Financial services recruitment is becoming increasingly selective throughout 2026, with employers focusing investment on specialist skills that support regulatory compliance, financial crime prevention, technology transformation and operational resilience. As organisations navigate evolving market conditions, hiring demand has become increasingly concentrated in areas where expertise remains difficult to source.

Across banking, insurance and FinTech, the latest data reveals a market that is not necessarily expanding uniformly, but instead reallocating recruitment activity towards functions that are strategically critical for growth and risk management. While some traditional areas have softened, others are experiencing significant increases in demand, creating new opportunities for both employers and candidates.

At Sanderson, we continually analyse market trends to help organisations make informed hiring decisions and stay ahead of changing talent demands.

That’s why we’re pleased to share our latest report, produced in partnership with VacancySoft, highlighting the key developments across the UK Financial Services market during July 2026.

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the key insights:

Specialist Skills Are Driving the Market

The overarching theme across financial services recruitment is clear: competition is increasingly focused on specialist capabilities rather than volume hiring with employers prioritising expertise in fraud prevention, financial crime, actuarial science, broking and claims.

Actuarial Talent Remains in High Demand

London’s actuarial recruitment market remains resilient, with vacancies increasing by 6% year-on-year.

Fraud & Financial Crime Hiring Continues to Grow

Risk and compliance recruitment across Northern England remains broadly consistent with last year, but the composition of demand is changing with fraud vacancies increasing by more than 20% year-on-year.

Broking Emerges as an Insurance Growth Area

While parts of the insurance market have experienced slower hiring activity, broking continues to buck the trend. We’ve seen specialist insurance broking vacancies increase by 19% during the first half of 2026 compared to the same period last year.

Claims Recruitment Gains Momentum

Claims hiring is showing encouraging signs of growth across the UK insurance sector with vacancy volumes strengthening significantly in both London and the North West.

If you’d like a more detailed overview of these trends, including the latest vacancy data, regional hiring insights and analysis of the most in-demand financial services skillsets, download the full report below.

Have any questions? Don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’re here to help you turn market insight into hiring success.

When many organisations hear Managed Service Programme (MSP), they still think of large banks, enterprise-scale hiring volumes, and complex contingent workforce programmes. 

But that’s no longer the reality. 

As discussed in our recent article, MSPs are increasingly helping challenger banks, fintechs, and high-growth organisations gain greater control, visibility, and efficiency across their contingent workforce. 

So the question isn’t “Are we big enough for an MSP?“ 

It’s: 

• Are contingent workers a regular part of your resourcing strategy? 

• Do you want access to the best talent in a more cost-effective way? 

• Are you struggling to gain visibility of contractor spend across the business? 

• Is compliance and regulatory control becoming increasingly important? 

• Are hiring managers, HR, procurement or finance teams spending too much time recruiting, onboarding and managing contractors? 

If you’re answering “yes” to several of these questions, an MSP could deliver significant value. 

The benefits often extend far beyond cost savings: 

• Improved workforce visibility and reporting 

• Stronger governance and compliance 

• Access to wider talent networks 

• Better hiring manager experience 

• Faster engagement of contingent workers 

• Reduced administrative burden across HR, Procurement and Finance 

Of course, successful MSPs don’t happen by accident. 

The most successful implementations are built on: 

• Clear scope and priorities from the outset 

• Early stakeholder engagement across HR, Procurement, Finance, Legal and Technology 

• Strong communication with suppliers and contingent workers 

• Clear governance and project ownership 

• Training and support for hiring managers 

• Partnership with an MSP provider that understands your culture and can guide the change journey 

An MSP is about creating a smarter, more scalable way to manage contingent talent while giving your teams more time to focus on what matters most. 

Want to find out more?

Don’t hesitate to get in touch to speak to our team about how an MSP could support your organisation. 

Sanderson is delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted as a finalist for two TALiNT Partners TIARA Staffing & Talent Solutions Awards for 2026.

