IT business analysts in demand, command more pay

Financial technology companies in the Republic of Ireland are suffering from a shortage of experienced of business analysts.

"There's a real shortage of good people," says Jarlath Dooley, head of operations at Dublin-based Fineos, a financial services software provider. "Analysts are especially hard to find here: there's a lot of demand and it's a skill that hasn't properly developed yet in Ireland. Right now, there are a lot more programmers than analysts."

Fineos added 60 analysts and programmers in Ireland over the past year, bringing its total number of employees in the country to 170. Technology recruiters in the Republic say demand for analysts is strong across the board, with fund administrators also looking to hire.

"There are a lot of jobs for business analysts with some financial experience," says Karen O'Flaherty, manager of the finance division at Verkom, the IT division of the Premier Group. She says analyst recruitment suggests the inception of new technology projects: "Hiring an analyst is the first stage of a project lifecycle."

Cormac Moore, an IT specialist at Dublin-based Eden Recruitment, says good technologists with financial services experience typically have three or four offers from fund administrators and software companies looking to beef up their teams. This goes as much for analysts as for developers with Java and .NET experience.

Strong demand for IT staff comes amidst evidence that Ireland's youth are losing interest in technology careers, with schools such as University College Cork reporting a fall-off in applicants. In May this year, a study by Dublin City University unearthed more than 8,000 vacancies in Ireland for IT and technology graduates.

Moore says pay is likely to start rising. "There are lots of jobs, but few candidates. Money will have to start going up." He says a developer working for a fund manager can currently expect to earn around €50,000 euros, plus a 10% to 15% bonus. O'Flaherty says analysts with similar experience can command up to €70,000 all in.