Blog: Job Alert! 2019 outlook for hiring trends in the Fintech Sector

Talent Acquisition

Job Alert! 2019 outlook for hiring trends in the Fintech Sector

So, what skills will dominate Fintech talent recruitment in 2019?
Job Alert! 2019 outlook for hiring trends in the Fintech Sector

“Disruption! Disruption! Disruption!”

Anything that the fintech sector is synonymous with is perhaps disruption. Today, this disruption-driven approach has solved some of the fundamental market challenges such as the last-mile delivery of financial services. It has simultaneously enhanced financial visibility and is developing the desired infrastructure to make economies more robust. 

In India, the overall fintech market size is around $50 billion at present and is pegged to become worth $73 billion by 2020. Fintech players are diversified across 8 broader categories including Payments (such as Mobile Wallets), Remittance, Alternative Lending, Wealth Management, Blockchain/Cryptocurrency, Digital Banks, InsurTech, and RegTech. 

So, if you are determined to make a cut into the fintech domain, here are some of the hiring trends for 2019 that you must have a look at:

Technology Management: The fintech industry is experiencing an acute shortage of Technology Managers. Currently, there are roughly 700 to 800 professionals available throughout the APAC region. If you have a good command on Algorithms, Distributed Systems, Spring Framework, and Python, you can secure packages worth more than Rs. 20 to 30 lakh per annum.

Block ‘Change’: The year 2018 has seen the rise and (a relative) fall of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which are based on a novel technology called blockchain. The distributed-ledger-based technology can record transactions in a verifiable and secure manner and has the potential to alter the very nature of global payments. This is also why regulatory boards are quite apprehensive of cryptocurrencies and are developing their own blockchain-based systems (like IndiaChain) for wide-ranging applications. The demand for blockchain talent is also at an all-time high in the Indian fintech domain and you can make your application stand out the crowd by including blockchain skills, especially the ones revolving around blockchain security (such as Elliptic Curve Digital Signatures, Public and Private Key Cryptography, and Merkle Proofs), to your CV.

Information Security and Privacy Officers: With international privacy laws coming to fore, India is also on the verge of introducing its own regulation. The draft of Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 has already been submitted to the Law Ministry and the final GDPR-like regulation might get passed in the parliament this year. This will create specialized job roles such as Privacy Officers amongst Fintech organizations. However, you’ll be needing Information Privacy certifications to become one. 

The demand for Information Security professionals including IT Security Specialists, Network Security Engineers, Vulnerability Analysts, Forensics Experts, and Auditors has also increased of late.

Artificial Intelligence: Another revolutionary technology in the fintech space is Artificial Intelligence. AI and all of its subsets including Machine Learning and Deep Learning are finding their way into nearly every aspect of business operations. And the same goes for fintech. This technological intervention is enabling us to automate processes, accelerate the pace of work, conduct quick tech overhauls, and derive deep and highly accurate insights alongside its other applications. The current trend is shifting towards ‘Reinforcement Learning’ within the Indian fintech industry.

The Mindset: Before acquiring all other skills and qualities to join the fintech sector, you need to first develop the fintech mindset. The entire sector is known to have a really fast-paced and dynamic working style as well as an untiring go-getter attitude. Sometimes, you could be working for multiple weeks without even getting an off during weekend (as it happened during demonetization), other times, you will be staring at complicated challenges that might seem completely impossible to solve. Sometimes you would have to learn something really quick, and then unlearn it even faster. It is quite difficult to survive in the fintech sector if you’re not passionate about it. However, if you are, you’ll be seeing your career trajectory easily zooming ahead of your non-fintech peers. So, develop the right mindset before planning to enter the domain.

It will be an understatement to say that the fintech space has a great potential in the modern financial landscape. The sector itself is going to emerge as our financial market in the near future. All you have to do is develop the right skillsets, maintain the right approach, and stay determined to be a part of this rising behemoth.

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Topics: Talent Acquisition, #Hiring, #Trends

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