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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore what drives UK managers aged over 50 to continue progressing in their careers rather than retiring, and their perceptions of career progression at a time in life when opportunities for further promotion may have ceased. It examines subjectively significant personal and organizational influences on career progression and the extent to which older managers perceive that motivation for career progression changes over the career.Design/methodology/approachThe research adopts a qualitative, inductive approach, comprising semi‐structured interviews with 27 male and 13 female managers, aged 50 and over, from two large, UK financial services organizations.FindingsThe findings show that motivation for career progression in managers aged over 50 is driven by individually diverse patterns of career drivers, personal and work‐related influences, and attitudes towards career opportunities. These can be classified into four different orientations towards future career progression, pre‐ and post‐retirement.Originality/valueThe study contributes to knowledge about subjective psychological mobility in late managerial careers and the balance which individuals maintain between organizational and personal aspects of their career. It demonstrates that motivational drivers of career progression are perceived to change over the career and that perceptions of what constitutes career progression are linked to an individual's past, current and predicted future career experiences, in some cases extending past the traditional retirement transition.