Sanderson are finalists in:

• The Long-Term Partnership Award which recognises genuine partnership over a period of at least five years, looking at both sustained success and continuous improvement.
• The Jove Contingent Workforce Solutions Provider of the Year Award which recognises providers of contingent workforce solutions demonstrating the greatest innovation in contingent workforce sourcing and management, and the highest level of client service and supply chain engagement.​

To be a finalist for both these awards is a fantastic achievement for Sanderson as the TIARA Awards are one of the recruitment industry’s most prestigious awards programmes, recognising excellence, innovation, growth and leadership across staffing, recruitment, RPO, MSP and talent solutions organisations. They celebrate businesses that are shaping the future of talent acquisition while setting high standards for client service, candidate experience, technology, diversity and business performance – all of which are integral to Sanderson’s operations and our vision for the future.

We look forward to the next steps in the process and attending the Awards Ceremony in London later this year.

If you would like to find out more about the TIARA Staffing & Talent Solutions Awards and see a full list of the 2026 finalists, please click here.

Artificial intelligence is no longer an emerging trend, it’s now central to business transformation strategies across the UK. But as demand accelerates, organisations are facing a critical challenge: a shortage of the talent needed to deliver it.

Demand for AI Skills Has Never Been Higher

The market is experiencing unprecedented demand for AI skills, particularly in specialist areas such as generative AI, machine learning engineering and AI architecture.

Demand is being fuelled by widespread adoption across multiple industries, and already most financial services firms are using AI or actively planning to implement it, pushing AI to the forefront of digital transformation agendas.

The result? A surge in hiring demand that far outpaces supply such as:

• +85% growth in demand for Generative AI Engineers
• +63% growth in demand for AI Engineers

Location Still Matters but the Landscape Is Shifting

AI talent in the UK remains heavily concentrated in London, which accounts for over half of the total talent pool.

However, this concentration comes at a cost. Businesses are increasingly competing in an oversaturated market, often overlooking high-growth regional hubs such as Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh.

These regions are experiencing faster growth rates and represent a significant opportunity for organisations looking to:

• Access emerging talent pools
• Reduce hiring costs
• Build more sustainable workforce strategies

How Organisations Are Tackling the AI Skills Gap

The good news is that many businesses are beginning to rethink how they approach AI talent acquisition and moving beyond traditional hiring models. They’re starting to look at:

1. Leveraging Adjacent Skill Sets

Rather than relying solely on scarce AI specialists, organisations are tapping into adjacent talent pools and looking to retrain them to support AI initiatives, particularly in roles like:

• Data Scientists
• Data Engineers
• Software Engineers
• Data Analysts

2. Upskilling and Cross-Skilling Existing Teams

Internal capability building has become a primary strategy. Businesses are investing in upskilling their current workforce to bridge the gap, particularly within data and engineering teams.

This approach not only addresses immediate shortages but also supports long-term resilience.

3. Focusing on High-Growth Skills

Demand is rapidly increasing for specific capabilities that underpin AI delivery, including:

• Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
• Large Language Models (LLMs)
• API development
• Azure SQL

These skills have seen over 50% year-on-year growth, highlighting where organisations should focus their development efforts.

4. Building Stronger Data Foundations

AI success depends on robust data infrastructure, so we’re seeing many organisations redirecting their resources into building and maintaining data platforms, while backfilling data roles to sustain ongoing operations.

Turning a Talent Challenge into a Competitive Advantage

The AI talent shortage isn’t going away anytime soon, but organisations that adapt their approach now can gain a significant edge.

The most successful businesses will be those that:

• Look beyond traditional talent pools
• Invest in internal capability
• Embrace regional hiring strategies
• Align skills development with emerging AI technologies

By doing so, they can not only overcome the immediate talent gap but also create a more agile and future-ready workforce.

Want to explore the full picture?

Download our latest Technology & Digital Insights Report to uncover more trends shaping the market, from hiring strategies to salary benchmarks and the most in-demand skills.

Every change leader knows the feeling. The ambition is clear, the business case is approved, and expectations are high. But the people you need to deliver are already busy keeping the organisation moving. 

