Good news as 44.8% of European tech companies plan to hire staff in H1 2024 | Silicon Canals

As tech’s reckoning rolls on, anxious job seekers continue to fret about potential opportunities. 

Since 2022, a difficult economic environment, which includes inflation and a dearth of VC-funding, has seen mass redundancies, declining hiring rates, and a reduction in annual salary increases. Both employers and employees are feeling the pinch. 

However, job hunters will be heartened to hear that according to a new report from compensation benchmarking platform Ravio, hiring has essentially shifted from aggressive growth to more stablised advancement. 

In a survey distributed to 1,000 tech leaders, it found that 44.8% of companies plan to grow their headcount in the first half of the year, while 21% are replacing leavers only, and 0% of survey respondents are not planning on hiring at all.

When asked if they’ll be increasing their hiring rate in the coming months, 21% said yes, while a further 24% said yes––but that it has already been a priority in the last six months. 

Heartening figures, to say the least.

Engineering is the most-cited job family that companies are hiring into (23%), followed by finance (8%), while 69% of companies said they are hiring across several job families.

On the downside, 59% of companies are not planning to increase new hire salaries. Those who were planning on increasing salaries cited reflecting inflation, attracting more senior/experienced candidates, countering a talent shortage, improving closing rates, and accelerating rates of hiring as their reasons. 

Total compensation

If you’re interested in a new role this year, remember to consider the total compensation package, including unlimited holidays and sick leave, as well as paid-time-off. 

Some survey respondents offered 26-30 days off, others 30+ days paid time off, while pension contributions varied from 4-6% to 7-9%, and 10%+. 

Other benefits to keep in mind are private health insurance, cycle-to-work schemes, home office allowances, professional development funds, and mental health service subscriptions. 

RTO and WFH

And while large tech companies like Zoom, Amazon, TikTok and Grindr have introduced return-to-office mandates, this isn’t the case in most start-ups and scale-ups where 77% have a hybrid working model, and employees work from home on average three days a week.

Not a single tech leader surveyed said they were planning on introducing a full-time RTO policy. 

If your interest is piqued in a new job with better pay and benefits, visit the Silicon Canals Job Board to see what European tech roles are currently on offer, like these three. 

SAP Technology Delivery Lead, Accenture, Berlin

Join Accenture as a SAP Delivery Lead, and you’ll take a leading role in helping top companies modernise their systems. Focusing on cloud-based application architectures with SAP S/4 Hana as the basis, you’ll be responsible for managing and mentoring projects to ensure they are delivered, on time, within budget, and in line with customer expectations. You’ll need at least seven years experience managing large SAP projects, and solid experience with Agile project methods. This position is available full-time or part-time. Find out more here.

Software Engineer, UBS, Monte-Carlo

Global financial services firm UBS is hiring a Software Engineer to integrate, design, develop and improve the products and technology services it offers to its clients. The qualifying applicant will apply a broad range of engineering practices, from analysing user needs and developing new features to automated testing and deployment, and will ensure the quality, security, reliability and compliance of the company’s solutions. You’ll need a Master’s degree or equivalent focused on IT with a specialisation on a finance-related subject, and a good knowledge of banking processes. Apply here.

Data & AI Strategy Manager F/H, Carrefour, Massy

As a premium partner of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it’s an exciting year to join Carrefour. Currently seeking a Data & AI Strategy Manager to accelerate its data transformation, this role will involve defining the overall analytical strategy, including the analysis of strategic business needs, the identification and structuring of the analytical use cases pipeline, and formalisation of the roadmap for all geographic areas. You’ll need two to five years’ experience in data and analytic strategy, ideally with a leading consulting firm, and with a specialisation in distribution, plus exceptional analytical and quantitative problem-solving skills. Read more here.

Find your next European tech role today on the Silicon Canals Job Board