With a busy start to Q2 in the Business Analyst market, Sanderson have been having promising conversations with clients in several industries who are looking to hire candidates with these skills into their teams. With a lot of good candidates on the market, is now the time to secure your next Business Analyst? Our Principal Consultant David Awde shares his thoughts.

The Business Analysis job market is showing encouraging signs of becoming much busier over the second half of the year and we are actively engaged with clients across various sectors, including Life and Pensions, Wealth Management, Insurance, Utilities, Retail, and Automotive.

We have noticed a trend, especially in the contract space, where clients are looking for Business Analysts with niche experience working on specific types of projects. Within Financial service, for example, outside of the constant demand for Business Analysts with regulatory experience, we have seen multiple redress roles in the Motor Finance and Wealth space and an increased demand for Business Analysts with experience building new financial services products.

While candidate availability is good, strong candidates on the market are starting to obtain multiple interviews and offers when looking for work. As a result, clients may need to expedite their hiring processes to secure top talent and avoid disappointment.

If you’re interested to find out more as well as wanting to gain a deeper understanding of Change & Transformation job market as a whole this quarter, click here to download your copy of our latest Change & Transformation Insight Report today. https://www.sandersonplc.com/download/q2-2024-change-and-transformation-insights/

Our Talent Insights team are available to help you to understand more about talent trends, challenges and opportunities to make data-driven hiring decisions. Get in touch today if you would like to discuss the production of a bespoke report.

In one of our recent Talent Insights Reports, we highlighted the trend that a number of global businesses had opted to relocate their business services teams to the North, and specifically Manchester, as a step towards lowering the cost of hire, whilst maintaining a high calibre workforce, meaning Manchester is growing as a talent hotspot.

In this article, we look more closely at these trends UK wide and across a wider spectrum of skill sets, whilst looking at where some of these decisions originate from.

The rise of ‘near shoring’

“North shoring” is a term that really became popular in the early 2000s, in 2004 the BBC announced plans to move out of London with the current Salford Quays site being announced in 2006 – this then fuelled the growth of Media City.

We’ve since had the phenomenon of “near shoring”, with businesses choosing places such as Manchester, Bristol and Leeds to base their business support operations away from the prime locations of London.

Moves to the Northern Powerhouse

New entrants to the UK market are starting to pit the likes of London, Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester against each other to balance the quality of available candidates, cost of hire, cost of offices and quality of life. Whilst many are still laser focused on London as the only viable location to set up shop, Manchester is often coming out on top.

These trends are backed up by the “quality of life” stats provided by Numbeo, with London and Manchester achieving similar scores and both locations appealing with regards to purchasing power, healthcare availability and, perhaps surprisingly, property price to income ratio (www.numbeo.com, May 2024).

There has also been a real push in a focus on investment for businesses based outside of London, with some specifically set up to focus on investing in companies in the North of England. This is also backed by the recently launched Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II.

Our research has shown (as per the table above) that there are a large amount of people who are leaving the capital and moving to other cities, with Manchester being the most popular.  Interestingly the amount of people heading to Manchester is almost double that of Bristol, home to the second highest number of professionals leaving London. A clear indication that Manchester is becoming a hot spot for talent.

The appeal of Manchester for candidates and companies

We spoke to Deborah Walker, Head of Inward Investment for Financial, Professional and Business Services at MIDAS for her take on why Manchester and the surrounding areas in the North are becoming so appealing. She commented that:

“Greater Manchester continues to be a magnet for global firms looking to consolidate corporate or shared services or scale operations, particularly when access to qualified professionals, technology or cyber skills are a prerequisite.  These businesses want to be sure that as well as choosing a location which makes good sense economically, their workforce will be happy, so Manchester’s investment in talent is especially appealing.  We’re seeing almost 50% of its diverse, young and multi-lingual graduates – for whom lifestyle is just as important – choosing to stay here beyond their studies. Manchester is a creative and collaborative city and new investors quickly discover that here is where they can enhance the customer experience through leveraging skills and talent from the creative industries that surround them.”

