Ireland’s Financial Services Sector: What the 2030 Strategy Means for Hiring

Ireland’s financial services sector has been given an ambitious new target: grow employment to 70,000 people by 2030.

The Government’s new Ireland for Finance Strategy 2026–2030 sets out 31 actions designed to strengthen Ireland’s position as an international financial services centre, with a particular focus on competitiveness, specialist skills, technology and innovation.

For employers and professionals working across the financial services industry in Ireland, however, the more interesting question is: what does this actually mean for the jobs market?

At Elevate Partners, we see several areas that could have a meaningful impact on hiring and the growth of finance jobs in Ireland over the coming years.

Ireland wants another 9,000 financial services jobs

Ireland’s international financial services sector currently employs approximately 61,000 people across more than 600 firms. The Government wants that figure to reach 70,000 by 2030.

Importantly, the strategy isn’t simply focused on increasing headcount.

The ambition is to attract more specialist expertise and higher-value activities to Ireland, while developing the domestic talent required to support them.

For employers, this is likely to increase competition for experienced professionals in areas where the Irish talent pool is already relatively shallow.

For candidates, it should create new financial services jobs in Ireland and opportunities to build careers in increasingly specialised functions without necessarily having to relocate to London or another major financial centre.

1. Banking, credit and capital markets

Ireland is looking to increase its role as a European financial centre and support the broader development of EU capital markets.

That creates a positive backdrop for international banks and financial institutions operating from Ireland, as well as the future of banking jobs in Ireland.

From a recruitment perspective, we expect continued demand for professionals across:

• Corporate and institutional banking
• Leveraged and structured credit
• Private credit
• Asset-backed finance
• Project and infrastructure finance
• Capital markets
• Credit underwriting and portfolio management
• Risk and regulatory functions

One of the recurring challenges for employers in Ireland is that specialist lending and credit teams can be relatively small. If more sophisticated mandates and decision-making capabilities move into Ireland, experienced professionals with underwriting and transaction experience should become increasingly valuable.

2. Private markets and asset management

The strategy specifically considers changes to Ireland’s investment-fund and partnership frameworks, including modernising legislation to better accommodate private assets, venture capital and new investment structures.

This is potentially important for Ireland’s asset and wealth management industry.

Ireland has historically been exceptionally strong in fund servicing and administration. The bigger opportunity is continuing the shift towards higher-value investment, product and decision-making roles.

That could support further hiring across:

• Private equity and private credit
• Infrastructure and real assets
• Investment management
• Portfolio management
• Fund and product structuring
• Investment risk
• Distribution and capital raising

For candidates, experience that combines strong technical investment capability with sector specialisation is likely to remain particularly valuable.

3. Sustainable finance and infrastructure

Sustainable finance remains a significant component of Ireland’s financial-services strategy.

One particularly interesting initiative is an examination of how Ireland’s structured-finance sector could be used to support blended climate and sustainable-finance initiatives.

For the jobs market, this goes considerably further than traditional ESG roles.

We see potential crossover between financial services and Ireland’s growing infrastructure and energy-transition markets, supporting demand for professionals across:

• Infrastructure investment
• Infrastructure and project finance
• Renewable energy finance
• Sustainable and transition finance
• Structured finance
• Energy-transition investing
• Climate-focused private capital

Ireland already has a strong combination of international capital, renewable-energy development and financial-services expertise. Bringing those ecosystems closer together could create a particularly interesting specialist talent market.

4. AI, digital assets and financial technology

Digital transformation in the financial services sector is one of the clearest themes running through the new strategy.

The Government wants Ireland positioned to benefit from AI in finance, tokenisation, digital assets and wider technological change within financial services.

Among the initiatives proposed are a new Digital Assets Industry Group and consideration of legislative changes to facilitate tokenised investment funds.

For financial-services employers, technology capability is therefore becoming less of a standalone IT requirement and increasingly part of the core business.

We expect growing demand for professionals who can operate between finance, regulation and technology, particularly across:

• AI and data
• Digital transformation
• Fintech
• Digital assets
• Product development
• Technology risk
• Cybersecurity
• Regulatory and compliance functions supporting new technologies

For candidates, the implication is equally important: technology literacy is likely to become increasingly valuable even in traditionally non-technology financial-services roles.

5. Aviation finance remains strategically important

Aviation finance is explicitly recognised as one of Ireland’s areas of international financial-services expertise.

Ireland already possesses an unusually deep aircraft leasing and aviation-finance ecosystem, but maintaining that position requires continued investment in specialist skills.

The Irish Financial Services Skills Framework is expected to expand into additional sectors including aviation finance and international banking.

For employers, retaining experienced aviation professionals will remain important as international competition for this expertise grows.

For candidates, Ireland should continue to provide opportunities across aircraft leasing jobs, aviation lending, investment, credit, asset management, trading and associated professional services.

The Regional Opportunity

One of the most ambitious targets is that 25% of international financial-services employment should be located outside Dublin.

This is significant for both employers and candidates.

Hybrid working, regional offices and the development of financial-services clusters outside Dublin could allow firms to access talent pools that historically haven’t been available to them.

For professionals, it could also create more opportunities to develop international financial-services careers while living outside the capital.

What does the strategy mean for Ireland’s financial services jobs market?

What does all of this mean for employers?

The strategy is undoubtedly positive for Ireland’s financial sector, but achieving 70,000 jobs will require considerably more than attracting additional companies.

Ireland will need people with the skills to fill those positions.

In many of the specialist markets in which Elevate Partners operates, the issue isn’t necessarily candidate numbers – it is the availability of professionals with the precise transaction, investment, lending or technical experience required.

If Ireland succeeds in attracting more sophisticated mandates, competition for this talent could intensify.

Employers should therefore be thinking now about succession planning, talent mapping, international candidate attraction and developing junior professionals into the specialists they will require three to five years from now.

What does it mean for candidates?

For financial-services professionals, the direction of travel is encouraging, particularly for those considering future finance jobs in Ireland.

The opportunity isn’t simply 9,000 additional jobs. It is the potential development of more specialised and higher-value roles within Ireland.

Professionals building expertise in private markets, credit, infrastructure, sustainable finance, aviation, technology and other specialist areas should find themselves particularly well positioned.

International experience may also become increasingly transferable back into the Irish market as firms seek expertise that doesn’t yet exist at scale domestically.

Our view

Ireland has already developed one of Europe’s most significant international financial-services sectors.

The next phase appears to be about depth rather than simply scale.

If the Ireland for Finance Strategy is successfully implemented, we expect to see more specialist investment, lending, technology and decision-making roles being developed in Ireland alongside the country’s established strengths in financial-services operations.

For both employers and candidates, that should make the Irish financial services industry and talent market increasingly interesting between now and 2030.

Elevate Partners specialises in recruitment across Financial Services, Private Markets, Banking, Credit, Infrastructure, Energy Transition and Real Assets. If you would like to discuss how these trends could affect your hiring strategy or career, contact our team.