This is often where change begins to lose momentum. Internal teams are pulled in multiple directions, delivery milestones become harder to protect, and leaders spend more time solving capacity challenges than driving outcomes. 

Bringing in additional resource seems like the obvious answer, but successful delivery depends on more than simply adding people. The real challenge is finding capability that can integrate quickly, take ownership and contribute to progress from day one. 

That’s where Sanderson Projects helps. We give organisations access to carefully selected project teams and specialist associates who can step in quickly, add expertise where it’s needed most and work alongside existing teams. You gain the capacity required to accelerate delivery without building a permanent team or handing full control to a consultancy. 

Why accountability matters when programmes become more complex

As programmes grow, so does the complexity around them. More workstreams, more stakeholders and greater governance requirements can quickly make it harder to maintain visibility and momentum. 

Projects rarely struggle because people are not working hard. More often, delivery suffers when ownership becomes unclear, priorities shift and it becomes difficult to measure whether activity is translating into meaningful outcomes. 

For project and programme leaders, this creates a difficult balance. You need flexible expertise and additional capacity, but you also need clear accountability and confidence that delivery partners are invested in success. 

Sanderson Projects is designed around that requirement. By linking part of the commercial model to agreed outcomes, we create a shared commitment between the client, Sanderson and the associates delivering the work. Rather than simply providing contractors, we stay close to performance, support delivery and help maintain focus on the outcomes that matter most. 

Why the right fit matters as much as the right skills

Even with clear accountability, delivery success still depends on having the right people around the programme. 

When pressure is high, it’s easy to focus on technical skills, sector experience and availability. While these are important, they only tell part of the story. 

Transformation programmes succeed through relationships as much as expertise. People need to build trust quickly, engage stakeholders effectively and adapt to the culture, pace and priorities of the organisation. 

That’s why Sanderson Projects looks beyond the CV. Our assessment process considers behavioural and culture fit, communication style, stakeholder management capability, and overall team dynamics. The goal is to identify people who can not only perform the role but also strengthen the team around them. 

This gives leaders a greater chance of building teams that establish credibility quickly, work effectively together and deliver value sooner. 

Ready to turn project pressure into delivery momentum? 

If your project needs specialist capacity, stronger team fit and a partner invested in outcomes, Sanderson Projects can help you move faster with confidence.  

Get in touch today to talk to us about your goals and discover how Sanderson Projects can build the right team around what you need to deliver. 

Financial services recruitment continues to evolve throughout 2026, with organisations balancing technology investment, regulatory demands and changing operational priorities.

Across banking, insurance and FinTech, employers are now placing increasing emphasis on digital capability, cybersecurity and specialist risk expertise, while regional financial centres continue to attract significant investment and hiring activity.

Plus, while London remains the UK’s leading hub for specialist financial services talent, growth opportunities are becoming increasingly distributed across the country as organisations expand regional operations and seek access to wider talent pools.

But what do the latest hiring trends tell us about where the market is heading?

At Sanderson, we keep our finger on the pulse of the latest market movements so we can help you understand how these trends may impact your hiring strategy and where the opportunities may lie.

That’s why we’re pleased to share our latest Report, produced in partnership with VacancySoft, highlighting the key developments across the UK Financial Services market during June 2026.

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the key insights:

North West Banking Recruitment Continues to Outperform

Banking vacancies across the North West have consistently outpaced both 2024 and 2025 levels, highlighting the region’s growing appeal as a financial services hub.

Cybersecurity Demand Accelerates in Scotland

Demand for banking IT Security professionals in Scotland has risen sharply, driven by increased investment in cyber resilience and regulatory compliance.

Traditional Insurance Roles Remain Resilient

Despite ongoing digital transformation, vacancies across Broking, Claims and Underwriting remain significantly higher than last year.

Technology Hiring Surpasses Insurance Specialists

In London’s life insurance market, technology vacancies have now overtaken recruitment for traditional insurance roles as digital investment continues to grow.

