When it comes to how an organisation manages their contingent hiring, the process rarely becomes inefficient overnight.

These warning signs usually emerge gradually: with inconsistent supplier use or hiring manager experiences, limited HR visibility of contractors across the business and growing stakeholder concerns about governance and spend.

Annoyingly these issues tend to develop over time, so they can be easy to just brush under the carpet and feel like they’re a normal part of contingent workforce management.

But for many organisations, and especially those operating in specialist or highly regulated markets like financial services, just ignoring them can come at a cost leading to issues like overspending, compliance risks and difficulty in scaling workforces.

If you saw our previous blog on how a first-generation MSP can help iron out these cracks, you might be looking for a bit more help on how to spot if you need more structure.

That’s why we’ve put together this blog, diving into the detail on the five signs you should look out for so you can get ahead before any issues take hold.

1. You cannot see the full picture

If your contingent workforce data is spread across multiple spreadsheets, different inboxes, procurement systems and multiple supplier relationships (and let’s face it, this is often the case in many busy mid-market organisations with overstretched teams), it becomes difficult to answer basic questions about contractor population with confidence.

So, if you can’t easily answer questions like:

• How many contractors are active?
• Which suppliers are being used?
• Where is spend concentrated?
• Which roles are hardest to fill?

Then it’s likely you haven’t got enough visibility, leading to decisions becoming reactive and governance being much harder to maintain.

2. Hiring manager experience is inconsistent

When different teams use different suppliers, processes and approval routes, the experience of hiring a contractor ends up varying widely across the business.

Maybe some hiring managers are receiving strong service and fast delivery, but others are facing delays, confusion and poor-quality candidate shortlists.

Inconsistency like this is often a sign that contingent hiring is being managed reactively rather than strategically.

3. Compliance relies too heavily on manual checks

In regulated sectors like financial services, contingent workforce compliance is not just a side issue. But many businesses still depend on manual processes, local knowledge or split responsibilities to manage their onboarding, contractor documentation, approvals and worker status.

If this sounds like your business, then this could be an issue as it creates risk, especially as contractor populations grow or move around the business.

Having a bit more structure would help to reduce that risk by making accountabilities and controls more explicit.

4. Supplier usage is expanding without clear governance

As business priorities shift and demand changes, it’s pretty common for new agencies or consultancies to be added informally over time. But if supplier engagement grows without clear rules or performance standards, then you could be looking at fragmented spend, supplier duplication and weaker control.

If this sounds familiar then don’t be put off by thinking more structure means reducing supplier choice for sake of it, it’s actually about ensuring supplier relationships support your broader business strategy.

5. You’re expected to optimise contingent worker costs without impacting service levels

Across many organisations, busy HR and talent acquisition teams are being asked to create greater workforce control, all while maintaining hiring speed and access to specialist talent. But if your current contingent hiring is difficult to measure, compare or optimise, then this becomes almost impossible.

If this sounds like you, then having more structure will allow you to balance commercial control with operational responsiveness rather than treating them as competing priorities.

What do these signs mean?

Don’t worry, if you read through those five signs and recognised them in your own business, it doesn’t automatically mean you need a large-scale transformation!

But if you did recognise these signs, then it does suggest that your contingent hiring may have outgrown its current operating model.

For many mid-market organisations, this is the point where MSP (Managed Service Programme) becomes an important strategic consideration. Not because the business wants more complexity, but because it needs more clarity, consistency and control.

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 grab yourself a copy of our handy MSP Readiness Checklist below.

And if you’re feeling MSP ready, then don’t hesitate to reach out for a chat and we can work with you to assess where structure would create the most value for you and your business.

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. 

In today’s business landscape, organisations generate and collect vast amounts of data every day. Traditionally, this data was stored and managed on-site in physical servers located within offices. However, as businesses look to increase flexibility, improve scalability and enhance performance, many have recognised that older on-premises environments can limit growth and innovation.

As a result, cloud and data migration remain some of the most common topics of conversation with the organisations we engage with.

While many have already embarked on their migration journey, others are still in the planning stages, often citing cost, technical capability, stakeholder buy-in and legacy system dependencies as key challenges.

