Financial services hiring is tilting firmly towards senior, specialist expertise, and that shift is clearest in the kind of qualifications employers are looking for. In the financial services sector, recruitment was generally for Regulatory Qualification Framework (RQF) level 6 and above roles, rather than the lower RQF levels 3 to 5 GOV.UK - Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report. In plain terms, RQF level 6 sits at degree-equivalent, so firms are reaching for people with advanced, technical knowledge.
That matters for broking. Terrorism and political risk cover is a specialist line that demands exactly this depth: an understanding of geopolitics, treaty wordings, and how a single event can ripple across a client's global operations. As demand for this cover grows, so does demand for the senior people who can structure, price and place it.
The pull towards degree-level and above roles tells you where the gaps sit GOV.UK - Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report. In terrorism and political risk broking, that means client-facing brokers who can read an unstable region, underwriters who can model low-frequency high-severity events, and analysts who turn open-source intelligence into pricing decisions.
The skills are a blend. You need technical insurance knowledge, strong commercial judgement, and the softer ability to explain a complex, scary exposure to a worried client in clear language. People who combine geopolitical fluency with broking craft are rare, and that scarcity is what grows careers: it pushes up responsibility, variety and the chance to specialise early.
Start with the qualification bar, but don't stop there. With most recruitment aimed at RQF level 6 and above, you're competing for a small pool, so your process has to move at the speed of the people you want to reach GOV.UK - Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report. Slow, vague hiring loses specialists to faster rivals.
Above all, treat each specialist as someone building a career, not filling a seat. Show them the progression, the client portfolio and the chance to own a line, and you'll win the ones worth winning.
Finding a senior, degree-level specialist in a niche line is hard precisely because so few people fit. That's where we help. We search a database of 15 million candidates to surface the people who match your brief, then manage the process end to end so you can focus on choosing the right person rather than chasing applications. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Tell Reed.ai the brief and we'll start building your shortlist.