Fraud Risk Talent in High Demand

Fraud Risk is one of the fastest-growing specialisms in Financial Services, with demand increasing by more than 20% year-on-year.

Competition for Technology Talent Intensifies

Financial services employers are offering increasingly competitive salaries to secure skilled professionals in software development, cybersecurity and digital transformation.

If you’d like a more detailed overview of these trends, including the latest market data, vacancy volumes and insights into the most in-demand roles across banking, insurance, risk and technology, then download the full Report below.

Have any questions? Don’t hesitate to get in touch, we’re here to help you turn insight into action.

For years, Managed Service Programmes (MSPs) have been associated with large-scale financial institutions. When many people think of them, they often picture big global banks with overflowing contractor populations, complex supply chains and sizeable procurement teams.

And thanks to this, many challenger banks, mid-sized firms, start-ups and scale-ups have dismissed MSPs as something that’s simply not relevant to them saying things like “we’re too small“, “we don’t have enough contractors” or “an MSP would be way too complex and expensive for us“.

They’re common assumptions, we get it. But these days they’re pretty outdated.

The reality is that medium-sized and scaling financial services organisations face many of the same workforce challenges, regulatory obligations and operational risks as their larger counterparts. And actually, having leaner HR, talent acquisition and procurement teams, the impact of those challenges can be felt more acutely.

Whether you’re engaging 15 contractors or 150, you still need robust governance, compliant processes, clear audit trails and good visibility of your contingent workforce. All things an MSP can deliver without the cost, complexity or scale once associated with enterprise programmes.

In this blog, we’ll explore why MSPs have evolved beyond the enterprise market, the challenges facing smaller financial services organisations today and how an MSP can help create greater visibility, control and value across your contingent workforce.

Let’s get started!

Small Contractor Population, Big Challenges

The financial services landscape has shifted significantly in recent years.

Organisations are operating in an environment that’s heavily regulated, fast-moving and increasingly resource constrained.

There’s been a shift towards total workforce strategies as organisations seek better visibility across all worker types, not just their permanent employees. The result is often additional pressure on HR, talent acquisition and procurement teams who are already balancing competing priorities and just trying to get on top of the BAU!

Not only that but many mid-sized firms looking to grow are facing extra challenges like:

• Increased pressure and scrutiny on contingent workforce spend
• Growing expectations for real-time workforce data and reporting
• Limited visibility across departments and hiring teams
• Fragmented contractor engagement models as they scale
• Inconsistent governance, compliance processes and operational controls

And even with a relatively small contractor population, these challenges can compound quickly. As contractor populations grow across different departments, a lack of uniformity can emerge. Maybe there’s different suppliers charging different margins, contractors performing similar roles being paid at different rates, varying contract terms and even inconsistent compliance standards. When you combine this with differing approaches to IR35 governance, you’ve got yourself a stressful combination of internal confusion, unnecessary cost and (most worryingly) increased organisational risk.

But it doesn’t need to be like this.

Four Ways MSPs Transform Contractor Management

1. Regulatory Governance and IR35 Compliance

For many mid-sized financial services organisations, IR35 remains one of the biggest risk areas in their contingent workforces. Without dedicated compliance or contractor management teams, many challenger banks and scale-ups can find it difficult to apply consistent governance controls across every engagement.

This alongside fragmented processes and poor record-keeping can expose businesses to financial penalties, reputational damage and increased regulatory scrutiny.

A well-designed MSP helps by introducing:

• Standardised IR35 assessment processes.
• Embedded governance frameworks and consolidated operating procedures.
• Improved operational efficiency through auditable processes.
• Reduced risk through specialist oversight and governance controls.

This is something we’ve seen work well in practice. For many of our clients, we’ve used an MSP to establish, implement and own robust governance frameworks that help embed IR35 processes, standardise vetting practices and strengthen supplier controls. The result is a fully auditable, risk-controlled model that provides confidence for both hiring managers and leadership teams.

2. Reducing Administrative Burden

Contractor administration often places a significant strain on already overstretched internal teams.

