Fintech sits at the point where financial services and technology meet, so it feels both pressures at once. On the tech side, 2025 was cautious. Businesses held back on broad hiring but kept chasing specialist skills, with demand hotspots in AI, data, enterprise applications and cyber security Computer Weekly (tech recruitment outlook 2026). Those are exactly the skills fintech teams compete for.
The appetite for AI is sharp. Demand for AI skills rose 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). For fintech firms clustered in London, that concentration is a double edge: the talent is nearby, but so is the competition for it.
The graduate route into tech has narrowed at the same time. The UK tech sector cut graduate jobs by 46% in the past year, with a further 53% drop projected The Register. Entry-level postings more widely have felt it too, with a 30% drop in UK entry-level job postings since ChatGPT launched and graduates facing the toughest market since 2018 techUK – What's actually happening with entry-level and graduate jobs?.
Two dynamics shape who fintech firms are hiring. The first is a shift away from the degree as the only door in. Apprenticeships have risen from 3% of AI hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025 GOV.UK / DSIT – AI Labour Market Survey 2025 report. That tells you employers are increasingly comfortable backing demonstrated skill and on-the-job training over a specific academic path.
The second is a tilt towards experience in regulated roles. In financial services, recruitment was generally for Regulatory Qualification Framework (RQF) 6+ roles rather than RQF 3 to 5 GOV.UK - Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report. In plain terms, firms want people who can carry regulatory responsibility, which raises the bar on compliance, risk and domain knowledge alongside technical ability.
You can see the same squeeze on junior hiring in adjacent fields. In engineering, entry-level hiring has fallen to -19% while senior hiring sits at -10%, a 9-percentage-point gap GOV.UK - A snapshot of entry-level hiring in the UK. The message for fintech is clear: specialist and senior skills stay in demand, while the traditional graduate funnel is doing less of the work.
Start by writing the role around skills, not credentials. If apprenticeships now make up a fifth of AI hires GOV.UK / DSIT – AI Labour Market Survey 2025 report, a degree requirement may be quietly screening out people who can do the job well. Describe the problems the person will solve and the tools they'll use, then assess against those.
Next, invest in people you already have. 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% of the UK workforce techUK. Building skills internally widens your own talent pool and reduces the fight for scarce senior hires.
Finally, build a fair, structured process. When you widen the pool beyond degrees, consistency matters more: the same assessment, the same questions and clear evidence of skill for every applicant. That protects quality and helps you spot strong people the old filters would have missed.
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