This reflects a broader market trend. Organisations are no longer simply moving infrastructure, they’re redesigning how data is stored, governed, accessed and leveraged across their business. Yet many still underestimate the complexity involved in successfully transitioning from on-premises environments to the cloud, leading to challenges such as skills gaps, integration issues, accessibility concerns and unexpected costs.

That’s why we’ve put together this blog, taking our experience when working with clients and what we’re seeing in the market to provide you with our 6 Top Tips for a Successful Cloud Migration. 

Let’s get started!

1 – Start with a Clear Business Outcome

The most effective migrations are driven by business objectives, not just technology change. Whether your goal is cost optimisation, scalability, resilience or even enabling AI and analytics, clarity upfront is critical.

So before beginning any migration, we’d recommend you start by setting clear answers to questions like:

• What problem are we solving?
• What does success look like?
• How will we measure ROI?

2 – Avoid a “Lift and Shift” Mindset

Simply moving legacy systems into the cloud without modernising them runs the risk of transferring any existing inefficiencies into a more expensive environment.

We’d recommend viewing cloud migration as a data transformation, not just a data relocation, so before you get started why not take the opportunity to:

• Reassess your existing architecture
• Remove any technical debt
• Optimise workloads
• Modernise your applications where appropriate

3 – Prioritise Data Governance and Security Early

Security and governance shouldn’t be retrofitted after migrating your data to the cloud. If you want your migration to be as successful as possible, then you should think about embedding security into your migration strategy from day one.

This means looking at strong controls around:

• Access management
• Data classification
• Compliance
• Encryption
• Monitoring

This comes especially important for multi-cloud and hybrid environments.

4 – Understand your Data Landscape

Don’t underestimate how fragmented your data estates might have become over time. Poor visibility at the start of a migration can cause major issues further down the line. So before migrating it’s essential to:

• Identify critical data sources
• Understand dependencies
• Remove duplicate or redundant data
• Improve data quality

5 – Invest in the Right Skills and Capability

Having the right talent in place can often mean the difference between a migration succeeding or stalling. Whilst technology is a critical component of any migration programme, people ultimately determine whether the strategy is successfully delivered.

Across the market, one of the most common challenges we see is organisations underestimating the breadth of skills required for a successful migration. Cloud and data transformation programmes rarely rely on a single individual or team, they require a combination of technical expertise, leadership and stakeholder engagement.

Some of the most in-demand professionals we support clients with include:

• Cloud Architects
• Data Architects
• Data Engineers
• Platform Engineers
• DevOps Engineers
• Cloud Security Specialists
• Programme and Project Managers

The most successful organisations combine these specialist skills with strong internal leadership and effective collaboration between technology and business stakeholders. This ensures that migration programmes remain aligned to business objectives while maintaining technical excellence throughout delivery.

From our experience, organisations that invest in the right capability early in the process are better positioned to manage risk, overcome technical challenges and realise value from their cloud investment more quickly.

6 – Take a Phased Approach

Large-scale migrations rarely succeed as “big bang” programmes. Incremental progress typically delivers better long-term outcomes, which is why we’d suggest having a phased roadmap to allow you to:

• Reduce operational risk
• Learn and adapt during delivery
• Demonstrate early value
• Minimise disruption to the business

Ready for a successful cloud and data migration?

We’re well placed to get you the talent you need, fast. Whether it’s Cloud Architects and Data Analysts, or DevOps and Infrastructure Engineers, Sanderson can ensure you’ve got access to the right specialist cloud and data talent.

So, if you’re about to embark on a cloud and data migration and would like to chat about how to successfully achieve this, please do get in touch.

Any other questions on Cloud Migration? Drop me a message at [email protected]

We partnered with a major Outsourced Service Provider operating largescale customer service and complaint handling functions within the Financial Services sector. Their environment demands a constant pipeline of high-quality talent to maintain service excellence across high volume teams.

The Challenge

The client required ongoing recruitment support to deliver around 1,000 Customer Service Representatives and Complaint Handlers per year.