When you’re already spinning plates, having to then vet and onboard contractors, deal with offboarding, manage supplier coordination and then handle rate management can quickly become ridiculously time-consuming and horribly inconsistent.

An MSP sorts all this out. For organisations without large HR, procurement and compliance teams, an MSP creates a centralised operating model with clear ownership and accountability that delivers:

• Streamlined workflows and contractor lifecycle processes.
• Consistent business engagement and experiences for hiring managers as well as contractors and suppliers.
• Reduced administrative workload.
• A single point of contact throughout the contractor lifecycle.

3. Driving Cost Efficiency

For growing organisations where budgets are under close scrutiny, controlling contingent workforce spend becomes increasingly important as contractor populations expand. And without visibility and control, contingent workforce spend can quickly spiral.

When you’re dealing with rate inconsistencies, a growing supplier list, random hiring and a lack of market benchmarking organisations often end up paying different rates for similar skills while incurring unnecessary extra costs (which can have a serious impact on budgets over time).

An MSP helps control costs through:

• Specialist direct sourcing strategies.
• Supplier rationalisation while retaining access to critical skills and capabilities.
• Rate card standardisation.
• Targeted cost-management initiatives.
• Improved spend visibility and reporting.
• Reduced process inefficiencies and administrative costs.

This is something we always focus our approach on. When implementing an MSP, our goal is to create an optimised commercial structure that scales in line with demand, all while maintaining control of spend, which will give organisations complete visibility of where and how their budget is being used. Plus, for many organisations, the savings made through improved supplier management, direct sourcing and spend visibility even help offset the cost of the MSP itself.

4. Workforce Data and Visibility

If you cannot quickly answer questions such as:

• How many contractors do we currently have?
• Which suppliers are we using?
• Where does contingent workforce spend sit?
• Which engagements represent the greatest compliance risk?

Then you might not just have an issue with reporting. There could be an operating model problem too. For smaller financial services organisations, where workforce data is often spread across spreadsheets, emails and multiple systems, achieving a single source of truth can be particularly challenging.

This lack of visibility is often one of the clearest reasons organisations begin exploring MSP solutions for the first time, as they look for benefits like:

• Full workforce visibility across contractor populations, spend and risk.
• Real-time workforce dashboards.
• Contractor population tracking.
• IR35 status visibility.
• Spend and cost analysis.
• Improved forecasting and workforce planning.

It’s only once you have reliable data that you can start identifying opportunities to improve processes, strengthen compliance and reduce costs.

Taking Contractor Management to the Next Level

One of the biggest misconceptions among challenger banks and growing financial services organisations is that an MSP will replace their internal talent acquisition team or limit access to specialist expertise.

But in reality, the opposite is true.

A successful MSP only works to enhance internal capability rather than replacing it, giving organisations access to:

• Pre-vetted specialist suppliers.
• Deeper financial services talent expertise.
• Supplier performance management.
• Wider but carefully controlled talent pools.
• More consistent hiring outcomes.

This isn’t just theory. More than 80% of Sanderson’s MSP clients are implementing an MSP for the first time, demonstrating that managed workforce solutions aren’t just for mature enterprise organisations. Not only that, but we currently have 28 live MSP services, and more than 60% of these are supporting financial services organisations.

A Strategic Opportunity for Growing Financial Services Organisations

Whether you manage 20 contractors or 200, the underlying challenges are remarkably similar.

You still need governance. You still need compliance. You still need visibility of workforce spend, supplier performance and risk. The reality is that smaller contractor populations don’t remove these challenges, they simply leave fewer internal resources available to manage them. An MSP can solve these challenges as an embedded workforce partnership focused on long-term success.

The question is no longer whether you’re big enough for an MSP. It’s whether you can afford not to have one.

So, if you’re working in a challenger bank, scale-up or smaller scale financial services organisation while managing contractors across multiple teams and relying on fragmented processes to keep everything under control, now is the time to reassess your approach.