Commenting on the rise of companies moving to Manchester to open offices along with the rise in competitiveness and desirability in Manchester office space, Joe Averill, Managing Director and Founder of Level, a company that provides bespoke workspace solutions for tenants across various sectors and size, noted:

“There is a “flight to quality” in Manchester’s office market right now (an increasing trend in real estate whereby businesses are willing to pay higher prices for premium spaces) as businesses look to select office spaces with higher levels of amenity and flexibility. We’re seeing this happening across start-up’s/SME’s, scales ups and enterprise clients. Due to demand, there is over 200,000sq ft of new flexible workspace launching in Manchester between now and the end of 2025. Businesses here are adopting more hybrid and flexible working models, and so want spaces where they can connect with others in a community, receive a high level of service, take the hassle out of moving offices, work in diverse and collaborative ways and operate in a building that offers high levels of amenity for their people.”

Talent Growth in the North

Data from LinkedIn Talent Insights shows us that there has been growth and migration across multiple industries for Manchester, with many of these candidates coming from London.

This table shows the increase/decrease in the number of professionals within each of the key markets over the past 12 months between London and Manchester.

Here we can see that there has been significant growth within Cyber Security, Data and Cloud & Infrastructure, with many of these candidates are now based in or working from the North.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is clear to see that many talented individuals across multiple professional sectors are relocating to the North from London, with a specific focus on Manchester and its surrounding boroughs as a place to work.

The increase in available investment, office space and out of work activities in the area makes it a desirable location for companies and candidates alike, and I expect to see these trends persist and the continuation of the rise of Manchester as a talent hot spot.

As the Regional Director for the North at Sanderson, I am passionate about Manchester and the surrounding areas as offering viable opportunities for many businesses.

Could Manchester be the place for you to set up your next regional office? If you would like to discuss talent opportunities in the North for you and your business, please do reach out to me at [email protected].

Would you like to hear more from Sanderson and learn about the work we do? You can sign up to join our mailing list here for a variety of updates, access to our market leading salary benchmarking data, white papers, reports and blogs PLUS our latest news and event invites.

With an increase in digital and technology candidate availability this quarter, we’ve been paying special attention to the rise in demand for Artificial Intelligence skills, and with that, the emergence of specialist AI roles such as AI Engineers.

Growth of AI roles

Our data has reported that UK job adverts asking for AI skills have doubled over the past year, with more than 7000 adverts on LinkedIn asking for these in the UK. We have even seen a remarkable 16-fold increase in job adverts asking for generative AI skills in general.

So where does this leave the tech and digital job landscape?

The emerging skillset of AI Engineers

With this rise in the need for AI skills, we have seen the demand for AI Engineers in the UK surge in beginning of 2024, reflecting a broader global trend towards the integration of artificial intelligence across various sectors.

Businesses across the UK are undergoing rapid digital transformation, spurred by the need to remain competitive in an increasingly digital economy. AI technologies are at the forefront of this shift, enabling companies to enhance efficiency, improve customer experiences, and innovate products and services.

No longer confined to tech giants and research labs; AI is being widely adopted across industries such as healthcare, finance, retail, and manufacturing. From automating complex tasks to providing predictive analytics and personalizing user experiences, the applications of AI are vast and growing.

The UK government has even recognised the strategic importance of AI and has invested heavily in AI research and development. Initiatives like the National AI Strategy aim to make the UK a global leader in AI technology. These efforts are stimulating the growth of AI startups and innovation hubs and ultimately leading to an increase in demand for AI Engineers across many industries.

The UK as a hub for AI Engineers

Our data suggests that the UK actually has the largest talent pool of AI Engineers in Europe, boasting 18% of the total talent pool.

This compares to 15% of the talent pool being based in Germany, 13% in France, 8% in Poland and 7% of the talent pool based in Spain.

Where in the UK are AI Engineers based?

When focusing in on the UK, a whopping 79% of this talent pool are based in London.

However, if you’re looking to hire this skillset across other areas of the UK, other significant talent pools include 5.7% of AI Engineers being in Bristol, 5.6% in Edinburgh, 2.8% in Manchester and 2.7% in Glasglow.

Interesting statistics on UK AI Engineers

We’ve rounded up some key stats for you on UK based AI Engineers:

• 7% of these are male
• 8% have been in their current role for less than 2 years
• The most common job titles are now AI Engineer, AI Research Engineer and AI Software Engineer compared to the previously common titles of Data Scientist, Software Engineer and Machine Learning Engineer.

Conclusion

With such appetite in the global market for specialist AI skills, we expect demand to continue its rapid increase to the extent that the AI Engineer job title is widely seen across the tech sector. In the face of this demand, employers will need to hire based on transferable skills until the talent pool matures.

