Fintech startups live in a world of paradoxes in 2024, and recruiting trends for go-to-market (GTM) jobs in the sector reflect the staggered rates of growth seen among many different companies here. Some firms are seeing a slow pace in both arenas, while others are scaling up much more rapidly. In this blog, we will dive deeper into how these patterns are playing out in the financial technology space, and how they will affect hiring for GTM roles over the next year:
Fintech Recruiting Trends vs Other Tech Industries
To understand where the Fintech market stands with its own recruiting trends, it is essential to look at where the sector stands in comparison to the broader tech industry. Technology startups have faced serious challenges from economic shifts, causing cascade effects from tougher sales cycles to shrinking budgets. While many companies in SaaS and its other subsectors have scaled back talent acquisition efforts, Fintech maintains a slightly more robust hiring outlook overall.
Fintech Keeps Growing But Not Without Pains
The financial technology space continues to expand, with different orgs showing varying levels of sustained growth. While some areas are still growing more slowly compared to the rapid expansion seen during the immediate pandemic years, the market overall is on a positive trajectory due to various factors allowing Fintech companies to continue scaling their revenue and teams upwards. Part of this is a continuing push to hire more go-to-market professionals to help contribute towards fulfilling each org’s sales motion, although just as with other parts of the tech startup world, the primary recruiting focus remains on recruiting for technical roles devoted to improving and maintaining value on the product side.
Proliferation of Financial Tech & New Opportunities to Scale
Perhaps the biggest trend driving growth for financial SaaS platforms is the increasing demand for digital finance automation and tracking solutions across different industries. This comes in various forms and for multiple reasons, but digitalized payments are one of the key drivers in this arena and their proliferation across myriad spaces of an increasingly online world are creating many opportunities for disruption from new startups, as well as for experienced technical sellers to help generate more growth. B2B payment tools in particular will present an emerging market focus that will require familiarity with this field to propel sales and marketing effectively.
Startup Funding and GTM Recruiting in Tech
You cannot speak of the tech startup space in the 2020’s without addressing how venture capital funding for the industry has changed over time. VC firms went through a huge pivot when the economy started to slow down, reevaluating where the best return on investment potential was shifting to and how to ensure portfolios were positioned for maximum growth. For technology companies looking for their next round of funding, this means being on top of emerging trends in the market – and Fintech orgs are better-positioned to take advantage of new functionality and applications.
Focus on AI and High-Growth Potential
Generative AI is a hotspot of venture capital focus and funding dollars, with the technology exploding throughout the tech world and promising to fundamentally transform how people work. This has made it a popular avenue for VC investment, and SaaS companies looking to stand out are increasingly introducing artificial intelligence capabilities into their product ecosystems. Fintech is not exempt from this trend by any means, and already we have seen plenty of both established players and disruptors seek to apply AI-powered feature sets and new use cases into the market.
The Rise of AI in Fintech
Venture funding is far from the only reason many financial technology startups are striving to introduce artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities into their product lines. The potential of these solutions is especially poignant in the world of payment automation and even for general transaction management – everyone likes to have peace of mind when it comes to their money, after all, but few have the time to go through every dollar, cent, check and receipt multiple times a day. Gen AI brings a lot of possibilities for scaling financial management controls and workflows.
This technological shift is reflected in the type of experience Fintech startups seek when hiring for GTM roles:
- Account Executives (AEs) who have sold AI solutions before and understand what prospects are looking for – or what they haven’t thought to look for yet.
- Growth marketers who have used artificial intelligence toolsets and know the best way to leverage them to scale outreach
- Customer Success Managers (CSMs) and candidates for other operational roles that are able to work with AI-tech to contribute value to GTM strategies, from customer retention to performance analytics
Key Recruiting Focuses in Fintech
Here are the top focuses we found for go-to-market recruiting in Fintech:
Tech Sales Unicorns vs Other GTM Jobs
Just as with most of the rest of the technology sector, financial tech startups are seeking out their own technical sales unicorn to refine how they sell. This is a veteran professional bringing serious experience selling in their market – i.e., Fintech – and channel, as well as a background in engineering or other product knowledge area that enables them to engage prospects on both grounds. However, many growing firms are still sourcing junior-level sales jobs, unlike a lot of other tech markets that are focusing solely on their unicorns.
Here are a few other key trends to note:
- Fintech startups are taking longer to find and vet their unicorn AEs, looking for the perfect fit with the right knowledge they need for their sales motion
- Quite a few sales and GTM executive job listings feature AI experience as a prerequisite
- Many junior GTM roles, especially for Sales Development Representatives (SDRs), are increasingly allowed as remote or hybrid positions
Marketing Specialists
The marketing landscape in Fintech is continuing to evolve with sales, although at a noticeably slower pace. There is a recruiting focus on a few specific areas:
- Growth Marketing roles, as with other parts of tech, are rising to the forefront of hiring for many startups
- Many Fintech companies are looking to add both Content and SEO specialists, reflecting a digital marketing strategy drive
- Product marketers are seeing a slow increase in sourcing here, as many financial tech firms look to sell on their feature lists – including new AI functions and integrations
Compensation Trends for Fintech Hiring
Fintech compensation in 2024 is largely in line with the broader tech industry, but with its own little variations:
- Higher salaries are reserved for those AEs with 5+ years of experience in Fintech or related markets
- Compensation for SDRs and other entry-level roles with less than 1 year of experience often falls below the average rate
Refine Your Recruiting for Fintech Sales & Marketing Unicorns
The Fintech sector’s dynamic nature demands a strategic approach to talent acquisition, especially for GTM roles. With Betts Recruiting and our new Comp Engine, you can gain real-time insights into compensation trends and the available talent pool, helping you source top-tier candidates who will drive your growth and help you scale faster.
Sign up for the Comp Engine here and gain access to real-time salary data that will help you find your unicorn seller for Fintech faster.