The wider UK hiring picture is cooling, and that shapes how banking and financial services firms compete for talent. Early estimates for May to July 2026 suggest a decrease of 6,000 vacancies to 707,000 across the UK ONS - Vacancies and jobs in the UK, August 2026. Vacancies fell in 10 of the 18 sectors in the quarter to June, with professional, scientific and technical activities among the largest decreases ONS - Vacancies and jobs in the UK.
A softer market does not mean easier hiring. There were 2.5 unemployed people per vacancy in the spring of 2026, a ratio that has held steady since late 2025 ONS - Vacancies and jobs in the UK. Volume is down, but the fight for specialist skills is as sharp as ever. The KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs continues to track how firms adjust hiring and pay under these conditions KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs June 2026.
So the question for risk leaders is not whether talent exists. It's whether you can find the specific blend of risk and data skills you now need, in a market where the scarcest people move quickly.
The clearest signal is demand for data and AI skills. Demand for AI skills increased nearly 200% in a year, with London accounting for 80% of AI-related job postings and nearly two-thirds of all technology vacancies in the UK The Register (Accenture data). That pull is spilling directly into risk functions, where models, scenario testing and regulatory reporting all now lean on data skills.
Employers took a cautious approach to hiring through 2025, but there were clear demand hotspots for specialist skills including AI, data, enterprise applications and cyber security Computer Weekly (tech recruitment outlook 2026). Digital, engineering and data occupations sit among the priority skills the government expects to keep growing strongly GOV.UK - Skills England annual skills report 2026.
Risk itself is exposed to model risk and cyber threats, and the cyber workforce is still stretched. Around 143,000 people work in UK cyber security, with growth accelerating from 2% in 2022 to 5% in 2024 Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2025 - GOV.UK. That matters for risk teams who now own more of the data and technology risk agenda.
Meanwhile the entry route into these skills is narrowing. Adzuna has seen a 30% drop in UK entry-level job postings since ChatGPT's launch, with graduates facing the toughest market since 2018 techUK – What's actually happening with entry-level and graduate jobs?. Firms that once grew risk analysts from graduate intakes need to think again about how they build data-literate teams.
Start with a skills-first brief. Write down the data capabilities the role genuinely needs, reading a model, querying a dataset, questioning an output, alongside the risk knowledge, and separate must-haves from nice-to-haves. This keeps you open to people who bring strong data skills from adjacent fields, which matters when specialist talent is scarce.
Widen where you look for talent. Apprenticeships have risen from 3% of AI hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025 GOV.UK / DSIT – AI Labour Market Survey 2025 report. That shows firms are building data skills through routes beyond the traditional graduate pipeline, and risk teams can do the same.
Assess real capability, not just credentials. Use a short, practical data task tied to a risk scenario so you can see how someone reasons with numbers and explains their thinking to a non-technical stakeholder. And move quickly: with the scarcest people in demand, a slow process loses them.
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