Sectors

Typical roles

• Machine learning engineers
• Applied AI and research scientists
• MLOps and platform engineers
• AI product and programme leads

What we’re seeing

In our searches, applied experience now commands a premium over the title. Base salaries for senior machine learning engineers across our European markets typically sit in the £95k–£130k range; remote European roles benchmark 10–15% lower.

Recent work includes a 20-person technical build for a Series B AI business and a senior applied AI appointment for a global payments platform.

Typical roles

• Backend and full-stack engineers
• Frontend and mobile engineers
• Staff and principal engineers
• Engineering managers and heads of engineering

What we’re seeing

We see fewer, more senior hires and a higher bar on system design, reliability and product judgement. Candidates are asking harder questions about on-call, technical debt and how product decisions are made.

Recent work includes 46 engineering and platform hires across six countries for a global payments platform.

Typical roles

• Data engineers
• Analytics engineers
• Data scientists and analysts
• Heads of data and data platform leads

What we’re seeing

Snowflake, dbt and Python remain the common core, but the differentiator is whether a candidate has owned a data product end to end. We see strong demand for analytics engineers who can work with finance and product teams.

Recent work includes a data platform team for a FTSE 100 financial services group and an early data hire for an AI scale-up.

Typical roles

• Platform and DevOps engineers
• Site reliability engineers
• Cloud and infrastructure architects
• Security engineers and CISOs

What we’re seeing

Kubernetes and AWS experience is now assumed at the senior end. The scarcity is in people who have run platforms at scale, owned reliability targets and can explain the commercial trade-offs of security decisions.

Recent work includes a cloud platform build for a consumer technology business and a CISO search for a Fortune 100 enterprise software company.

Typical roles

• Product managers and product leads
• Product designers and UX researchers
• Technical programme managers
• Heads of product and design

What we’re seeing

Product hires are increasingly expected to understand data, commercial models and technical constraints. We see less patience for generalist product managers who cannot show a decision they owned.

Recent work includes a product and design leadership team for a payments platform and a technical programme manager for a global marketplace.

Typical roles

• CTOs and CIOs
• CISOs and heads of security
• VP Engineering and heads of technology
• Heads of data and transformation

What we’re seeing

Leadership searches are taking longer and involving more stakeholders. Boards want evidence of delivery at scale, commercial judgement and the ability to build a team, not just a technology estate.

Recent work includes five leadership hires across the US and UK for a Fortune 100 enterprise software company.