The hiring market stayed cautious through 2025, but the demand did not vanish. It concentrated. Against a subdued economic backdrop, businesses took a careful approach to recruitment while clear hotspots held firm for specialist skills, including AI, data, enterprise applications and cyber security Computer Weekly (tech recruitment outlook 2026). For financial-services employers, that pattern matters. The generalist roles may wait, but the specialist ones cannot.
Cyber sits at the centre of that story. The UK cyber security workforce now stands at roughly 143,000 people, with growth moderately accelerating from 2% in 2022 to 5% in 2024 Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2025 - GOV.UK. A growing pool is good news, yet demand is climbing faster than many teams can hire. That tension is exactly what employers feel when they open a cyber-related vacancy today.
As cyber insurance grows, underwriting needs people who can read technical risk, not just financial risk. That means underwriters, risk analysts and pricing specialists who understand threat landscapes, controls and incident exposure. The challenge is that the same technical talent is in short supply across the wider market. One government-backed survey found 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.
So the people entering underwriting now often come from two directions. Some are insurance professionals learning cyber risk. Others are cyber security specialists learning underwriting. Both bring something the role needs. The winning hire is rarely the person with a perfect title. It's the person who can bridge the two worlds and keep learning as threats change.
Start with the problem, not the job title. Write down the risks this person will price and the decisions they'll own, then hire for the thinking that solves them. With specialist shortages confirmed across cyber firms AI Labour Market Survey 2025 (Gardiner & Theobald), GOV.UK / publishing.service.gov.uk, a rigid wish list will slow you down. Weigh transferable skills: analytical judgement, curiosity about threats and the ability to explain risk clearly to non-technical colleagues.
Move quickly, because strong specialists rarely stay on the market long. Keep your process short, give clear feedback and be ready to train the cyber or insurance half of the role that a good candidate is still building. A steadily growing workforce Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2025 - GOV.UK means the talent is out there. The employers who win are the ones who reach it first and make a confident decision.
We built our AI recruitment agent to find specialist people fast and manage the hire end to end. It searches a database of 15 million candidates, ranks a shortlist for your cyber underwriting role and handles the back-and-forth so you can focus on the interview. 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. Post your role today and see your shortlist.
