Overall Market Sentiment

Q2 2025 has shown early signs of recovery in the technology recruitment landscape across Hong Kong and Singapore. While the broader market remains cautious due to persistent macroeconomic concerns, there is clearly more activity compared to the first quarter.
 

• Demand has picked up, with new roles being released more consistently. However, each role is proving harder to fill — either due to increasingly specific technical requirements or because candidates are more hesitant to move jobs in what they perceive to be a still-uncertain market.
   

• Compared to the highs of 2022, hiring volume remains subdued, but the direction is clearly more optimistic than in 2024. Whether this momentum is sustainable, however, remains to be seen.
   

Buy-Side Activity
 

• The buy side continues to lead recruitment in financial services. Hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, and digital asset firms have been significantly more active than traditional banks.

• One clear sign of long-term investment: Jane Street has signed as an anchor tenant at The Henderson in Hong Kong’s Central district, reinforcing its long-term hiring and growth plans in the city. (SCMP source)

• We’re seeing continued demand for C++ and Java low-latency developers, as well as Platform Engineers, DevOps, and Site Reliability Engineers (SREs), particularly in trading firms and quant houses.
   

Wealth Management and Insurance Technology
 

• Wealth management and insurance sectors continue to show consistent demand for technologists, particularly software engineers in digital platforms, data engineers, data analytics professionals, and experts in generative AI technologies.

• On the business and operations side, there is rising demand for automation across functions such as compliance, KYC, trade surveillance, customer service, claims processing, and investment data analysis, driven largely by the growing availability and application of GenAI solutions.
   

Senior Appointment
 

• We're observing a growing demand for C-level and C-minus-1 leadership roles in the market. The integration of AI and related transformation initiatives has become a top priority on the agendas of CTOs and CIOs, driving significant organizational change. Additionally, there's an increasing emphasis from the C-suite on optimizing costs while continuing to meet evolving technology demands.

Commerce Sectors
 

• We're seeing a stark divergence within the commerce industry. On one hand, certain sectors and companies are implementing cost-cutting measures in response to regional economic uncertainty—reducing IT expenditures and manpower in the process.

• On the other hand, a different cohort of companies is accelerating their investment in technology, particularly focusing on overhauling their tech stacks to align with the upcoming GenAI transformation. There's been a marked increase in demand for expertise in computer vision, IoT, and highly specialized PhD-level technologists capable of leading advanced AI development initiatives.
   

IT Services and Contracting Trends
 

• A positive trend is the renewed demand in IT Services, indicating an uptick in client activity and confidence in project spending. This is often a leading indicator for market recovery.

• Contracting remains robust, especially within sell-side firms. This trend aligns with tighter permanent headcount budgets, where firms prefer flexible, augmentative hiring to maintain delivery capacity.

• Outsourcing and offshoring continue unabated — India, Kuala Lumpur, and parts of Southeast Asia are the primary destinations for technology hubs and cost-effective delivery centres.
   

Category                         Skills/Technologies in Demand

Developers                      Low-latency C++/Java, Front End/Back End (Java/Python)

Cloud & Infrastructure     AWS, Azure, Hybrid-cloud, Migration Engineers

Data & AI                        Data Engineers, AI/ML Ops, NLP, Automation for internal operations &                                                    regulatory reporting

Compliance Tech             AML/KYC, RegTech for virtual asset licensing (notably in HK)

Cybersecurity                  Security Engineers, Risk Analysts (especially with HK’s new Cybersecurity                                              Law)
 

Compensation & Movement Insights
 

• Bonus payouts for 2024 have varied:

  • Sell-side: ~1 to 2.x months

  • Quant trading: 6+ months

  • Crypto firms: 3–6+ months
     

• Salary increments remain conservative, with most job-switchers achieving 10–15% increases. Candidates with niche skill sets (e.g. low-latency, AI) can still command 15–20% bumps.
   

• Firms are pushing internal mobility and retention more aggressively in light of tight budgets.
   

• Talent movement remains cautious:
   

  • Candidates are more risk-averse and selective, often delaying moves unless roles offer career progression or skill expansion.

  • Candidates without financial backgrounds continue trying to enter finance via the sell-side.

  • Sell-side to crypto remains a strong trend, while Big Tech to HFT is also noteworthy. Example: Microsoft’s Herb Sutter joining Citadel Securities.

Key Takeaways for Q2
 

• Market activity has improved over Q1, particularly in Hong Kong and the buy side.

• Each role is harder to fill, reflecting both supply-side caution and demand-side specificity.

• AI continues to reduce headcount needs by automating mid-level tasks, even as it creates demand for adjacent technical roles.

• IT Services demand and contracting activity signal growing project pipelines.

• While this isn’t a return to 2022’s fervour, signs of recovery are genuine, and the next quarter will be critical in determining whether momentum sustains or cools.