Over the past few weeks, we've been speaking with FinTech CTOs, engineering leaders and hiring managers about their priorities for the second half of the year. One theme has come up time and again: technical capability alone is no longer enough. Increasingly, they're looking for engineers who understand the realities of building software in regulated environments, where compliance, governance and security are built into every decision.
It raises an interesting question:
“Would this engineer make the same technical decisions if they’d spent five years working in banking?”
It's a question that's becoming increasingly relevant for FinTech hiring managers.
Two software engineers can have almost identical technical skills yet approach the same problem in very different ways. One instinctively thinks about audit trails, data privacy, compliance and governance. The other may focus on functionality, speed and user experience.
Neither approach is wrong. They've simply built software in different worlds.
For FinTech hiring managers, however, that difference can have a significant impact on hiring decisions.
FinTech hiring is changing fast
The skills that made a great software engineer two years ago aren't necessarily the same skills employers are prioritising today.
FinTech companies are embracing AI, modernising legacy systems and accelerating digital transformation. At the same time, they're operating in an environment of increasing regulatory scrutiny, growing cybersecurity threats and ever-changing customer expectations.
That combination is reshaping hiring priorities.
From our conversations with FinTech hiring leaders, we're seeing a shift. Employers aren't just looking for engineers who can build great software. They're looking for professionals who can build secure, resilient financial software that stands up to regulatory and commercial demands from day one.
It's Not Just What They've Built
It’s where they’ve built it that often makes the difference.
Many of the hiring managers we speak with aren't struggling to attract candidates; they're struggling to identify who has the right experience.
A resume can show the right programming languages, cloud platforms and development tools, but it doesn't always reveal how someone has applied those skills.
Have they built payment platforms handling sensitive customer data? Have they worked within strict governance frameworks? Have they developed software where every release needed to meet compliance requirements?
These are the conversations we're having more often with clients.
It's why interviews increasingly move beyond technical capability and into real-world experience. Hiring managers want to understand not just what a candidate has built, but the environment they built it in.
Why Regulatory Experience Changes Decision-Making
There's a useful phrase that's becoming more common: regulatory empathy.
It describes engineers who instinctively consider compliance, governance, security and risk alongside technical delivery.
These considerations are built into the way they approach architecture, design decisions and deployment from the outset, not added later when compliance becomes involved.
As AI and financial regulation continue to evolve, this mindset has increased in value.
AI is making the assessment even harder
AI is also making it harder for employers to assess technical capability.
Candidates can now showcase personal AI projects, custom GPTs or applications built with tools like Claude or GitHub Copilot, but that raises a new question for hiring managers.
How much of that work reflects genuine technical expertise, and how much was accelerated by AI?
More importantly, can a candidate apply those skills inside a regulated financial environment where governance, security and compliance are non-negotiable?
It’s not just a FinTech challenge
While this challenge is particularly in FinTech, it is not unique.
RegTech businesses need engineers who understand how technology supports compliance.
InsurTech companies need people who can innovate without compromising governance.
Cybersecurity teams need professionals who appreciate both technical risk and regulatory obligations.
Almost every organisation operating in a regulated industry is facing the same question: how do you identify candidates who understand the environment they're building for?
The future of FinTech hiring
AI will continue to reshape how financial software is designed, developed and delivered.
Regulation will continue to evolve alongside it.
The organisations that succeed won't simply be the ones with the best engineers; they'll be the ones with engineers who understand the environment they're building for.
Looking for technology professionals with experience in regulated industries?
We've spoken to clients who have realised three or four interviews into the process that a technically impressive candidate didn't actually have the right experience they were looking for.
That's expensive, time-consuming and avoidable. Meanwhile, the candidate who was a good fit has been hired somewhere else.
These are the conversations we're having with FinTech leaders every day. While technical capability remains essential, we're seeing greater emphasis placed on engineers who understand the regulatory, security and governance challenges that come with building financial technology.
Whether you're growing a FinTech platform, scaling an engineering team or hiring cybersecurity specialists, MCS Group can help you identify professionals with both the technical expertise and industry experience to make an immediate impact. Contact us today.
