Cybersecurity talent was also in significant demand this quarter according to the Q3, 2023 Ireland jobs market monitor from Morgan McKinley.
The latest quarterly jobs monitor from Morgan McKinley has indicated that some – but not all – Irish employers are adopting more selective hiring practices as they re-evaluate their needs. August emerged as the strongest month of the quarter, whereas September saw a 16.7pc decline in job opportunities. Overall, Q3 registered a slight decrease of 2pc in the number of professional job openings compared to the previous quarter across all professional sectors.
But this decline does not appear to be affecting the life science and engineering sectors, both of which experienced a 24pc increase in hiring demand over the last quarter. Similarly, there was a great demand for ESG talent, especially among the ‘Big Four’ professional services firms which competed for workers with these skills. According to Trayc Keevans, global FDI director at Morgan McKinley, multinational employers benefited from this growth, but it posed challenges for SMEs struggling to compete to provide compensation levels.
“The need for environmental, social and governance (ESG) specialists continued to rise, but finding qualified candidates with niche skills was a challenge. Companies competed for top ESG talent with higher salaries and benefits,” she said. “Candidates with expertise in green finance were in high demand but in short supply, reflecting the growth in sustainable finance job openings.”
Of the life sciences sector, Keevans said “Recruitment demand focused on specialised roles like biologics experts who understand complex biological systems, regulatory affairs professionals ensuring compliance and qualified persons certifying product quality.”
“In engineering, senior roles in maintenance engineering and reliability saw rising demand due to facility expansions,” she remarked. “Companies faced difficulties attracting local automation engineers and often sought talent overseas.”
A ‘robust’ quarter for tech hiring overall
The demand for tech talent overall remained “robust” this quarter, with Keevans explaining that even workers who were laid off managed to find new jobs relatively easily “due to sector competitiveness”.
In particular, she singled out cybersecurity roles as being in high demand, driven by cyber threats in financial services. “Cybersecurity expertise remained in demand due to escalating sophistication and frequency of cyber threats. Companies exhibited flexibility for skilled cybersecurity professionals, leading to increased compensation.”
QA and software testing positions are growing, reflecting “a return to traditional tech roles”. On the other hand, senior AI talent is increasingly being sought after as companies look to beef up innovation and development. “Digital transformation projects drove hiring in application development, payments, customer analytics, regulatory reporting, data quality reporting and cloud implementation. Roles such as data architects, data analytics professionals, data science managers and data science analysts saw increased demand,” said Keevans.
Salaries beginning to level off
Salaries in tech “remain competitive”, but they “have continued to level off due to cautious budgeting practices”. Rather than replacing departing staff, companies appear to be focusing on improving existing workforce productivity. Benefits packages and remote work options are becoming crucial in attracting tech talent, often favoured over higher salaries, according to Keevans.
She said that the housing crisis needs to be tackled to retain and attract talent in Ireland, and this goes for all sectors. “Addressing the housing crisis and making significant strides toward improving housing availability and affordability is essential to retain and attract talent across various sectors, creating a more attractive environment for professionals to stay and build their future here.”
While the housing crisis is undoubtedly affecting workers here, a report published by NordLayer showed that Ireland has improved its ranking when it comes to remote working. Last year, it was 30th best in the world out of 66 countries; this year, it was ninth out of 108.
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