โThe collapse of major financial institutions like Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank last year served as reminders of the criticality of robust risk management structures. Combined with volatile markets that make global market visibility unpredictable, financial risks are becoming even more complex to manage. Despite numerous shocks over the past year, we have seen remarkable resilience in the risk management space, resulting in strong demand for highly-skilled risk professionals.
2024 Risk Hiring Trends in Europe
Operational risk candidates in London have been moving from sell side to buy side to make more strides in investment or portfolio risk positions. Some of the biggest hedge funds have been looking to expand their teams, and banks in turn are experiencing challenges retaining talent as they compete with those funds, especially in front office and macro risk teams.
Securing top talent in London has become increasingly difficult, especially within quant risk roles, as banks, funds, and commodity trading houses are all competing for top-level candidates with similar qualifications: a PhD from the leading universities, strong understanding of the markets, and experience from top companies in the industry.
Risk professionals in Germany have been more open to new opportunities, due to mergers, redundancies, offshoring of risk functions, and a flatter 2023 bonus season. Regulatory pressures in Dublin, Paris, and Luxembourg also underscore the importance of risk teamsโ size and skillsets, alongside the resilience of banksโ risk frameworks.
Attracting Top Talent to Your Business
Streamlining interview processes is crucial, with a recommended 3-4 interview rounds and increasing interviewersโ involvement, in combination with maintaining competitive salary benchmarks. This accelerates the hiring process and reduces the risk of losing out on talent to competitors. To attract talent, firms must also have budget allocations and growth strategies already in place.
โIn-Demand Roles
Commodities professionals, particularly in renewables and liquefied natural gas (LNG), are in high demand. On the buy side, there is a focus on risk analytics, investment risk, and operational aspects, whether in trade or Treasury functions. Sell side teams are growing across a wide range of risk management areas, including operational risk across first and second lines of defence, third-party risk, internal audit, insurance risk, and technology/cybersecurity risk.
There is a rising need for analytical / quantitative skill sets, particularly with proficiency in Python and C++ to handle complex demands and issues faced by the front office, but also to help organisations consider the full range of risks they face.
There is also a strong demand for highly skilled risk professionals with regulatory expertise, technical skills, and linguistic skills in some cities. In Germany, there is a growing need for candidates with German language skills coupled with quantitative skills. Overall, desire for seasoned risk managers has never been higher and shows no signs of changing across Europe.
The Future of Financial Services in Europe 2024
 | โ Learn more about risk management developments in Europe this year and their impact on the demand for talent in our recent report, 'The Future of Financial Services in Europe - 2024'. In this report, experts from Selby Jennings in Europe assess the hiring landscape across key financial services sectors, offering guidance to help organisations address the most critical challenge facing business leaders today: finding and securing the right talent. |
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Download the Future of Financial Services in Europe - 2024 report now:
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