The Solution

We embedded a dedicated team within the client’s operation and built a fully scalable recruitment framework designed specifically for volume Customer Service roles, including a targeted agile attraction strategy, candidate support and passive talent engagement.

The Result

Fill in the form below to read on and discover how we successfully helped them improve their candidate experience and reach 1300 hires per year.

When you need to strengthen your talent strategy and get the right people on board to achieve your goals, sometimes you need a helping hand that works with you flexibly to address your recruitment needs.

And that’s exactly what People’s Partnership, a leading UK not-for-profit financial services company who specialise in providing workplace pensions, were looking for.

The Challenge

Their team were searching for a provider who would be able to really get under the skin of their business to understand what makes them tick and then work with them side by side to build a talent solution that would stand the test of time, as well as removing their current pain points.

The Solution

This is exactly what the Sanderson team are experts in. We thrive on absorbing the culture of each of our clients, being able to act as an extension of their brand and then design and deliver bespoke solutions that successfully meet client challenges and objectives.

After collaborating with the team at People’s Partnership, we quickly established that a Project RPO would be a perfect fit for them, working as a flexible solution to act has a helping hand to their in-house teams, but leaving them firmly in the driver’s seat.

The Result

Fill in the form below to read on and discover how we successfully helped them bolster and upskill their customer service teams…

Securing the right senior leader is one of the most important decisions an organisation can make. Whether you’re replacing an existing leader or expanding your management team, the implications for organisational performance, culture and long-term strategy are significant.

The challenge?

The senior talent market is often small, highly competitive and will likely require careful handling. The hiring team can also face additional pressures, from confidentiality requirements, to assessing behavioural leadership competencies, as well as ensuring they’re reaching passive talent in the market.

That’s where a dedicated partner like Sanderson Executive Search can lend a hand.

In this blog we explore the most common challenges organisations encounter in senior hiring, and how our tailored search methodology helps you overcome them with confidence.

Leadership Competency & Long-Term Fit

A challenge often encountered with senior leadership hiring is that the technical expertise alone to “do” the role isn’t enough at senior levels. There are other important factors to ensure the right fit and alignment to the role and organisation such as values, company culture and strategic capability.

Leadership style is another important factor that needs to be considered as a leadership candidate needs to be able to not only have subject matter expertise but also the ability to inspire and lead others, a completely different skill set that needs careful consideration.

The search also needs to encompass the candidate’s future career motivations to ensure a long-term fit in the role. Identifying those who will genuinely benefit from position and where it meets their non-financial motivators.

This is why with Sanderson Executive Search, every candidate is assessed through four core lenses that shape long term success:

Objective Fit

We evaluate skills, experience, achievements, and overall technical credibility.

Leadership Fit

We explore leadership behaviours, cultural alignment, and strategic maturity.

Motivation

We identify what drives the candidate and whether your opportunity meets their long-term goals.

Practical Considerations

We assess logistical factors and any barriers that could affect commitment or onboarding.

The more senior the role, the more critical leadership fit and motivation become. Our structured assessment therefore ensures you appoint a leader who thrives, not just one who qualifies.

Developing & Delivering Compelling Propositions

Senior leadership roles are often complex and harder to fill than other positions, made even more challenging thanks to how rare these candidates are. These searches require an equally thoughtful and consultative search process, with hiring teams needing clear insight into:

• What sort of candidates the market can realistically deliver
• How your opportunity compares to others on the market
• What will motivate the right candidates
• How to engage leaders who are not actively looking for a new role

A compelling and well-defined proposition then needs to be developed into order to adequately explain the role, and to attract the right candidates.

To overcome this challenge, it can be helpful to work with a partner who will take the time to:

• Consult with hiring teams when building the proposition to ensure it stands out in the market
• Build a compelling brief that is then delivered directly to the target candidates
• Ensure the proposition is clear so that candidates can fully understand the full scope of the opportunity

This ensures that every outreach, especially to passive candidates, resonates with authenticity and impact.