For further information on digital and technology talent trends and predictions for this coming quarter, download our latest Technology and Digital Insight Report today.

If you would like to discuss how best to get hiring and building out your AI skill sets, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Sanderson team. We’re ready to help.

Would you like to hear more from Sanderson and learn about the work we do? You can sign up to join our mailing list here for a variety of updates, access to our market leading salary benchmarking data, white papers, reports and blogs PLUS our latest news and event invites.

With a strong talent pool in the UK, the software and manual Testing market has seen it’s fair share of fluctuations over the years. As we move through Q2, Sanderson Senior Consultant Elias Ofosu shares his thoughts on the Testing job market.

After a quiet Q1, Q2 has seen a steady rise in Testing vacancies, particularly for contract positions. Automation testing skills are in high demand, with companies seeking candidates experienced in tools like Selenium WebDriver, Cypress, and Specflow.

While there is still demand for manual testers, it doesn’t compare to the market for automation testers, which is in line with most industries shifting away from manual testing roles.

Over the past few months, we’ve noticed a trend in the number of organisations offshoring their QA function while keeping the Development team onshore. There are several potential reasons for this, including increased efficiencies, cost reductions and access to talent in job markets such as India and Central Europe.

However, the UK has an extensive and talented Testing talent pool, so this trend leads to an interesting question. How do engineering departments view QA in 2024? Is it an essential function with an equal voice in software engineering? Is it a job that should sit embedded with a software engineering team? Should developers take responsibility for end-to-end quality, or is it simply a cost centre that gets in the way of producing features at pace?

To find out more and to read our Test Automation Engineer Specialism Spotlight with an overview of talent pool location, salary ranges and gender splits, download your copy of our latest Technology & Digital Insights Report here.

If reading this has sparked a need for insights into your market, contact our expert Talent Insights Team today. We use a variety of first-hand research techniques, tools and proprietary data to help you understand more about the trends and opportunities within your market.

As we move through Q2, our Scotland based Senior Consultant Greg Gavin offers you his view on the current state of the Software Engineering job world, with a focus on the Scottish market.

The market across Software Engineering in Q1 2024 started similarly to how it ended in 2023 – relatively quiet. Whilst this fluctuation is expected as we transition into a new year, the market was hesitant to revert to the `usual volume’ of vacancies quickly.

Within the Scottish market, contract roles remain somewhat elusive, with more companies seeking to hire permanent staff where possible. This has been evident in the number of engineers on the contract market spending much greater periods looking for new roles. We expect the contract market to improve as the year progresses, as clients recognise urgent needs to reach deadlines.

The start of Q2 has seen a positive upturn in permanent vacancies. There have been significant opportunities for DevOps & Site Reliability Engineers (AWS appears to be the Cloud provider of choice). We’re also working with clients on a number of opportunities for full stack Software Engineers with wide ranging tech (specifically Node, TypeScript, JavaScript as well as backend tech like Python).

Additionally, we’re working with clients on several leadership roles (Head of Software Development, Engineering Manager, Head of Site Reliability Engineering etc.). Successful candidates in these roles will be busy from a recruitment perspective, as their immediate responsibilities will involve growing and scaling their teams.

If you’re interested to find out more as well as wanting to gain a deeper understanding of Technology and Digital job market as a whole this quarter, click here to download your copy of our latest Technology & Digital Insight Report today.

Our Talent Insights team are available to help you to understand more about talent trends, challenges and opportunities to make data-driven hiring decisions. Get in touch today if you would like to discuss the production of a bespoke report.

Our Permanent Recruitment Team Lead for the North and Midlands Holly Robinson offers her insights into the state of the market for architecture careers.

“Last year was relatively quiet in the architecture careers space, with around 10% of Architects switching employers. Having seen the usual seasonal slowdown towards the end of Q4, hiring demand for all architects is increasing.

We predict a standard mix of both permanent and contract hiring over 2024. While permanent architects are preferred, especially for long-term programmes, contractors with specialist skill sets or specific domain knowledge will always be in demand.

As cloud computing becomes the norm, customers are always looking for candidates with solid experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS and Google Cloud to a lesser degree. Artificial Intelligence is also high on the mind as a skill set that customers are looking to hire and one that candidates are looking to upskill in or learn in a new role.”

Interested to find out more? You can read Sanderson’s full market analysis in our latest Technology & Digital Insights Report for Q1 2024.

