Your New York fintech recruitment specialists
Nexus IT Group recruits fintech professionals for New York employers: payment systems and financial software engineers, quantitative developers, fraud and compliance engineers, data and platform engineers along with the CTOs and heads of engineering who run regulated products. We place contract, contract-to-hire and permanent staff across the sectors that make New York the largest fintech market in the country, from the banks and quant firms in Midtown and Hudson Yards to the scale-ups in Flatiron and SoHo and the crypto companies in Flatiron and Midtown.
Much of the New York hiring we see this year is driven by the regulator in the city's own backyard. The Department of Financial Services issued new cybersecurity risk assessment guidance on 10 September 2026, the next Part 500 certification falls due on 15 April 2027 and the federal GENIUS Act takes effect on 18 January 2027 alongside the stablecoin rule DFS proposed to match it. Money is moving engineers around as well, since Ramp raised a $750 million Series F in June 2026 while Coinbase and Gemini both cut staff in the first half of the year. Our fintech recruiting searches here start from the deadline or the deal behind the hire, because that tells us which candidates will see the role as a step forward.
Companies that staff their fintech roles with Nexus IT Group
Nexus IT Group will quickly staff your open New York fintech roles with high-quality committed candidates
81%
of our successful candidates are submitted within one week
92%
of our candidates will accept your offer
96%
of our candidates are employed with your firm after 12 months
Where New York hires fintech talent
Five sectors carry most of the demand, and New York fintechs alone raised $10.5 billion across 460 venture deals in 2025, more than any other US market.
Banks and asset managers
The largest technology organisations in the city, from core banking and payments at the banks to the Aladdin platform at BlackRock and the research infrastructure at the quant firms.
- JPMorgan Chase
- Goldman Sachs
- Morgan Stanley
- Citi
- BlackRock
- Two Sigma
- Jane Street
Fintech scale-ups
Venture-backed payments, lending and wealth platforms headquartered here or running their largest engineering office here, with Stripe alone at around 1,000 New York staff.
- Ramp
- Stripe
- Plaid
- Betterment
- Chime
- Affirm
- Payoneer
Market data and infrastructure
Terminal, post-trade, exchange and electronic trading platforms whose engineering teams are the bulk of the company.
- Bloomberg
- Broadridge
- Nasdaq
- Tradeweb
- MarketAxess
Crypto and digital assets
Exchanges, stablecoin issuers and custody infrastructure headquartered in the city under the BitLicense regime, with Coinbase building a 1,000-person hub at One Madison.
- Coinbase
- Gemini
- Paxos
- Fireblocks
Insurtech
Cloud-native carriers and embedded insurance platforms headquartered in Manhattan, all under NYDFS supervision.
- Lemonade
- Oscar Health
- Cover Genius
How New York's risk, analyst and engineering workforce stacks up
New York's finance specialists are concentrated to a degree no fintech employer can ignore. The metro has 12,770 financial risk specialists, 3.28 times the share of jobs the role holds nationally, along with 53,870 financial and investment analysts at 2.44 times, so a risk or pricing hire here draws on an unusually deep pool while competing with every bank and fund for it. Software developers are plentiful at 121,000, but their $166,830 median shows how much those engineers already earn before a trading firm makes an offer. The roles that Part 500 makes compulsory are the thin ones: compliance officers sit at 0.92 and information security analysts at 0.97, below the national share in the city where the cybersecurity rules are written. For an employer, that means a compliance or security search in New York is chasing fewer people per opening than the engineering search running beside it.
| Occupation | Employed | Concentration | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial Risk Specialists | 12,770 | 3.28 | $139,670 |
| Financial and Investment Analysts | 53,870 | 2.44 | $128,930 |
| Data Scientists | 23,160 | 1.45 | $135,980 |
| Software Developers | 121,000 | 1.17 | $166,830 |
| Operations Research Analysts | 6,890 | 1.04 | $103,110 |
| Information Security Analysts | 11,330 | 0.97 | $140,470 |
| Compliance Officers | 23,380 | 0.92 | $101,050 |
These counts cover the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area, which reaches across the Hudson into northern New Jersey; they include workers in every industry as of May 2025. The concentration figure compares an occupation's slice of local employment with its slice of employment across the US, so a reading above 1 means the role is more common here than nationally and a reading below 1 means it is rarer. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
What fintech roles pay in New York
| Role | Low | Median | High | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quantitative Researcher (total compensation) | $187,500 | $250,000 | $350,000 | Levels.fyi, Sept 2026 |
| Quantitative Developer (total compensation) | $150,000 | $210,000 | $325,000 | Levels.fyi, Sept 2026 |
| Quantitative Analyst (base, from job postings) | $93,500 | $170,000 | $308,800 | Indeed, Sept 2026 |
| Quantitative Trader (base) | $134,200 | $170,000 | $212,900 | Talent.com, 2026 |
| Compliance Officer | $122,900 | $156,300 | $180,200 | Robert Half 2026 Salary Guide |
| Compliance Analyst | $108,900 | $137,900 | $156,000 | Robert Half 2026 Salary Guide |
| AI/ML Engineer | $182,900 | $233,100 | $263,800 | Robert Half 2026 Salary Guide |
The two Levels.fyi quant rows come from pay that engineers report themselves, bonus and equity included, as of September 2026, and the columns are the 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile; the trading firms in that sample pull all three figures upward. Indeed's quantitative analyst range is base salary only, taken from 321 New York job postings over the last 36 months and shown as low, average and high. Talent.com's quantitative trader row is base pay from 2,775 salaries, from entry level through the median to the most experienced. The Robert Half rows are starting salaries from its 2026 guide for New York, rising from someone new to the role to someone with extensive experience. A budget that lands inside these ranges is a reasonable starting point for a conversation with candidates, while the offer itself still depends on the person.
