Market Update: Tech & Change Hot Roles - (w/c 27/10)

A quieter close to October as half-term pauses hiring activity across both interim and permanent leadership markets. While volumes dipped, the underlying confidence remains, with active pipelines and a steady mix of transformation, digital, and data leadership mandates continuing behind the scenes.

Volume & Mix

39 roles total this week.

• Permanent: ~26

• Interim: ~13

• Channel: Around 70% agency-led, with direct hires seen mainly in government, education, and non-profit sectors.

Key Trends This Week

Half-term slowdown but no loss of momentum
The market naturally softened as decision-makers paused searches and candidates took leave. This is a seasonal lull, not a structural shift — with strong activity expected to resume in early November.

Transformation leadership steady despite the dip
Interim briefs remain focused on Programme Directors, Transformation Directors, and Finance Change leads, particularly across private equity, manufacturing, and government-backed organisations.

Permanent hiring resilient in core technology posts
A solid week for IT Directors, Heads of Technology, and Heads of Change, alongside niche roles in AI, Cloud, and Architecture.
Public and education sectors also maintained momentum, with senior roles such as Government CTO and Director of Transformation (Southampton City Council) still active.

AI and Data roles remain selective but consistent
Leadership roles in AI & Data Strategy and Data Transformation continued to feature, showing that while niche, data-led mandates are now a permanent fixture in the senior tech hiring landscape.

Week-on-Week

• Down slightly from 46 to 39 total roles, reflecting a typical half-term dip.

• Permanent hiring steady at ~26 roles.

• Interim volume down from 21 to 13, after several strong weeks.

• Market tone: pause rather than pullback — with Q4 pipelines still moving and pre-Christmas hiring plans intact.

Month-on-Month (Aug → Oct so far)

The Q4 market remains resilient and well-balanced, sustaining the post-summer high tempo.

• August: CIOs, IT Directors, and functional heads led hiring; interim market lighter.

• September: Peak activity across Programme Directors, Heads of Data, and CIOs.

• October: Consistently strong until this week’s seasonal slowdown — with the month dominated by transformation, data, and AI leadership on both interim and permanent sides.

🟢 Top recurring roles across the quarter:
CIO · IT Director · Head of Data · Programme Director · Transformation Director · Head of Architecture · Director of Product · Head of Change

📈 Overall: A softer but still confident end to October — the half-term lull is temporary, and early indicators point to a rebound in activity heading into November.