at the insurance company and in the nyc area.

another thing, i'm not sure if im mistaken on this but i feel like it might be easier to independently strengthen my data science and analytics skills (make sure im sharp in statistics, ETL — completing some data engineering certs), whereas with software, production exposure is more valued over personal projects (at least i think).

so i wonder, does pursuing the developer role give me more long-term optionality, given that i also intend to independently work on data science projects in my free time (because i dont want to be only a product software engineer, i want to work within the financial risk management domain).

i would appreciate any advice. thank you!