What shapes a New York fintech search right now
NYDFS keeps raising the cybersecurity bar
The NYDFS cybersecurity amendments requiring multi-factor authentication for every login and a maintained asset inventory took effect in November 2025, and the first certification against them was filed in April 2026. Since then the Department has issued letters on the cyber risks of frontier AI models in May 2026 and detailed risk assessment guidance in September 2026, and it fined Delta Dental $2.25 million and a money transmitter $250,000 for weak programmes. Banks, insurers and licensed fintechs are all covered, which keeps security, platform and compliance engineering roles open through the next certification in April 2027.
Stablecoin rules land in January
The federal GENIUS Act takes effect on 18 January 2027 and NYDFS proposed a matching stablecoin regulation in June 2026 with a one year transition for licensed issuers, while Galaxy and Mastercard both received BitLicenses in May 2026 and Paxos registered a securities settlement company with the SEC. Coinbase committed in March 2026 to more than 630 new research and development jobs at One Madison, growing toward 1,000 New York staff. Custody, settlement, security and compliance engineering roles are being staffed against those dates now.
The banks are back five days
JPMorgan Chase has required five days a week since March 2025 and filled its new 270 Park Avenue headquarters with 10,000 staff, Goldman Sachs has been fully in office since 2023, PNC went to five days in May 2026 and Truist ended hybrid in January 2026, while Citi still allows one or two remote days. New York office occupancy sat at 53.9% in the week to 2 September 2026. Bank and scale-up roles draw from different pools, so settle the attendance rule first.
Quant firms set the pay ceiling
The median New York software engineer reports $200,000 in total compensation, while Hudson River Trading averages $507,500 and Snap $510,000, and a quantitative developer at Citadel reports a national median of $575,000. A quantitative researcher in New York has a median package of $250,000. Those firms recruit the same data and platform skills as a payments company, so a mid-market search has to lead with scope, equity and stability.
Fintech roles we place in New York
- AI/ML Engineer
- AML Compliance Engineer
- Chief Information Security Officer
- Chief Technology Officer
- Cyber Risk Assessment Analyst
- Digital Asset Custody Engineer
- Electronic Trading Developer
- Front-Office Full-Stack Developer (C#)
- Identity and Access Engineer
- Post-Trade Systems Engineer
- Quantitative Developer
- Quantitative Researcher
- Settlement Systems Engineer
- Smart Contract Engineer
- Stablecoin Payments Engineer
Two New York-area searches from our case studies
Front-office C# developer for a $5.6BN credit manager
A New York City capital management firm with $5.6BN under management, mostly in credit markets, had fallen two months behind on its client-facing front-office applications after long recruiting cycles, candidate ghosting and poorly vetted submissions from its previous IT recruiter. Starting on July 18th, we identified and screened 287 candidates within nine business days, submitted six inside two weeks and negotiated terms well within budget, and the chosen developer started on August 22nd. Buy-side firms in New York compete with the banks and trading firms for the same front-office engineers, which is why a two-week submission window mattered as much as the quality of the shortlist.
Chief Information Officer for a Fortune 500 insurer
A Fortune 500 insurer headquartered in the New York City area, with more than $10 billion in annual revenue, needed a CIO who had already run a Fortune 500 IT organisation to lead its 500-person global team through cloud migrations, SaaS implementations and ITSM improvements. We sourced and screened sitting Fortune 500 CIOs across the country in confidence, led the interviews down to the client's top two and stayed involved through the offer, with our candidate starting a month later. Insurers licensed in New York fall under the same DFS cybersecurity regulation as the banks, so a technology leader hired there inherits the annual certification along with the transformation plan.
