Technical skills may secure a candidate the role, but it’s their behaviour that keeps them in the seat. For fintech scale-ups, this distinction is crucial. Hiring for technical ability alone is like investing in a high-performing stock without looking at volatility — the returns look good upfront, but the instability can wipe out gains over time.
The cost of mis-hires in fintech is steep. Beyond the £50k–£80k in direct and indirect costs, failed hires derail product roadmaps, increase stress for remaining team members, and weaken credibility with investors. What separates hires who thrive from those who exit within months often comes down to behaviour — and three signals stand out above the rest.
At Rec2Tech, we’ve benchmarked thousands of placements. Our data shows that candidates who display learning agility, accountability, and cultural alignment are significantly more likely to remain in their seats past the 12-month mark. The good news? These signals are visible long before contracts are signed.
Signal 1: Learning Agility
Fintech doesn’t stand still. Frameworks shift, regulations tighten, and customer expectations evolve faster than in most industries. Engineers who succeed long term aren’t necessarily those with the most polished CVs — they are those who adapt at speed.
How to spot learning agility:
- Curious questioning: In interviews, they probe beyond the job description, asking how systems scale, how compliance is managed, or what future features are planned.
- Evidence of self-learning: Look for candidates who have picked up new languages, experimented with emerging tools, or completed certifications off their own initiative.
- Pattern of adaptability: Review CVs for moments where they’ve stepped into unfamiliar domains and delivered, such as moving from front-end into DevOps or pivoting from finance to crypto.
Why it matters: Learning-agile hires reduce onboarding friction. Instead of slowing down when new tools or regulations appear, they accelerate, often becoming internal champions for change. This adaptability not only supports retention but increases resilience across the whole engineering team.
Signal 2: Accountability in Action
Fintech is a high-stakes environment. A bug in production can cause compliance breaches, reputational harm, or even regulatory fines. The engineers who last beyond a year are those who don’t just “own their work” in theory — they take accountability in practice.
How to spot accountability:
- Outcome-focused storytelling: Instead of simply listing tasks, they speak in terms of measurable impact (“I redesigned the payments API to reduce transaction errors by 35%”).
- Openness about mistakes: Strong candidates don’t hide errors; they show how they corrected them and what processes were improved.
- Consistent references: Referees who emphasise dependability and ownership are often better predictors of retention than those who only praise technical skills.
Why it matters: Teams with accountable engineers operate with higher trust and less micromanagement. When individuals demonstrate ownership, they naturally embed themselves into the mission of the company — making them far less likely to leave when challenges arise.
Signal 3: Cultural Alignment with Measured Proof
Culture-fit is often treated as a buzzword, but in fintech it’s a survival factor. Scaling a team quickly while chasing funding milestones is challenging enough without the added friction of misaligned values. Cultural alignment doesn’t mean hiring clones — it means ensuring shared drivers and compatible working styles.
How to spot cultural alignment:
- Structured behavioural benchmarks: Use psychometric and behavioural tools rather than gut feel. This avoids unconscious bias and provides measurable alignment data.
- Mission resonance: Candidates who can articulate why your product excites them are already connecting emotionally to the mission.
- Work-style preferences: Assess whether they thrive in asynchronous, remote-first teams or prefer high-collaboration environments. Misalignment here often predicts early exits.
Why it matters: Cultural alignment significantly reduces attrition risk. Engineers who believe in the mission and mesh with the team dynamic are less swayed by salary increases elsewhere. They stay because the work feels meaningful, and the environment supports their best performance.
The Cost of Missing These Signals
Failing to assess behaviour is one of the most common mistakes in fintech hiring. Traditional interviews focus on technical challenges or CV highlights, but rarely probe into behavioural predictors. The cost of ignoring this?
- Financial loss: A single failed engineering hire can cost £50k–£80k.
- Product disruption: Delayed releases or patchwork fixes when key engineers exit mid-project.
- Cultural damage: High turnover creates instability and erodes morale.
By contrast, engineers who display all three behavioural signals are three times more likely to remain beyond the 12-month mark. For scale-ups where stability is the difference between hitting milestones and missing them, that’s not a marginal gain — it’s a survival strategy.
How Rec2Tech Puts This Into Practice
At Rec2Tech, we don’t leave retention to chance. Our process blends behavioural benchmarking, psychometrics, and data-driven shortlisting to identify candidates who show these signals before the offer stage.
For example, our cultural diagnostics go deeper than “Do they seem like a good fit?” We measure values, motivations, and work-style preferences to ensure candidates will integrate seamlessly into your environment. Combined with structured interview frameworks and post-hire check-ins, this approach is why 96% of our placements remain in seat after a year.
We’re not just filling roles. We’re building fintech teams that stick.
Retention Is Predictable
Skills may win the interview, but behaviour wins the long game. By paying attention to learning agility, accountability, and cultural alignment, fintech leaders can dramatically reduce costly turnover.
Retention isn’t luck. It’s science. With the right tools, the tell-tale cues are visible before a candidate signs on the dotted line.
Want to predict retention before it becomes a problem? Let’s talk.