Click here to download the full report.

Our Talent Insights team are available to help you to understand more about talent trends, challenges and opportunities to make data-driven hiring decisions.

Sandersons Principle Consultant Sian Dean gives her view on the current state of the data job market and looks at the importance of data skills for 2024 candidates.

“The Data market has remained strong over the past year, with just over one in five data professionals switching companies in 2023. All types of businesses recognise the importance of data and how it can help drive better decision-making, improve productivity and create competitive advantages.

While we are seeing demand for contract and permanent resources, we are seeing demand for contractors with specialist skillsets outpace demand for permanent staff. We are seeing candidates gravitate towards roles where they will get the opportunity to work with cloud technologies and where they will get exposure to Artificial intelligence.

Finally, in a world where more and more businesses are trying to get staff back into the office, we see that the demand for candidates with niche data skills, such as Data Engineers, is so high that they can still secure fully remote roles.”

Get the full report by downloading the 2024 Q1 insights report for Technology & Digital here.

Our expert talent insights team use a variety of first-hand research techniques, tools and proprietary data to help you understand more about the trends and opportunities within your market.

Our projects range from salary benchmarking for a single vacancy to multi-region competitor analysis and talent pool insights to support global location strategies. We offer a tailored service backed up by expertise, where we listen to your challenges and generate solution-based advice.

Sanderson Senior Actuarial Consultant George Mohan gives his thoughts on the actuarial job market and the demand for actuarial talent as we move into 2024:

“There was a high demand for both interim and permanent actuarial talent in the latter half of 2023, and this trend is expected to continue throughout 2024. In particular, demand for interim actuaries is high due to ongoing regulatory changes such as Solvency UK, which has caused a rise in demand for risk and capital actuaries.

The shortage of contract actuarial professionals has also increased the demand for permanent actuaries, resulting in candidates being able to demand and, more importantly, secure higher salaries due to the levels of competition.

We expect the permanent and contract actuarial job markets to be very busy through 2024. As it is a candidate-driven market, companies need to ensure that they can retain their current talent, pay competitive salaries, and have a strong employer brand and EVP to make sure they can attract the best talent.“

Interested to find out more? Download the latest Finance & Accountancy Quarterly Insight Report here.

As experts in understanding the job market, in this blog we give you an overview of the current state of the finance job market. With a focus on Scotland, Consultant Declyn Brown shares his thoughts:

“In 2023, businesses across the nation tried to cut costs and reduce spending to enhance their profitability. In Scotland, we witnessed a notable rise in layoffs, which, combined with the ongoing cost of living crisis, led to a higher than usual number of active candidates. However, hiring demand did not meet the available candidate supply, resulting in a sluggish job market. Interestingly, while we saw permanent roles put on hold, we saw an increase in the number of FTCs, demonstrating a client-driven market.

The finance market of 2024 is showing signs of improvement as companies are resuming projects that were earlier postponed. As inflation rates drop and economic confidence grows, we anticipate an increase in hiring activity. While the supply of candidates for generalist finance roles remains high, niche positions like Financial Data Analysts will continue to be challenging to fill, particularly as data is becoming an increasingly popular area for businesses to invest in.”

To access more information and cutting edge insights into the market, download our latest Finance & Accountancy Insight Report for Q1 here.

Chris Baker, Sanderson Project & Programme Management Principal Consultant, gives his take on the outlook for the Change & Transformation job market in 2024:

“The contingent Business Change & Transformation market was largely dormant in the second half of 2023 across the country, with few clients recruiting in significant numbers and a marked dearth of large transformation programmes being initiated across almost all industry sectors. However, the London Specialist Insurance market has stayed buoyant, with strong demand for contingent and permanent hiring.

2024 has started much more positively, with clients across multiple sectors beginning to plan for change throughout the year, although an air of caution is still clearly prevalent. The expectation is that hiring demand will grow as we progress into the year. Initial indications suggest that we will see notable demand for customer rectification programmes being spun up within the financial services industry, fee restructuring within the wealth sector, and merger and acquisition activities across multiple sectors.

In a slower, client-led, contingent market, requirements for individual hires remain very specific, and we expect that to become slightly less focused as the contingent workforce currently sitting on the bench returns to work and the balance between hiring demand and candidate availability returns to a more even keel.”

To access more information on the latest industry trends regarding Business Change & Transformation, download Sanderson’s latest Insight Report here.