Market Update: Tech & Change Hot Roles (w/c 8/12)

A clearly quieter week before Christmas, with the market now firmly in year-end mode. New briefs are fewer, timelines are stretching, and most activity reflects organisations closing out priority hires. That said, leadership hiring hasn’t disappeared — it’s simply narrowed, with public sector, regulated industries, and select PE-backed businesses still ticking over.

📊 Volume & Mix

26 roles total this week

• Permanent: ~20

• Interim: ~6

Channel: A noticeable increase in direct appointments this week, particularly across civil service, housing, and charities.

This is another step down on last week, fully in line with the Christmas slowdown.

💡 Key Trends This Week

Permanent hiring focused on closing the year well

Most activity sits in permanent leadership roles that organisations want secured before year-end:
CIO, CTO, Heads of IT, Data, Architecture, Platforms and Digital.
Financial services, charities, housing and consulting all feature, but at reduced volumes.

Public sector carrying momentum into Christmas

Civil Service, government bodies and arms-length organisations remain active later than most:
Deputy Directors, Heads of Digital, Data and Technology Services continue to appear.
These sectors remain the most resilient to seasonality.

Interim market now selective rather than urgent

Interim briefs are still present, but clearly fewer:
Programme Directors and delivery-focused roles dominate, mainly in financial services and fintech.
Large-scale transformation mandates are largely already in flight and likely to re-emerge in January.

Data, platforms and security remain priorities

Even in a quieter week, organisations continue to invest in core capability:
Head of Data Services, BI, Data & Tech Platforms, IT Architecture and Security roles all feature.
This points to steady, foundational investment rather than discretionary change.

📅 Month-on-Month (Aug → Dec so far)

August: CIOs, IT Directors, Heads of Function; minimal transformation.
September: Surge in data, transformation and programme leadership.
October: Half-term dip; slower permanent hiring and lighter volumes.
November: Strong overall, but tapering toward month-end.
December: Clear slowdown as expected pre-Christmas; pockets of activity remain in PE, government and financial services.

🎄 Final Note

This is Well Street’s final market update of 2025.

Thanks to everyone who’s followed along... we’ll be back in 2026 with more weekly updates.

Have a great Christmas and a happy New Year 🎄✨