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As we kick off 2026, below are some of the key themes we expect to drive front-office hiring this year at Laz Partners
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Insurance and insurance-linked balance sheets will remain a dominant source of capital and a major driver of front-office hiring. Hiring will remain robust across insurance investments, structuring, solutions, sales, and quant roles.
Firms anchored to large insurers or backed by major alt managers will continue to hold a structural advantage.
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Private credit continues to outpace public credit in hiring, particularly across structured credit, asset-based finance, and insurance-linked strategies.
That said, scale alone is no longer enough. Underwriting discipline, repeatable origination, and genuine differentiation now matter more than ever.
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Fee pressure and rising operating costs are forcing hard strategic decisions across asset managers, insurers, private credit/alt managers, and private wealth. We expect consolidation and M&A activity to continue, with firms choosing acquisitions over team build-outs or mergers with competitors to ensure survival.
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Teams are leaner and roles are getting more technical. Across nearly every search we run (outside of exec/leadership roles), Python (or general coding ability) is now a baseline requirement. Strong communication skills are now expected, not differentiators. Candidates with coding skills and a clear & relevant niche expertise (Eg. inflation strategy/sector expertise/country-level expertise/STIR expertise/Insurance) will find it easier to land roles.
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We expect sell-side hiring to accelerate in targeted areas, including rates trading, power/commods trading, insurance solutions & structuring, EM macro strategy/research, and geopolitical risk strategy (to name a few), given ongoing market dynamics & vol driven by geopolitical uncertainty.
If you are a hiring manager planning to build/reshape your team, or a candidate considering a move in 2026, please be sure to drop us a line.
To all candidates and clients in our network, wishing you a happy and prosperous start to 2026!
