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Finance, Crypto, and Fintech Recruitment in 2026: Solving the Talent Equation
- Julia Koblischke
- 2 days ago
- 10 min read
Finance recruitment is evolving - because the finance sector itself is being rebuilt in real-time.
New technologies like AI and blockchain are reshaping finance. As innovation accelerates, regulation also grows, making compliance and risk expertise more critical than ever.
Whether it’s an accountant in a startup or a CFO leading a global financial institution, demands and skills are evolving. Even junior professionals are now expected to forecast trends, analyze new technologies, and stay on top of changing regulations.
It is clear - finance talent has never been more vital.
And, as always, with high demand comes scarcity. The market shows it: 50% of companies report problems in recruiting financial professionals.
Yes, hiring the right people in finance, fintech, and crypto is harder than explaining financial derivatives and cryptocurrency to your grandparents.
Luckily, it’s not impossible.
We explore the challenges and share proven recruitment solutions for fintech, finance, and crypto.
The Current Situation: Finance Talent Shortage
Without the right people in finance roles, companies risk missing reporting deadlines, regulatory non-compliance, stalled digital transformation projects, and weakened investor confidence.
In crypto and fintech, the stakes are even higher, with innovation and survival hinging on specialist talent that blends finance, tech, and regulation.
Recruitment in finance is already under strain, and the data proves it:
Unemployment is exceptionally low for finance professionals. In the U.S., accountants and auditors have an unemployment rate of about 2% in 2025, compared with a ~3.7% national average U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This makes them harder to recruit than most other professions. A talent war is underway as fintechs and crypto firms recruit from larger institutions to gain the credentials and trust required for regulatory licenses and expansion.
The situation is not much different in Europe’s financial job market. One recent Financial Times article illustrates how specialized financial segments (like ETF / fund management) are seeing dramatic salary inflation in Europe behind fierce competition for expertise.
According to one study, the hunt for executive finance talent is going international. As an illustration, 38% of searches in Europe involve candidates from outside the country, up from 31% just two years ago.
Meanwhile,” in CEE, SSCs are proving to be pipelines for leadership, with junior hires growing into senior finance and even C-suite positions,” notes Veronika Máthé, a senior talent sourcer at Serendi.
Demand for hybrid skills is growing. Finance job descriptions increasingly demand a mix of accounting, financial analysis, automation, and ESG knowledge. This puts more strain on recruitment teams, as these skills are rarely found in a single candidate.
51% of finance and accounting managers say hiring fast enough to secure talent is a major hurdle, and 50% point to salary demands as another key challenge. (source: Robert Half)
“Roles in finance, crypto, and fintech are marked by constant turnover. As soon as one vacancy was filled, another opened. Success depends on moving quickly the moment strong candidates become available.” - Milica Lapcevic, Talent Acquisition Partner at Serendi.
Salary pressure is rising. Research shows showed above-average increases for FP&A analysts, controllers, and compliance specialists. (Robert Half) According to a survey by Selby Jennings, 42% of bonus packages did not meet the expectations of Europe’s finance professionals, and 55% said that better benefits would attract them to a new company.
New roles are emerging thanks to AI: AI financial analyst, AI auditor, AI compliance analyst, etc. It is clear that digital expertise powers finance transformation. However, according to Gartner’s survey, most CFOs say their teams fall 50–75% short of optimal talent levels.
How managers bridge skills gaps: 49% are upskilling employees, 46% reskilling for new roles, 43% engaging skilled contract finance talent. (Robert Half)
Finance Recruitment: Trends to Expect in 2026 and Beyond
So, what does the data reveal? In short, organizations that want to attract leading finance professionals must be ready to adjust to today’s realities:
A Shrinking Graduate Pipeline in Some Areas
The supply of new accounting talent is dwindling. U.S. graduates declined 18% since 2015–16, falling to about 65,000 in 2022–23. Europe shows a similar market trend: ICAEW, ACCA, and CIMA report shrinking enrollment, with the Accounting Talent Index noting a 5.5% drop from 2017 to 2022.
Growing Job Mobility
ACCA’s Global Talent Trends 2025 survey shows 57% of Gen Z and 53% of Gen Y see finance and accounting roles as a gateway to entrepreneurship. What's more, 58 % of respondents expect their next role to be outside their current organization. For employers, this means a higher risk of turnover and tougher battles to retain finance talent.
Upskilling Becomes the Norm
The same ACCA study found that over 70% of finance professionals are actively upskilling in data, technology, and sustainability. Expect more candidates to pursue hybrid career paths, blending finance expertise with digital and ESG skills. Companies that don’t offer upskilling risk losing people to those that do.
Salary Premiums for Finance Specialist Roles
Experts predict sustained salary growth in finance roles that combine compliance, ESG, or fintech skills. In practice, this means companies must either pay more or hire remote talent to fill critical roles.
