The hybrid skill set now defining investment and asset management careers

I'm Hannah, and I lead the investment and asset management team at deverellsmith. On our latest devcast podcast, I sat down with my colleague Hugh van Grutten to talk about a market that has quietly changed shape over the last two years. 

Between a slowdown in acquisitions, flat salaries and the arrival of AI in the analyst's job, what businesses are looking for in this space is not what they were looking for four years ago. Here's what we discussed, straight from the podcast. 

How has the investment and asset management market shifted? 

It has not been a booming year for hiring, and the change has really played out over the last two years rather than the last one. 

Investment and development hiring has been very quiet, for a straightforward reason. The hiring market echoes the real estate market, and there simply has not been a great deal of investment, acquisition or development activity taking place. 

What that has done is redirect the focus. Almost everyone I speak to is concentrating on asset and portfolio management instead, looking to maximise the portfolios they already hold and extract more value from them while they pivot away from the investment and development side. 

Why is the hybrid skill set suddenly in demand? 

This is the most significant change in the market, and it has happened quickly. 

If I look back four years, investment roles and asset management roles were two separate things. You did one or the other. Now, businesses are actively looking for people with genuine experience across both, who can flip between the two and redirect their time towards asset management when the investment side is quiet. 

There are not many candidates with that profile, which puts the ones who have it in a very strong position. What's interesting is that candidates have noticed. A lot of the people I'm working with are now deliberately seeking out the extra experience so they can tick that box, and it's a fair question for anyone in the sector to be asking their current employer. 

What is driving people to leave investment roles? 

Two things, and both are retention problems that businesses can do something about. 

The first is the pivot itself. Where somebody's role has been quietly reshaped into an asset management position, that often isn't what they joined the business to do. Some people take to it. Others don't, and the ones who don't are usually the ones who come to me looking for something new. 

The second is the opposite problem. Somebody joins in an investment role, and then the company isn't investing. There's no growth, no pipeline and no money to deploy. That leaves them sitting there twiddling their thumbs, either feeling concerned about whether their job is safe, or simply bored. Neither is a state anybody stays in for long. 

People do occasionally leave the sector altogether, though it remains a handful rather than a trend. Some take a payout and go and do something entirely different. I saw someone on LinkedIn recently who I used to deal with, previously in investment, who has started a meditation company. 

What has happened to salaries and bonuses? 

Salaries have been stagnant for a couple of years now. 

If you stay in your role, you're generally only seeing inflationary rises, and that holds across both investment and asset management. The practical consequence is blunt: to secure a meaningful pay increase at the moment, you need to move. That's a real shift from 2022, when people were getting substantial rises simply for staying where they were. 

Bonuses have followed the same pattern. Most people I speak to have seen bonuses come in lower than they have been used to historically, and that's consistent across both disciplines rather than isolated to one. 

If you haven't got a strong bonus to look forward to and your salary is only moving with inflation, there isn't a great deal keeping you in a role you've gone off. That's worth thinking about if you're trying to hold onto good people. 

Is now a good time to hire in investment and asset management? 

It's an excellent time to hire, and that's the part businesses may be underestimating. 

Most of the current hiring is happening at the junior end, where there's less risk and less of a cost commitment. That coincides with a genuinely difficult period for graduates, which means the talent available at that level is unusually strong. 

The clearest evidence is in the shortlists. Where a shortlist might once have been three or four good people plus a couple of average ones, the ones I'm working on now regularly have six who are all genuinely strong. If you're hiring at the moment, you are spoilt for choice in a way you haven't been for some time. 

What is AI doing to the analyst career path? 

A lot of the analysts I speak to are worried about it, and I understand why, though the concern is more nuanced than simple job displacement. 

AI can build an excellent model and manipulate it very well. That much is not really in dispute. The concern I hear from more senior candidates and hiring managers is what happens next. 

If you use AI to do an analyst's job, you end up with people rising through their careers who have never actually done the modelling themselves. A few years down the line, you have senior people making decisions without the underlying skill set, and without a real grasp of how these deals come together. You have to know the foundations. If somebody can't understand the numbers because AI produced them, that's a genuine problem for the business relying on their judgement. 

It's a watch this space issue rather than a solved one, but it's worth factoring into how you're developing people now. 

What is the outlook for the next 12 months? 

I'm cautiously optimistic, and that's roughly where most of the people I speak to sit, candidates and hiring managers alike. 

Investment hiring has started to pick up a little over the past few months, and I'm hopeful that continues. Asset management is likely to stay steady, neither dropping off nor increasing dramatically. 

On pay, salaries and bonuses have been flat for a few years now, and it feels like it's probably time for a bit of an increase. That would be welcome news for candidates, and it's something businesses should be planning for rather than reacting to. 

Frequently asked questions 

Why has investment hiring in real estate been so quiet? 

The hiring market mirrors the real estate market, and there has been limited investment, acquisition and development activity over the last two years. Businesses have redirected their attention towards maximising the portfolios they already hold. 

What skills are most in demand in real estate investment right now? 

A hybrid skill set covering both investment and asset management. Four years ago these were separate disciplines, but businesses now want people who can move between the two as market conditions change. 

Do you need to move roles to get a pay rise in investment? 

Largely, yes. Staying in a role tends to produce only inflationary increases at present, whereas moving remains the route to a meaningful uplift. That is a clear change from the market in 2022. 

Is now a good time to hire investment and asset management talent? 

It is one of the better times in recent years. Hiring is weighted towards the junior end, and with graduates finding the market difficult, shortlists are unusually strong across the board. 

Will AI replace real estate analysts? 

The more pressing concern is not replacement but skill erosion. If AI handles the modelling, people can progress through their careers without ever having built those foundations themselves, leaving senior professionals without the underlying understanding of how deals work. 

Listen to the full episode 

Hear the full conversation with Hannah and Hugh on the devcast podcast. Whether you're looking to get hired, or looking to hire, we've got you covered. Never miss an episode. 

About the podcast guests 

Hannah Taylor | Manager, Investment and Living, deverellsmith 

Hannah leads deverellsmith's investment and asset management team, partnering with investors, fund managers and asset owners on appointments from analyst through to senior leadership. She has a broad view of how the investment and living sectors connect across the UK market. Connect with Hannah on LinkedIn or email hannah.taylor@deverellsmith.com. 

Hugh van Grutten | Business Manager, Debt, Equity and Mortgages, deverellsmith 

Hugh heads up the mortgage desk at deverellsmith, recruiting across debt, equity and mortgage advisory for brokerages, lenders and property businesses. He works with employed and self-employed broker models across the UK market. Connect with Hugh on LinkedIn or email hugh.vangrutten@deverellsmith.com.