Get in touch with our MSP team today to discover how a scalable MSP solution can help you gain greater control, drive efficiency and create a stronger foundation for future growth.

For many organisations, contingent hiring grows gradually over time rather than strategically.

And for many, before they know it their small handful of agency relationships has become a massive supplier network, their contractor approvals are handled by different teams, contractor spend data is living in multiple places, reporting is more of a nice to have and let’s not even get started on what compliance responsibilities are looking like.

At first, this may feel manageable. Over time, it becomes harder to control.

This is often the point where many businesses start asking themselves how they’re going to get more control of their contingent workforce population and begin exploring talent strategies like Managed Service Programmes (MSPs).

But this opens the door to a much bigger question: are they ready for their first MSP (a first-generation) MSP?

In this blog we walk you through exactly what a first-generation MSP is, what implementing one means for your business, and most importantly, how to spot if your business is ready for one.

What does a first-generation MSP do?

First things first, a first-generation MSP isn’t about replacing what works for you with a bank of unnecessary processes. Instead, a first-generation MSP is centred around bringing you more structure, visibility and governance to your contingent workforce hiring for the first time, in a way that’s tailored to your specific organisation’s size, complexity and priorities.

For many of our clients, implementing an MSP for the first time is often where their contingent hiring finally starts feeling like a strategic process rather than chaos.

What does a ‘first-generation’ MSP actually mean?

When we refer to a ‘first-generation’ MSP’, all this really means is the first time an organisation has introduced a structured recruitment model for managing all (or part) of its contingent workforce. And unlike mature MSP environments where programmes may have evolved over many years, a first-generation MSP is more about introducing consistency where there was previously fragmentation.

This can include working with a recruitment partner to source contractor talent, to help with supplier management, governance, reporting and compliance support. It can even include working with that partner to help design a better hiring process and to provide deeper insights into your workforce.

The goal of a first-generation MSP isn’t to just reduce agency usage. The goal is to create a more controlled and effective operating model to provide flexible talent.

How to spot if your organisation is ready for a first-generation MSP

If your organisation is growing, particularly if it’s in a heavily regulated sector like financial services, insurance or pensions, there might be a few challenges cropping up suggesting you’ve outgrown your previously more informal approach to contingent hiring and pointing to the need for a bit more structure.

These signs can include:

• You have multiple suppliers being used inconsistently across the business.
• You cannot easily see total contingent workforce spend, tenure or headcount.
• Compliance responsibilities are split across teams or rely on manual checks.
• Hiring managers have very different experiences depending on role, function or location.
• You are under pressure to improve governance and cost control without slowing delivery.
• You need specialist contractors, but current processes do not consistently deliver quality or speed.

How a first-generation MSP can transform your contingent hiring

A well-designed first-generation MSP isn’t about adding layers of processes, it’s about bringing control, clarity and consistency to your contingent hiring. Rather than disrupting relationships or slowing down recruitment, it adds structure where you need it, all while preserving the agility your hiring managers rely on. Something that’s particularly valuable in specialist or regulated sectors like financial services where access to niche talent needs to be maintained alongside scalability.

Ultimately, a first-generation MSP transforms contingent hiring from a fragmented, reactive process into a controlled, insight-driven function, delivering better outcomes for hiring managers, suppliers and the business.

Are you ready for your first MSP?

If your contingent hiring has become harder to see, harder to govern or harder to scale, it may be time to consider working with a talent partner to implement your first MSP.

If you’d like to chat about this further then don’t hesitate to reach out to find out more about how Sanderson could support you.

And if you’re looking for an easy resource to share with your teams to easily ascertain if your organisation is ready for an MSP, then why not download our handy MSP Readiness Checklist here!

Tax teams play a critical role in financial services organisations. Whether it’s ensuring compliance, enabling global growth or supporting strategic decision-making, they’re often right at the centre of the action.

But finding the right talent, particularly during periods of change is no easy task. Exactly what one of our recent financial services clients, a leading provider of post-trade solutions, found when they were going through a major ownership transition.

