Financial-services hiring has shifted up the skills ladder. Recent government analysis of the sector found that recruitment was generally for Regulatory Qualification Framework (RQF) 6+ roles, rather than RQF 3 to 5 a GOV.UK Temporary Shortage List Stage 2 report. In plain terms, employers are reaching for degree-level and professional-level people rather than entry-level cover.
At the same time, the demand for technical capability is climbing fast across the UK. Demand for AI skills increased nearly 200 percent in a year, with London accounting for 80 percent of AI-related job postings and nearly two-thirds of all technology vacancies in the UK analysis of Accenture data reported by The Register. London is where much of financial services sits, so that pressure lands squarely on finance teams.
Why does this matter for a hiring brief? Because when the roles get more senior and more technical at once, the person you hire needs to do more than their day job. They need to check the AI tools now running beside them.
The way firms build these teams is changing too. Apprenticeships have risen from 3 percent of AI hires in 2020 to 19 percent in 2025 a GOV.UK and DSIT AI Labour Market Survey 2025 report. That tells us firms are growing skills in-house, not only buying them in, which reshapes what a junior finance brief asks for.
The scale of the shift is national. During London Tech Week 2025, the UK government announced a partnership to upskill 7.5 million UK workers in essential AI skills by 2030, equivalent to around 20 percent of the UK workforce techUK reporting on London Tech Week 2025. Finance is a prime target for that effort because so much of its work is data-heavy and rule-bound.
Looking further out, the demand is structural, not a passing spike. For the total of AI-related occupations, the net change ranges from approximately 696,000 jobs in an automation scenario to 1,072,000 in a technological opportunities scenario, with replacement demand rising from 3,077,000 to 3,193,000 jobs across these scenarios GOV.UK projections on AI skills for life and work. Agent evaluation sits inside that growth: someone has to own the quality of what the agents produce.
Start by writing the skill down plainly. Agent evaluation means judging whether an AI agent's output is accurate, compliant and safe to act on, then correcting it when it is not. In a regulated setting, that is a control, not a nice-to-have. Put it in the brief as a named responsibility, not a buried bullet.
Then test for it. Ask people to review a flawed agent output and spot what is wrong, where the risk sits and how they would challenge it. Look for sound judgement, clear reasoning and comfort with ambiguity, because agents often produce confident answers that are subtly off. Pair that with the finance fundamentals the role still needs.
Finally, hire for curiosity. The tools will keep changing, so the person who asks sharp questions and keeps learning will outlast any single system. Given that senior, technical roles are in short supply, move quickly and keep your process tight so strong people do not drift to another offer.
This is where we help. We search a database of 15 million candidates to find people who combine finance knowledge with the judgement to evaluate AI agents, and we manage your hire end to end: sourcing, shortlisting, contacting matched people and booking interviews. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost, through Reed.ai. Share your brief with us today and see your shortlist take shape.