Navigating Geographical Constraints

Geographical constraints are another challenge often encountered during a leadership search. Location can be a limiting factor for certain leadership roles, depending on factors such as:

• Regional market maturity
• Industry clusters
• On site leadership requirements
• Level of travel required with the role
• Relocation feasibility

Our search methodology therefore explores both local and wider talent pools, identifying individuals with regional ties or who could benefit from relocation.

Confidential Hires

Another common challenge when hiring for a leadership role is the need to keep the search confidential. There are many reasons why these searches need to remain discreet and, in these situations, hiring teams need a search partner who can operate with discretion while still engaging high quality talent.

Our approach supports confidential hiring by allowing you to:

• Tactfully access both passive and active senior candidates through a carefully managed network of talent
• Maintain full confidentiality while ensuring a thorough market search
• Tailor outreach, messaging and process steps to minimise risk while remaining flexible to any organisational sensitivities.

Our track record in confidential searches is built on refined processes that protect organisational reputation while still securing exceptional leaders.

Business Critical Appointments

And finally, leadership hires often carry business critical weight. Hiring teams conducting a search for a leadership position need a process that is transparent, robust, and evidence based.

Our methodology provides exactly that. We’ll carry out:

Consultation

We work closely with you to understand the context, challenge and success criteria, shaping a tailored solution that best reflects what you need. With us, this is very much a two-way process, combining our market expertise with customer perspectives.

Research & Identification

We comprehensively map the market using primary research to identify all relevant candidates. Care is taken to explore parallel industries and potential capability rather than purely track records to broaden talent diversity. We also prioritise a human approach here to map a clear picture of exactly where talent pools exist, instead of focusing purely on online sources which often only see a proportion of the market.

Engagement

We then approach talent proactively with a personalised, compelling proposition designed to convert interest, not just awareness. This is particularly important for candidates who are not actively looking.

Assessment

Every potential candidate, including internal talent, is assessed through in depth interviews, profiling tools and cognitive analysis to provide a clear, objective view.

Delivery

We’ll then provide a shortlist of the strongest leaders the market has to offer, supported by insights and ongoing collaboration at every stage. At each stage we collaborate in a test and learn approach, involving the organisation each step of the way which allows us to adapt to client needs, ultimately securing a better result together.

Needing a Helping Hand with Insights & Advice

When embarking on a senior leadership hire, the hiring team shouldn’t have to navigate the complexity these searches bring alone.

Our team provides market led insight throughout the process, helping teams understand:

• Where talent exists
• How supply and demand might influence the search
• What candidates value today
• How wider industry shifts may impact future leadership needs

This isn’t simply about filling a role, it’s about securing leadership capability that supports the long-term success of organisations.

Ready to Simplify Senior Hiring?

If you’re looking to reduce complexity and secure a leader who truly elevates your organisation, we’re here to help.

Get in touch today to discuss your senior talent challenges and how we can support your next executive appointment.

A global Insurance company recently came to Sanderson needing to address their change management delivery and capability.

They were looking to build a permanent Enterprise Change team in a short space of time, so the Sanderson team quickly stepped in to help source, screen and deliver multiple roles in this space. Working as a strategic partner, our team delivered at pace and in a way that would set this client up for the future, and the project saw success highlights such as:

• Over 5500 candidates approached
• Creation of a bespoke cognitive assessment process
• 196hrs of hiring manager time saved
• 100% offer acceptance rates

Read on to discover how.   

The Challenge

The client had recently appointed a new Head of Enterprise Change, and they made some key observations such as the need for the company to bring in more experienced staff to support their change capabilities and delivery.

A proposal was then put together for a more effective change delivery framework which would reduce contractor cost and build a permanent internal change team. This structure came under four pillars: Portfolio Management, Change Management, Project Management and Business Analysis.

With only a handful of permanent Business Analysis and Project Managers and no Change Managers within Enterprise Change, the client needed to resource the team with the right disciplines in a short space of time.

Introducing Sanderson as a Resourcing Partner

Upon realising they needed to scale at pace, the client needed the help of a talent resourcing partner and so invited three recruitment companies to present a solution that would:

• Take responsibility for the end-to-end hiring process
• Elevate the client as an employer of choice
• Provide access to specialist talent in the insurance sector
• Save hiring managers time

During this process, it was clear for the client who would be their recruitment partner of choice.