They needed to rapidly establish a scalable tax function to support their international operations, but the challenge was finding individuals with the right balance of technical expertise, commercial awareness and the ability to build from the ground up.

Thanks to a focused search from Sanderson, they were able to secure a high-calibre tax team ready and raring to go. Read on to find out how we did it…

What was the challenge?

Our client approached us during a pivotal moment in their journey. They were transitioning away from their existing ownership structure and preparing for acquisition by a private equity investor. They were looking to strengthen their operational infrastructure, all starting with tax.

At the same time, they needed to ensure this tax function could support their global operations as they were working across more than 30 locations globally spanning the UK, US, Sweden, India and Singapore, so this was no easy feat.

The first priority was appointing a Head of Tax, alongside building out the wider team with a Tax Manager and Tax Analyst.

But there were challenges.

A Head of Tax is a role requiring a rare combination of strong technical expertise with the ability to operate in a changing environment, manage multiple stakeholders and build a scalable tax function from the ground up.

Their perfect candidate was someone who could navigate corporate tax compliance with ease, manage reporting, transfer pricing and outsourced tax providers without breaking a sweat, and all while supporting the setup of new entities globally.

What was our solution?

It was clear from the start that this was no standard tax recruitment assignment. But it was still no match for the Sanderson team.

Speed and precision were critical thanks to the acquisition taking place, so we quickly mobilised and implemented a targeted search strategy focused on highly specialised tax professionals with the right mix of technical, commercial and leadership capability.

We cracked on with a targeted search covering:

• International corporate tax environments
• Financial services organisations
• Multi-jurisdiction tax structures
• Transfer pricing and compliance
• Building and developing tax teams
• Operating in fast-paced, changing environments

Most importantly, we focused on identifying candidates who could not only manage the current tax requirements, but who had the skills needed to support their long-term vision.

What was the result?

Thanks to our thorough understanding of the client, we successfully delivered a strong shortlist of high-quality tax professionals across all the required roles. We started with the appointment of a Head of Tax and then went on to support the build-out of the wider tax team, placing both a Tax Manager and Tax Analyst.

This was a fantastic outcome meaning our client was able to rapidly establish a tax capability with the strength and structure needed to support their global operations during a period of significant change, but that was set up to support their long-term strategic objectives.

Key outcomes included:

• Successful appointment of a Head of Tax to lead the function
• Subsequent delivery of a Tax Manager and Tax Analyst to build out the wider team
• Became a trusted recruitment partner to support the ongoing growth of the function
• End-to-end support across multiple specialist tax hires

Could we help you achieve similar outcomes?

Building a specialist tax function requires more than finding qualified candidates. It demands a deep understanding of the business, its challenges and where it’s heading.

Whether you’re building out a new function, scaling your team or navigating a period of change, we can help you secure the talent needed to deliver long-term success.

Reach out to [email protected] if you fancy a chat about how we can help support you to reach similar goals.

We’re pleased to present our latest Technology & Digital Insights Report for H1 2026.

The UK technology hiring market is stabilising, but it’s a very different landscape to 12 months ago. This new Report reveals a shift toward more cautious, targeted hiring, as organisations prioritise critical roles while navigating ongoing economic uncertainty.

At the same time, flexible workforce models are on the rise, with businesses increasingly turning to contingent talent to balance delivery and cost.

But the biggest challenge?

Available skills.

Despite a growing candidate pool, acute shortages persist in high-impact areas like artificial intelligence, where demand is only continuing to accelerate. Our latest data is highlighting:

• +63% YoY growth in AI Engineer roles
• +85% YoY growth in Generative AI roles
• 85% of financial firms are already using or planning to adopt AI

As a result, organisations are rethinking not just who they hire, but how work gets done and are focusing more on upskilling, cross-skilling and more flexible talent strategies. This is particularly interesting with salaries in the sector becoming more static.

With these trends set to continue through 2026, you’ll want to download the full report via the link below to ensure your Tech, Data and Cyber salaries are stacking up against others in your region and set your business up for success.