What does financial-services hiring look like right now?

Hiring in financial services has moved up the skills ladder. Recent government analysis of the sector found that recruitment was generally for roles at Regulatory Qualification Framework (RQF) 6 and above, rather than the RQF 3 to 5 range the GOV.UK Temporary Shortage List Stage 2 report. In plain terms, RQF 6 sits at degree level, so lenders are reaching for qualified, experienced people rather than entry-level support.

That matters when you are scoping a first financial crime hire. If the market is competing for degree-level and above talent, your role needs to be clear, well-pitched and quick to move, or the strongest people slip away to a faster offer.

Which financial crime role should you scope first?

A first financial crime hire usually has to do several jobs at once: anti-money laundering checks, sanctions screening, fraud monitoring, suspicious activity reporting and keeping the Money Laundering Reporting Officer function covered. The question is whether you need a hands-on analyst who runs daily controls, a manager who owns the framework and the regulator relationship, or a hybrid who does both while the function is small.

The sector's shift toward degree-level and above roles shapes this choice the GOV.UK Temporary Shortage List Stage 2 report. For a lender's first hire, a senior generalist who can set controls and still work the detail often carries more value than a narrow specialist, because one person has to cover ground that larger teams split across several desks.

How do you hire well for a first financial crime role?

Start with risk, not a job title. Map where your lender is exposed, by product, by customer type and by payment flow, then write the role around closing those gaps. That keeps the brief honest and stops you copying a generic job description that attracts the wrong people.

• Define the regulatory scope clearly: name the obligations this person owns, from onboarding checks to reporting.
• Set the right seniority: decide whether you need someone to build the framework, run it day to day, or both.
• Separate must-have from nice-to-have: list the controls knowledge you need now and the skills you can develop later.
• Agree how you will test judgement: use realistic scenarios, not just a checklist of qualifications.
• Move quickly once you meet the right person: in a competitive market, a slow process loses strong candidates.

Write the role in plain language and be specific about reporting lines and decision rights. Someone covering financial crime alone needs to know who they escalate to and how much authority they hold, and good applicants read closely for exactly that.

Where do we fit in your financial crime hire?

Once you have scoped the role, we help you fill it. We search a database of 15 million candidates to match people against your brief, surface a ranked shortlist and handle the process end to end. 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. Tell us what your first financial crime hire needs to cover and we will start matching today.

Sources

• GOV.UK - Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report