The global fintech sector has seen an exceptional +182% increase in tech job growth for the first quarter of 2022 – with the top 8 fintech ‘mega-hubs’ accounting for over 90% of all new fintech jobs advertised around the globe.

The findings – from recruitment firm Robert Walters’ Global Fintech Talent Report – highlights how the fintech industry is one of the fastest growing sectors post-pandemic, outperforming the wider market by 3x.

However according to recruiter Robert Walters, the sector will face major hurdles this year as an acute tech talent shortage around the globe threatens to halt the fintech growth machine.

Toby Fowlston, CEO of Robert Walters comments:

“The forecast for organisations working in the global fintech market is a very positive one, however, their growth will be dependent on their ability to recruit and retain the right tech talent.

“The most advanced economies have long established that they cannot be ‘good at everything’ and instead have focussed their efforts in becoming specialists in a few core areas.

“For example – you have Germany for engineering, China for manufacturing, and the UK for banking. But no country quite has a dominance over technology and given the remote & mobile nature of the tech industry it seems that all major economies are competing for a slice of the fintech pie.

“Whilst the outcome of competition means heightened innovation and consumer choice, from a talent perspective this creates a challenge and as the adoption of fintech products continues to grow at an exceptional rate the concern is whether there is enough of the right tech talent to keep up with the growth.”

The Robert Walters’ Global Fintech Talent Report considers various factors across geographies impacting talent attraction including skills in demand, retention levels, gender diversity, salary and VC investment.

UK vs Rest of the World

VC Funding: The UK is behind only the USA when it comes to fintech funding – attracting $4bn in the past year, on par with tech giants China and Japan.
Fintech Activity: With almost just as many active fintech firms as the USA – standing at over 1,500 – London continues to play an attractive home for fintech HQs, with surrounding areas such as Manchester and Birmingham proving to be attractive locations for satellite offices.
Talent Landscape: Vacancies have grown year-on-year within fintech (+136%), with the UK fintech hiring predominately at the senior-end of the market to accommodate the fast-scaling nature of the market.
Toby adds: “Exit strategies for UK fintech’s are front of mind and so it is not uncommon for professionals to move on to another role within 1.5 years once they have seen through one major growth cycle or investment round.”