AI is expected to fuel Wall Street’s tech hiring in 2025. Headhunters break down what you need to know to get a leg up.

Recruiters say Wall Street firms are planning to hire more tech talent next year.
Jobs at AI companies like Nvidia and OpenAI, or ones that work with their products, are highly sought after.
Recruiters Ben Hodzic and Matt Stabile outline how jobseekers can stand out in the hiring process.

It’s been a tough year for software engineers on the job market, but one bright spot is starting to emerge on Wall Street for technologists looking for a new gig.

Banks, hedge funds, and investment firms bullish on AI are expected to hire more tech talent in the new year, according to two headhunters who recruit engineers and data scientists for finance firms. That’s good news for jobseekers in these sectors, which were long considered to be recession-proof careers but were hit this year with waves of layoffs, job freezes, and hiring cutbacks.

Ben Hodzic, a managing director at recruitment firm Selby Jennings who finds talent for hedge funds and investment banks, told Business Insider there’s “a lot of optimism” around AI in financial services.

“Financial services institutions are slowly adopting their workflows and they’ve come to a reality where you need the right talent to actually build and implement and manage those products,” he said.

In some cases, the hiring spree is already happening. Jamie Dimon, the boss of America’s biggest bank JPMorgan Chase, said earlier this year that he’s anticipating adding thousands of jobs related to AI in the next few years. Hedge fund and proprietary-trading firms are shelling out as much as $350,000 in annual salaries for top-tier AI researchers and engineers. Meanwhile, private-equity firms have been “clamoring” to hire AI operating executives to improve their portfolio companies.

Hodzic said the rosier outlook stems from a desire to build AI tools in-house and boost worker productivity in areas like wealth advisory, investment banking, and trading. More clarity on the direction of macroeconomic factors, like inflation and the impacts of the US election, is also providing tailwinds for banks looking to invest in human capital in 2025, he said.

While AI is expected to drive an uptick in tech hiring, the technology is also changing what it takes to get a tech job on Wall Street. BI spoke with recruiters to find out how candidates should adapt and what they need to do to stand out.

They outlined some of the industry’s most in-demand skills, explained why having Big Tech experience might not get you that far anymore, and shared the companies that hiring managers want to see on resumes. They declined to disclose specific client activity due to privacy agreements.