Hiring across the UK has been measured rather than buoyant, and financial-services firms have felt that same caution. Against a subdued 2025 economic backdrop, businesses took a careful approach to hiring, but clear demand hotspots stayed warm for specialist skills including AI, data, enterprise applications and cyber security Computer Weekly (tech recruitment outlook 2026). For insurers, those hotspots matter: cyber security sits right at the centre of how modern insurance products are priced, sold and defended.
The wider cyber workforce is still expanding, too. There are now roughly 143,000 individuals in the UK cyber security workforce, with growth moderately picking up from 2% in 2022 to 5% in 2024 Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2025 - GOV.UK. That steady growth gives financial-services employers a larger pool to recruit from, but it does not make the specialists easy to find.
Growing demand for cyber cover pulls through to new and reshaped roles: cyber underwriters who price the risk, risk analysts who model threats, claims handlers who understand breaches, and in-house security specialists who protect the insurer itself. The link between the product and the people who build it is direct, and it is tightening as cyber becomes a core line of business.
The catch is competition for talent. A comparison with the 2024 cyber security skills work showed that 70% of cyber firms reported at least one hard-to-fill vacancy AI Labour Market Survey 2025 (Gardiner & Theobald), GOV.UK / publishing.service.gov.uk. Insurers are hiring from the same pool as banks, tech firms and consultancies, so the people who can read cyber risk are in short supply and high demand.
Start by writing the role around outcomes, not a wish list. Define the handful of capabilities that genuinely move the needle, whether that is threat modelling, breach response or pricing emerging risk, and treat the rest as desirable. When 70% of cyber firms report at least one hard-to-fill vacancy AI Labour Market Survey 2025 (Gardiner & Theobald), GOV.UK / publishing.service.gov.uk, a tighter brief widens your realistic pool.
Then move quickly and look sideways. With specialist tech skills in strong demand through 2026 Computer Weekly (tech recruitment outlook 2026), the best people rarely sit on the market for long, so a fast, respectful process wins. Consider adjacent talent, people from data, security operations or analytics who can grow into cyber underwriting, and invest in training. That turns a national skills gap into your own pipeline.
We built Reed.ai to help financial-services employers find the right specialist fast. We search 15 million candidates, rank a shortlist in under 30 seconds and handle the process end to end, from matching to booking interviews. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Ready to build your cyber insurance team? Tell us who you need and we'll get started today.
