The number of jobs in the UK’s FinTech sector rose by 61 per cent last year, according to a new study.

A survey from recruitment firm Robert Walters found that demand for FinTech specific skills such as data analytics, software development, computer science and Artificial intelligence (AI) has driven salaries up by as much as 25 per cent over the course of 2018.

The firm’s annual survey, which gathers data on tech roles including data engineering, DevOps and user experience (UX) found that London’s position at the top of the table for European FinTech funding –which current stands at 39 per cent of the total venture capital (VC) investment in the sector- has pushed salaries higher.

This compares to the 21 per cent of European FinTech funding that went to Berlin (21 per cent), Paris (18 per cent), Stockholm (5 per cent), Barcelona (4 per cent), Amsterdam (4 per cent), Zurich (3 per cent), Copenhagen (2 per cent) and Dublin (2 per cent).

In addition, the report noted that venture capital backing has a positive impact on take home pay, with an additional 20 per cent on average added to roles at SMEs with VC backing versus those who had yet to secure funding.

The study found that permanent salaries for roles spanning data engineering, development and devops had seen a 10 per cent average rise, with those working as big data architects seeing the biggest boost of 25.9 per cent, rounding off at an average £90,000 for those working in a VC backed FinTech.

Data science and analytics salaries rose by an average of two per cent, with the top paying role head of data analytics, which demanded an average salary of £87,000.

Technology-based roles in FinTechs saw salaries growth of four per cent on average, driven in part by a 10 per cent jump in the salaries commanded by product engineers.

The top earning role in the technology subsector was technical lead, which commanded average pay of £90,000 last year for those working in VC-backed enterprises.

While IT vacancies absorbed half of the FinTech hiring market in 2017, this figure dropped by seven per cent in 2018 as business growth and preparation for Brexit called for skills in other areas, the study found.

Banking and financial services roles in VC-backed enterprises also saw significant wage inflation, with salaries for permanent staff up 14 per cent on average, with head of compliance being the best paid role at £75,000.

Danika Jarmer, director of strategic accounts at Robert Walters said: “The rise of FinTech comes at a time where talent shortages are felt across major professional disciplines, and so VC funding is acting as somewhat of a ‘game changer’ when it comes to attractive job offers.

James Murray, Director of financial services at Robert Walters said it had been no surprise to see compliance as the largest growth area this year.

He explained: “The spotlight on FinTechs has meant that they are now having to address concerns from regulatory bodies and prove that they are just as capable of being compliant as the big banks. With relatively unestablished compliance departments, we can expect to see rapid hiring in this area for the rest of this year.”

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