Why Strong Financial Services CVs do not always translate into successful Fintech Hires

Switzerland's FinTech sector is still growing, although the pace has slowed. At the end of 2025, Switzerland and Liechtenstein were home to 529 FinTech companies, 4% more than a year earlier.

The latest IFZ FinTech Study describes a market increasingly shaped by consolidation, specialisation and technological repositioning. Data analytics, Big Data and artificial intelligence have become the largest technology category, while infrastructure has overtaken investment management as the sector's largest product segment for the first time.

As fintechs move from building investment platforms to providing infrastructure and banking-as-a-service to other institutions, they need people who can operate across engineering, compliance and commercial functions at once — not specialists who have only ever worked one part of that chain. The result is a market where companies need people with credible technical expertise, but also professionals who can work across functions, make sound decisions with incomplete information and build processes that may not yet exist.

The challenge is therefore not simply finding qualified candidates. It is determining whether their experience will translate into the company's particular operating environment.

Technical knowledge is usually the easiest part of a candidate's background to establish

says Christian Atkinson, Country Director at Robert Walters Switzerland. "The more difficult question is whether that person can reproduce their success where responsibilities are broader, resources are more limited and the route to a decision has not already been defined."

Why corporate experience does not automatically guarantee FinTech success

Professionals from banks, insurers and other established financial institutions can bring valuable regulatory knowledge, technical expertise and an understanding of institutional clients. For FinTech businesses providing infrastructure or software to banks, this experience can be particularly relevant.

However, the environment in which that experience was acquired matters. A compliance specialist who has only worked within an established bank's control framework has not necessarily built one from scratch — which is precisely what is often required at a DLT licence holder or a payments business still defining its own processes. A credit risk professional moving from a universal bank into a banking-as-a-service platform may find themselves advising on product design and client onboarding as well as risk, simply because the function does not yet exist in the form they are used to.

A candidate's previous success may have been supported by established systems, substantial resources and clearly divided responsibilities. In a smaller FinTech, the same person may be expected to build a function, select providers, advise senior management and contribute beyond the original job description.

This does not make corporate candidates unsuitable. Many transition successfully and bring capabilities that a growing FinTech genuinely needs. Employers should look closely at what candidates delivered themselves, which resources they could draw on and how they responded when there was no established process to follow.

What FinTech employers should assess

Rather than relying on a vague judgement about "cultural fit", hiring managers should define the behaviours the role requires and test for evidence throughout the process. Applying the same criteria to every candidate makes comparisons more consistent and helps limit personal bias. The areas to examine include:

• Breadth of responsibility and willingness to take ownership
• Ability to build processes rather than simply operate existing ones
• Judgement when information or resources are limited
• Collaboration across technology, commercial and control functions
• Understanding of when to act independently and when to escalate
• Realistic motivation for joining a FinTech

Interview questions that reveal more than a CV

Generic questions about adaptability or teamwork often produce rehearsed answers. More specific questions help establish what a candidate has actually done.

Can the candidate take broader ownership?

"Tell me about a responsibility you took on outside your original job description. Why did you take ownership of it, and what was the outcome?" Strong answers should demonstrate initiative, judgement and an understanding of priorities — not simply a willingness to accept more work.

Can the candidate build rather than inherit?

"Describe a process, function or control that you built from the beginning. What existed when you arrived, and what measurable improvement did you deliver?" Candidates should be able to distinguish their own contribution from that of the wider organisation and explain the compromises they made.

Can the candidate make sound decisions under uncertainty?

"Give me an example of an important decision you made without an established process or complete information. What were the risks, and how did you reach your decision?" Operating effectively in a FinTech does not mean disregarding risk. Strong candidates will explain the alternatives considered and why they decided to act or escalate.

Can the candidate work across functions?

"Tell me about a disagreement involving commercial, technology and control functions. What was your role, and how was it resolved?" Look for constructive challenge, clear communication and an appreciation of competing priorities.

Not every FinTech hire needs to be a technology specialist

The growth of AI, data analytics and financial infrastructure does not mean every employee must be a software engineer or data scientist. Finance, risk, compliance, legal and commercial specialists remain essential — a compliance officer at a DLT licence holder or a credit risk professional at a banking-as-a-service platform is no less a "FinTech hire" than an engineer. The differentiator is often the ability to apply that expertise in a technology-enabled business and communicate effectively with the people building, governing and selling its products.

For some positions, direct FinTech experience will be essential. For others, the strongest candidate may come from a bank, insurer, consultancy or technology provider. The determining factor should be evidence of how the person operates, rather than the employer names on the CV.

Where hiring decisions actually go wrong

Most fintech hiring mistakes are not sourcing failures. Companies rarely struggle to find candidates with the right title on their CV. They struggle to tell, in the time available, which of those candidates actually built something and which simply worked alongside people who did — and that is a diagnosis problem, not an access problem.

"A specialist recruiter should do considerably more than submit a collection of CVs," says Christian Atkinson. "Our value isn't the size of our network — it's being able to look at a candidate's history and tell a client, specifically, what that person delivered themselves versus what the organisation delivered around them. That's the difference between a shortlist and a hiring decision."

That is the work Robert Walters' specialist FinTech recruiters do across Technology, Finance, Risk, Compliance, Legal and senior leadership appointments: pressure-testing the brief, mapping talent that isn't actively job-hunting, and assessing which candidates' experience will genuinely transfer to a client's stage and structure — before a mismatch becomes an expensive hiring mistake.

A strong CV is only the beginning

As Switzerland's FinTech sector matures, employers will need people who combine the right expertise with the ability to deliver in their particular environment.

Would you like to better assess adaptability, resilience and cultural fit during your hiring process? Download our Interview Guide for Hiring Managers, featuring practical interview questions and best-practice recommendations to help identify candidates who will succeed in a FinTech environment. You can also contact our specialised FinTech recruiters to discuss your hiring strategy.