The wider UK labour market is in a holding pattern. The Low Pay Commission describes conditions as 'low hire, low fire', with weaker recruitment, only slight increases in redundancies and vacancies sitting below pre-pandemic levels Low Pay Commission Report 2025, GOV.UK. That caution shapes how banks and financial services firms plan their teams right now.
But the picture is not flat everywhere. The largest volume increase in vacancies between August and October 2025 came in professional, scientific and technical activities, which rose by 5,000 ONS – Vacancies and jobs in the UK: November 2025. Financial services platforms sit close to that demand, and smaller specialist firms are moving fastest to capture the talent.
Businesses took a cautious approach to hiring against a subdued 2025 backdrop, yet there were clear demand hotspots for specialist skills including AI, data, enterprise applications and cyber security Computer Weekly (tech recruitment outlook 2026). For fintech, those hotspots are the whole game.
AI skills are the sharpest pull. 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). Fintech platforms clustered in London feel that competition first, and smaller teams are often quicker to define and fill these roles.
Cyber security is the other constant. There are roughly 143,000 people in the UK cyber security workforce, with growth moderately accelerating from 2% in 2022 to 5% in 2024 Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2025 - GOV.UK. Demand still outstrips supply: 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. Any platform handling payments or customer data competes for the same scarce specialists.
The way firms build these skills is shifting too. Apprenticeships have risen from 3% of AI hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025 GOV.UK / DSIT – AI Labour Market Survey 2025 report. Meanwhile the entry-level route is tightening: Adzuna has recorded a 30% drop in UK entry-level job postings since ChatGPT's launch techUK – What's actually happening with entry-level and graduate jobs?, and the UK tech sector cut graduate jobs by 46% in a year The Register. Fintech firms are reweighting towards skills and apprenticeships rather than pure graduate intake.
Start with the skill, not the job title. With demand for AI concentrated so heavily in one market The Register (Accenture data), you win by being specific about the capability you need and moving before a larger competitor does. Speed and clarity matter more than a long, generic brief.
Widen the routes in. Given how far entry-level postings have fallen techUK – What's actually happening with entry-level and graduate jobs? and how quickly apprenticeships have grown as a share of AI hires GOV.UK / DSIT – AI Labour Market Survey 2025 report, smart platforms blend experienced specialist hires with apprentice and internal-mobility pipelines. That protects you when hard-to-fill cyber roles stay hard to fill AI Labour Market Survey 2025 (Gardiner & Theobald), GOV.UK / publishing.service.gov.uk.
And plan around the cycle. In a 'low hire, low fire' market Low Pay Commission Report 2025, GOV.UK, the firms that keep a live view of available talent, rather than starting cold each time, fill critical roles faster. That is where the right tooling changes the pace of hiring.
We built our AI recruitment agent for exactly this kind of market: specialist demand, tight timelines and a need to move first. We search 15 million candidates, rank a shortlist in under 30 seconds, contact matched people in under a minute and book an interview in under three, so you spend your time talking to the right people rather than sifting. 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. Start your first fintech search with us today.