Retained, direct, contract or subscription hiring for New York fintech teams working toward the 2027 deadlines
Executive Search (Retained)
A leadership hire in New York often has two audiences beyond the founder. A Flatiron scale-up like Ramp, which raised its Series F at a $44 billion valuation with ICONIQ, GIC and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan leading, answers to investors of that size, while a firm holding a BitLicense answers to DFS examiners as well. We run CTO, CISO and head of risk technology searches on a retained basis and test each finalist against both conversations before you meet them.
Direct Hire
The engineers most New York fintechs want are already employed at a bank in Midtown or Hudson Yards, at a market data company or at a trading firm such as Hudson River Trading, where the average software engineer reports $507,500. Our recruiters approach those people directly and explain why your payments, custody or post-trade problem is worth leaving for. The shortlist usually reaches you within 4 days of the intake call.
Contract Staffing
Three dated pieces of work land on New York compliance and engineering teams within a few months of each other: the GENIUS Act and the matching DFS stablecoin rule from 18 January 2027, the Part 500 certification on 15 April 2027 and the documented risk assessment method that the September 2026 guidance expects. Much of that is project work with an end date, so we place contract and contract-to-hire engineers for it and act as their W2 employer for the term. If the role turns permanent, converting the engineer is straightforward.
Recruitment as a Service
Fintech money is going into fewer and larger rounds, with Crunchbase counting 25.7% fewer deals worldwide in the first half of 2026 while the dollars rose 22.7%, and New York companies such as Taktile, which took a $110 million Series C led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives in June, are among those raising. A company that closes a round like that tends to hire engineers, data scientists and product managers in the same quarter. Our Recruitment as a Service subscription takes on candidate marketing, sourcing, screening and delivery across that whole plan, while your engineers keep control of the technical interview.
From a Citi talent acquisition manager with 18 years in investment banking
I’ve dealt with a lot of hiring firms in my 18 years in the investment banking profession, and the majority of them have been awful to mediocre at best. Dealing with Nexus IT Group, on the other hand, was a breath of fresh air. After only one one opening, I was blown away by the quality and quantity of resumes I received. Nexus IT Group pays close attention to my demands and requirements. As a result, the individuals who were referred to me were excellent fits for our open positions. I appreciate the personal and professional expertise you offer to the process.
Frequently asked questions about fintech recruiting in New York
The size of the workforce is real, but it is weighted toward analysts and risk staff rather than the people Part 500 depends on. The BLS counts 12,770 financial risk specialists in the metro at 3.28 times the national concentration, while compliance officers sit at 0.92 and information security analysts at 0.97, both below the national share. Every bank, insurer and licensed fintech in the state is preparing the same certification for 15 April 2027, so those two groups are being recruited by everyone at once. If you need one, we would plan for a longer search than your engineering roles and start before the new year.
Some, though the picture is mixed. Gemini went from roughly 640 staff at the start of 2026 to about 445 by 1 March, and Coinbase cut around 700 jobs, 14% of the company, in May, only two months after announcing more than 630 new research and development roles at One Madison. At the same time Galaxy and Mastercard received BitLicenses in May and Paxos registered a securities settlement company with the SEC, so licensed incumbents are still hiring for custody and settlement work. For an employer that can offer stability, this is a good moment to talk to engineers who have built on-chain systems under DFS supervision.
Robert Half's 2026 guide puts a New York compliance analyst between $108,859 and $155,951, with $137,865 in the middle, while a compliance officer runs from $122,850 to $180,180. The BLS median for compliance officers across the whole metro is much lower at $101,050, but that figure covers every industry, including employers far outside finance. A fintech hiring someone who can face DFS examiners should budget from the Robert Half bands rather than the BLS figure. Where a role also needs engineering skills, such as building AML monitoring, the pay usually moves closer to the engineering ranges.
It can, at least for a few months. When Ramp raised $750 million at a $44 billion valuation in June 2026, it was already serving more than 70,000 customers from its office on West 23rd Street, and a company at that stage hires engineers, product managers and data staff in volume. Globally, fintech deal counts fell 25.7% in the first half of 2026 while the money invested rose 22.7%, so more of the capital is sitting with a handful of companies that can pay for talent aggressively. A smaller fintech competing in the same neighbourhood usually wins candidates on scope and on how quickly it can make a decision.
Most of our New York searches come from the banks and asset managers, the venture-backed payments and lending scale-ups, the crypto exchanges and custody businesses, the market data and post-trade companies and the insurtechs. Those employers run platforms large enough to need specialist engineers, which is where an outside recruiter is worth the fee. Two of the case studies on this page, a credit manager in New York City and a Fortune 500 insurer in the New York area, show the range. We also take searches from smaller New York fintechs hiring their first payments or compliance engineer.