Retention is More Important Than Ever in Finance
Companies need to put more emphasis on retaining talent in finance. With fewer graduates entering the pipeline and mobility rising, keeping existing talent is now just as critical as attracting new hires. However, retention strategies go beyond pay.
Today, finance professionals expect clear career pathways, flexibility, and ongoing learning opportunities. Companies that fail to provide these will see attrition climb, while those that invest in employee experience, alumni engagement, and internal mobility can build a sustainable workforce advantage.
Now that we understand the challenges, let’s turn our attention to the solutions that make a difference.
Finance Recruitment in Practice: Solving Sector-Specific Challenges
See how Serendi transformed recruitment outcomes for companies facing complex hiring challenges.
Finding a Leader: CFO Executive Search
An international chemical company expanding into Mexico faced an unfamiliar hiring landscape. Without prior experience in executive finance recruitment, they struggled to define the right profile for a CFO who could establish local operations and drive growth. The multimillion-dollar investment could fail as a result.
The solution:
Our team acted as advisors from the outset, guiding the hiring manager through the financial market realities, salary expectations, and candidate availability. By sharing data and insights, we helped refine the role to match both business needs and local talent supply. With this adjusted strategy, we were able to present a strong shortlist in just 11 days.
The outcome:
A Chief Financial Officer was successfully hired within 29 days, which was well ahead of expectations. The speed, quality, and advisory support demonstrated throughout the process earned us additional roles to fill as the company continued building its Mexican operations.
Securing Qualified Finance Talent for European Expansion
When a global automotive supplier expanded into Switzerland, Poland, Germany, Hungary, and Serbia, their hiring challenge quickly became critical. Finance roles sat open for months, compliance requirements differed across borders, and without a unified strategy, progress stalled.
The solution:
Serendi stepped in to rewrite the story. We built a dual-track model with local financial recruiters on the ground and centralized sourcing to connect the dots. We strengthened their employer brand, improved candidate experience, and launched a referral program to unlock hidden and passive talent.
The outcome:
45% lower costs, 30% faster hires, and a cohesive finance team that kept clients satisfied and powered growth across Europe’s automotive industry.
Scaling a Finance Hub in Central Europe
A leader in global professional services was expanding its Central European hub, adding dozens of roles ranging from Financial Analyst to Reporting Manager. The local labor market was crowded: multinationals and SSCs were all competing for the same bilingual finance talent. The company was relying on finance recruitment agencies, which proved ineffective and expensive. Speed of hiring and maintaining consistent quality became critical pain points.
The solution:
An RPO team built proactive pipelines of multilingual finance graduates and mid-career professionals, using structured assessments to measure both technical and stakeholder skills. To stand out in the competitive market, the hiring process emphasized growth opportunities, career progression, and cross-border mobility.
The outcome:
Within a short period, time-to-fill was cut by over a third, and attrition stabilized. Thanks to RPO services, the Central European hub became one of the firm’s most efficient finance operations, proving that disciplined talent strategies can overcome even the most competitive hiring environments.
Delivering Finance and Executive Talent Solutions: Driving Finance Transformation
A leader in chemicals and materials launched a major finance transformation program, requiring not just Controllers and Analysts but specialists in financial systems, reporting automation, and data-driven forecasting. Traditional accounting talent pools weren’t enough - the organization needed hybrid profiles blending finance and technology skills.
The solution:
An RPO-led campaign focused on attracting digital finance talent, targeting professionals with ERP expertise, data analytics backgrounds, and cross-border corporate finance experience. Candidate pools were built across multiple European markets to overcome local shortages, and structured assessments were designed to evaluate both technical and transformation capabilities.
The outcome:
Within months, the company successfully staffed its transformation program, cutting reliance on expensive external consultants. The new hires enabled faster reporting cycles, better forecasting accuracy, and built internal capability to sustain ongoing digital change.
Finance Leadership Behind Global Sports Projects
An international sports body in Switzerland faced a critical moment: major international projects depended on stronger financial governance. They urgently needed Financial Controllers and Consolidation Officers/Analysts who could ensure transparency, manage complex reporting, and inspire trust across stakeholders. The problem? Lausanne’s finance talent market was crowded, with NGOs and multinationals competing for the same scarce financial expertise.
The solution:
We worked hand in hand with the hiring leaders, reframing the search around impact rather than just technical skills. By positioning the roles as a chance to shape global initiatives, we attracted finance professionals motivated by purpose as well as career growth. Cross-border sourcing added further reach to the talent pool.
The outcome:
The roles were filled quickly, securing leaders who combined consolidation expertise with the ability to navigate a high-profile, mission-driven environment. Their contribution strengthened financial oversight, ensuring that flagship international projects moved forward with credibility and momentum.
These examples show: structured and candidate-centric finance recruitment makes even “hard” markets manageable.
