January 2026Kirsty Tutton
What are the best paying fintech roles in 2026?
Salary pressure continues to rise across the financial technology sector.
As AI adoption becomes standard, infrastructure investment deepens, and regulatory expectations evolve, the competition for experienced professionals is intensifying.
In this environment, the best paying roles in fintech tend to concentrate in engineering, risk management, and revenue-driving technology. Future proof your career by understanding the core factors shaping fintech compensation in 2026. Here we offer practical guidance for professionals looking to progress into top-paying positions.
What drives high pay in fintech
As Kirsty Tutton, Director at Selby Jennings, explains in our Future of Financial Services Europe 2026 series:
AI is no longer siloed to specific projects. It’s embedded into every role across the sector. The most successful firms are improving development cycles, automating operational work, and extracting value from data, all of which require specialist talent.
In 2026, high salaries are driven by:
- Deep technical expertise in AI deployment and infrastructure
- Proximity to revenue, especially in trading, product, and data environments
- Experience navigating risk and compliance in AI-enhanced systems
Best paying roles in fintech in 2026
The highest paying fintech jobs in 2026 include:
- Quant Developers: Especially those building low-latency infrastructure or deploying ML in trading strategies
- Machine Learning Engineers: With experience integrating AI models into production systems
- Software Engineers: Focused on real-time trading platforms or scalable financial applications
- AI/Data Engineers: Supporting the infrastructure that enables scalable AI deployment
- Risk and Model Governance Specialists: Bridging regulation with deep technical understanding
Browse developer jobs here.
Skills that push salaries higher
Key fintech skills in demand across the UK and Europe include:
- Python and C++ for quant systems
- Experience with LLMs and model integration
- Cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure)
- AI risk and model governance
- Data engineering tools (Spark, Kafka, Kubernetes)
Early career vs senior pay patterns
Early-career fintech professionals in the UK typically earn £60,000–£90,000. However, senior engineers, quant specialists, and technical leads at hedge funds or high-growth firms can see total compensation exceed £250,000, often with bonus or carry components. Senior candidates with AI infrastructure or trading systems experience are particularly well-positioned.
What candidates can do to reach these pay bands
Professionals aiming for high-compensation roles should:
- Build deep specialism in engineering, infrastructure, or data science
- Gain experience in production-grade systems, not just prototypes
- Understand regulatory and risk frameworks in financial technology
- Target firms with scalable platforms, hedge fund operations, or internal trading systems
Firms across Warsaw, Krakow, Frankfurt, and Zurich are increasingly investing in high-value fintech talent. Discover the best cities fintech jobs here.
How candidates can position themselves
- Prepare for structured technical interviews with coding, architecture, and decision-making components
- Maintain a strong portfolio or GitHub to demonstrate practical outcomes
- Be clear about your commercial value, whether it’s improved system speed, reliability, or decision accuracy
Selby Jennings has supported hedge funds, trading platforms, and fintech scaleups across Europe in hiring AI-native technologists.
Explore high-compensation fintech roles across the UK and Europe with Selby Jennings
Many of the trends highlighted by Kirsty Tutton in our Financial Technology: 2026 Talent Insights are reflected in our current mandates. You can view the latest financial technology roles, register your CV for personalised support, or download the Global Financial Technology Compensation Guide to benchmark your next move.
