Why it pays to be a geek

Wanted: high-powered IT professionals with specialist product knowledge. Willing to pay silly money and, for the right person, perhaps even a guaranteed bonus.

Senior-level IT professionals and those with specialist product knowledge - particularly derivatives - are like gold dust at the moment, says James Kelly of recruitment firm Robert Walters.

While back-office IT and infrastructure specialists are still relatively easy to find elsewhere and train up, the real financial services specialists can only be poached from rivals, meaning the fisticuffs for the best and the brightest is becoming increasingly intense.

"Good people might be getting six or seven offers and then finding their current employer is desperate to keep them and offering a guaranteed bonus - although a significant increase in salary or benefits is probably more common," says Kelly.

According to some recruiters, a few financial services IT specialists are being paid as much as 25k just to stay put, while 'signing on' fees for new hires are also now much more common.

When they do happen, guaranteed bonuses for new hires will normally be for a year only and commonly around 30% of salary, says Stephen Feline, consultant at The Kaizen Partnership.

But he cautions: "You don't see a huge amount of this type of activity, and when you do it's more at director or vice-president level."

The exceptions might be high-flyers in very specialised or product-related roles, such as front-office quant developers or risk specialists, says Robert Lycett, banking technology consultant at Astbury Marsden.

But, he stresses, it is senior people (VP or above) who are the most likely targets for guaranteed bonuses.