Why are RPO Services the Right Solution for Finance, Crypto, and Fintech Recruitment
Recruitment process outsourcing is the simplest way to turn finance, crypto, and fintech hiring into a reliable engine.
Serendi’s model is built for flexibility: we embed with your teams, amplify (not replace) in-house capability, and offer different RPO models:
End-to-End RPO,
Project RPO
Talent Sourcing
The benefits of RPO are:
Scalability: RPO teams can flex up or down with hiring demand.
Improved Hiring Metrics: 40% faster hiring and 50% lower recruitment cost, on average
Predictable Cost: You only pay for what you get.
Wider reach: Access to global talent pools, including niche roles.
Full Talent Pipelines: No more empty positions - our proactive sourcing keeps your workforce steady.
Better candidates: With a better candidate fit, you can expect up to 30% lower turnover.
Compliance & risk management: Essential in regulated finance and crypto markets.
Better candidate experience: A structured, brand-aligned process improves offer acceptance and retention.
You Have Full Control: We adapt to your needs while keeping you in charge.
Recruitment in Finance: Conclusion
In 2026, winning finance, crypto, and fintech hiring means turning recruitment into a repeatable system, not a series of one-offs.
Define roles by skills and outcomes. Source across borders. Use finance recruitment services like RPO for scale, speed, compliance, and predictable cost.
That’s how you protect candidate experience, reduce churn, and keep critical finance roles filled.
Ready to rethink your recruitment strategy?
Serendi helps finance, crypto, and fintech companies build workforce solutions that go beyond generic hiring.
Do you have 15 minutes? Book a quick consultation.
Cut hiring time by 40% and reduce costs by 50%
Find & Hire the Best Finance Talent
Effortlessly. With Zero Risk
Hiring across multiple industries and locations? Explore our expert guides:
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Recruiting Tech Talent: 5 Talent Streams in Europe’s IT, and How to Leverage Them
Hiring Paradox in Advanced Manufacturing - Why Generic Recruitment Strategies Fail
IT Specialists Recruitment: the definitive challenge
About the author
Julia Koblischke is a Business Development Manager at Serendi.
Julia has over 8 years of cross-industry, international experience in talent acquisition and account management, advising our clients globally. Her passion lies in transparent communication, connecting people with the right opportunities, and helping companies achieve growth and success.
Finance Recruitment: Frequently Asked Questions
Why are finance roles so critical now?
Finance is changing fast. New tech (AI, blockchain) and tighter rules raise the stakes. A late or wrong hire can slow reporting, invite compliance risk, and hurt growth.
How do we attract better candidates in finance?
Write clear, skills-based jobs. Share salary ranges. Offer learning (e.g., data, automation, regulation), flexibility, and a simple interview process. Show career paths, not just tasks.
What is the best solution for hiring finance talent?
RPO is one of the best finance, crypto, and fintech recruitment solutions because it embeds with your team, managing your complete candidate journey or specific pieces. Embedded finance recruiters also protect your candidate experience and brand. RPO offers always-on, cross-border pipelines with predictable pricing and flexible capacity. The results: up to 40% faster hiring, 50% lower costs, and 30% less turnover.
Can RPO handle finance executive hires (e.g., CFO) as well as volume?
Yes. An RPO can spin up a dedicated pod for executive searches while maintaining the speed and quality expected in volume hiring. This is useful when you need a CFO and a team beneath them. Serendi offers multiple engagement models (End-to-End, Hybrid, Project, On-Demand) to fit both scenarios.
What’s the difference between Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and finance recruitment agencies?
RPO embeds with your team and supports you: planning, sourcing, assessment, offers, and onboarding, plus data and compliance support. It can also handle one-off executive searches with a dedicated pod. In contrast, finance recruitment agencies typically work transactionally on single placements, with limited ownership of process or candidate experience, which can drive higher total cost and attrition.
How fast can Serendi find finance talent?
For recurring roles, shortlists can come in days because pipelines already exist. Specialized leadership roles take longer but move faster with a clear brief and pre-agreed process. In one instance, we identified the ideal CFO candidate in just 11 days
Can an RPO provider help with retention in finance, fintech, and crypto?
Yes. Better fit from structured assessment, realistic job previews, smoother onboarding, and market-aligned offers reduce early churn. RPO also feeds back what candidates want so managers can adjust before people leave.
What makes Serendi one of the top finance recruiting firms?
Serendi is a four-time “Major Contender” in Everest Group’s RPO PEAK Matrix for EMEA. With us, finance recruitment is run as an operating system, not a series of transactions. Serendi’s embedded RPO gives you 40% faster hiring, 50% lower cost, and up to 30% less turnover through better fit. We keep pipelines full so roles don’t sit vacant, pricing is predictable (pay for outcomes), and capacity flexes to hire, pause, or restart as needed.