“Sanderson was our first choice, we were drawn to their ways of working and instinctively knew it was the right path. It wasn’t just a good communication discussion, they stood out because they offered a sense of partnership but also a sense of transparency, agility and flexibility. Right from the get-go, it was their partnership approach that won the show.”

An Agile and Flexible Solution

The solution wasn’t just a “one-size-fits-all”. Led by Sanderson Insurance Practice Lead Denise Morris, we took the time to listen and work in partnership with the client. Here’s some of the key factors that stood out for them during the process:

Commitment

“They did all the heavy lifting for us”.

Sanderson hit the ground running with weekly meetings and created a dedicated reporting cycle in an interactive approach to screening, interviewing and shortlisting candidates in a short space of time.

“What worked was that we iterated our way to getting the best candidates, and that happened so fast, for the first round of screening they were coming to us with recommendations. It didn’t feel like a numbers game, Sanderson presented individuals who were quality candidates”.

With confidence in the top candidates, Sanderson offered advice and consultation in the final stages and presented the strongest CVs. This was then supported by a bespoke cognitive assessment process that was specific and unique for these types of change and transformation hires.

Flexibility

The client’s team really felt like they had a voice throughout and were heard when things needed to change. Sanderson were quick to respond to the evolving needs of the programme.

“As the recruitment process progressed, we had a much clearer vision and criteria for the type of candidates we wanted to interview. We knew what we needed, as did Sanderson, they helped to fine tune that process, they came on that journey with us.

While the scope of our requirements had evolved, our new recruits have surpassed expectations. They quality of candidates has been commented on by people outside of our team in their first 1-2 months of working here”.

A Strategic Partnership

The client reflected on the partnership and how Sanderson took their time to understand not just their strategic goals, but also their culture:

“I think one of the biggest things was the effort the team put into understanding us, what we were looking for and what we were building out. They understood the nature of the projects that we would be likely to drive and equally the projects we weren’t going to drive.

It was great to see the camaraderie being built by the new cohort of recruits. As they joined at the same time, there was a real sense of being in it together and we have worked to cement this attitude by organising workshops with the existing teams. The Sanderson team played a strategic role in helping us to construct our team charter”.

An Extension of the Team, Enabling BAU for Talent Acquisition

The client’s Talent Acquisition Lead expressed how Talent Acquisition worked seamlessly with both the Enterprise Change team, the team at Sanderson and together they delivered the work “as a triad”. Everyone had their role to play, and it freed up time for the TA team to work on the day-to-day support for the rest of the business.

“It was the effectiveness of Sanderson and the way they worked to ensure that I could carry on with my BAU job for the other parts of the business I support. I pretty much handed it over to Sanderson and trusted them to expedite this. And that’s exactly what happened. I was only really needed for facilitating admin or interviews. There was no disruption to the rest of Talent Acquisition, it was all in hand.”

Summary and reflections

A Project RPO Success

The solution we delivered here is called a Project RPO. This is a flexible recruitment solution that offers many of the benefits of outsourcing recruitment to a resourcing partner, but without the long-term commitment. You can find out more about Project RPO here.

Here’s what we delivered in numbers: 

Find out more about our RPO solution and get in touch with the team here if you’d like to have a conversation.

In case you missed it, we recently launched our brand-new Financial Services Hiring Trends Report for 2025 which focuses on Digital, Technology, Change and Transformation hiring in the Financial Services sector during 2025.

The Report shows the positive news that there’s been a 12% increase in industry wide vacancies, with all signs pointing towards an optimistic and energised 2026 in the finance sector.

With the signals clear that financial services employers are beginning to re-engage with long-term workforce planning, in this blog we get stuck into some of our six top predictions for Financial Services hiring throughout the rest of 2026.

Let’s get started!

1 Increase in hiring intentions

We’re predicting an increase in hiring intentions throughout the rest of 2026, backed up by recent survey data from KPMG that’s reported that 55% of financial services firms are planning to hire more staff this year than they did in 2025.

