eFinancialCareers

Ireland is seeing an influx of high-end financial IT jobs and is keen to tap UK talent to fill the roles – provided you don’t mind a pay cut.

The Emerald Isle seems to have been a big beneficiary of Citigroup’s new centralised IT function and, following on from the 125 development roles in Belfast, has announced the creation of 30 new posts in its research and development centre in Dublin.

The positions will be a mixture of project management, business analyst and software and hardware architects.

In spite of the economic downturn and a freezing of recruitment in many areas of financial services in Ireland, senior IT roles remain robust, says Aileen Hallahan, managing consultant for IT, at recruiters Hudson in Dublin.

“Experience in the financial sector is paramount,” she says. “It can be difficult to find sufficient talent locally, so we’ve moved quite a few people from the London market over the last year, and continue to tap the UK.”

Orla Donagher, IT consultant at Brightwater, agrees: “Some of the best candidates we’ve placed have come from the UK, and we always consider it for senior technology positions.”

She adds: “One problem is that although the jobs are still out there, local candidates are more and more reluctant to move because of economic uncertainty.”

But before you start packing your bags, you might want to consider the significant pay cut you’d take in Dublin.

Hallahan says a project manager can earn €55k-€80k, dependent on experience and sector – banking pays more than insurance, for instance. A business analyst will start on €45k, but this can rise to €65k after three years.

Software architects, and more lowly development roles, often come from further afield – locations such as Spain, France, Poland and the Czech Republic are talent hot spots for these jobs.