The New Year fast approaches. As AI innovations like ChatGPT garner excitement, banking technologists also look ahead with trepidation.
2023 promises to be an unusual market for banking technology jobs. The thousands of employees let go by FAANG and fintech firms are still likely to be sloshing around the market and banks may look to trim technology spending, even as their focus on automation continues.
Things are heating up in Dubai
India has long been big for back and middle office finance technology jobs, but sources say front office jobs are spreading elsewhere – in the Middle East.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) has been making its presence felt with the expansion of ADIA Lab, but it’s in Dubai that 2023 might see the most hiring. One high frequency trading firm headhunter says a “huge amount of trading firms” are setting up there.
It helps that Dubai is less regulated and has zero income tax. No surprise traders are all over it.
However, a subtler advantage is its strategic geographic location. “Timezone wise, Dubai is three or four hours in front of London, eight or nine hours from the US. It’s very well located and can trade across those time zones all day,” says the headhunter.
It’s also only one and a half hours away from India as well so as that location continues to grow, Dubai becomes even more attractive.
FAANG engineers must adapt to survive
The defining story of tech last year was FAANG cuts, and lots of them. Some of those that either left or were laid off will be looking for a role in finance, but it won’t be a cakewalk.
Nazim Razak, a quant trading recruiter, says that “the majority of tech talents are generalist in nature, lacking the deep fundamentals.”
Hedge funds will keep picking off the best staff
The best tech jobs are in hedge funds, and some of the biggest funds are being more aggressive than ever. Razak points to multistrategy firms like Millennium Management and Schonfeld as being far more vigorous about hiring than previously. Brevan Howard is also in the market for talent, having hired former Mizuho COO Kevin Gage as CTO in September.
The US makes more use of its space
Miami was the big story of 2022. But it’s not the only place attracting technologists. Texas is also growing as banks like Goldman and JPMorgan build teams there. JPMorgan, for example, has 1,500 jobs listed in Texas, 330 of which are in software development. Hedge fund HBK is based in Dallas and is also hiring, focusing on support and network engineers.
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