The focus of these hiring strategies also appear to be very much technology led, with data indicating that 57% of those firms planning to hire intending to invest in AI skills. This could indicate a clear shift this year towards digital capability and AI transformation.

2 Growing business confidence

According to many business leaders across Sanderson, there’s a clear theme emerging showing growing confidence among financial services employers. This is a theme we predict to continue through the rest of the year as many of our recruiters are expecting new vacancies to emerge from major banks finally progressing with their long-awaited and large-scale digitalisation projects.

We’re also predicting an uptick in the industry-wide appetite for strategic leadership as well as future investment in technology and change projects. A prediction backed up by many of our recruitment teams noticing a number of senior hires being prepared throughout Q1.

3 Steadier market conditions

We’re anticipating that the market will start to steady out quickly during the start of 2026 thanks to optimistic regional fintech investment as well as large public sector investment. This is backed up by the Bank of England going public with its desire to expand regionally and even allocate 50% of it’s roles outside of London by 2027.

4 Reignition of DEI programmes

Our recruitment teams are also predicting a reignition of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) programmes throughout the financial services sector. This aligns with companies in the sector becoming less reactive in their hiring and moving towards more deliberate hiring with clearer strategies to attack the marker and then deliver on long-term projects.

5 Larger candidate supply

Another prediction we’re making for 2026 financial services hiring is that the start of this year will see some of the largest candidate supply opportunities that we’ve seen since the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. This is backed up by recent KPMG data reporting that the end of 2025 saw permanent labour availability rise at its fastest rate in four months.

And what might this mean for financial services decision makers? Well, we’d expect organisations to be well positioned to reach any immediate transformation goals thanks to access to a strong pool of talented Project Managers, Business Analysts and Testers being available to tap into.

6 Stable salaries

Our recruiters are expecting stable salary conditions for the start of 2026. Despite busy hiring markets towards the end of last year, current salary trends are not implying that a big spike in salaries is on the cards. Combine this with current market activity showing steady but controlled competition, we’re predicting that salary conditions will balance out rather than overheat as we progress through the start of the year.

How to get ahead of your financial services hiring in 2026

We’re optimistic that thanks to greater market clarity and larger talent pools being available, businesses in the financial services sector will be able to bolster their teams with talented hires that can deliver on long-term strategies and goals.

So with this in mind, now may be the time to reassess your hiring strategies, enhance your understanding of emerging technologies and address your skills gaps with the right blend of permanent or contractor talent.

To get yourself feeling more prepared to tackle the year, why not download your own copy of our new Financial Services Hiring Trends Report which reflects on and provides insight into how market trends have shaped hiring throughout the Financial Services sector, as well as providing market-leading data to help organisations like yours position yourself competitively to secure top talent in an increasingly dynamic market.

Set yourself up for success by downloading a copy of the Report here:

We’re pleased to present Sanderson’s brand-new Hiring Trends Report focusing on Digital, Technology, Change and Transformation hiring in the Financial Services sector during 2025.

This much anticipated report provides an overview of which roles saw hiring surges and the most demand during 2025, insight into hiring conditions throughout the UK, our expert opinion on where demand might be headed for 2026 as well as data to help guide companies on where they can gain competitive advantages in the market to help them obtain the best candidates out there.

The beginning of 2025 saw many employers demonstrate hesitancy towards their permanent hiring, largely driven by budget restrictions and wider uncertainty in the economic environment. However by the end of the year thanks to factors like a prioritisation of digital transformation causing a surge in demand for AI skillsets, we were seeing hiring conditions improve significantly, even a permanent market that was 44% more active year on year by December 2025.

With market-wide data indicating that 2026 should open with more a more optimistic hiring outlook, now may be the time to reassess your hiring strategies, enhance your understanding of emerging technologies and then address your skills gaps with the right blend of permanent or contractor talent.

This report, using data from VacancySoft and LinkedIn and reviewed by Sanderson’s market-leading experts, reflects on how these trends have shaped hiring throughout the Financial Services sector in 2025, as well as providing predictions on how it may evolve throughout the remainder of 2026.