Gatecrashing the Corporate World: How to Secure a Tech Position in the Professional Services Sector
The professional services industry is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by the integration of technology and a diverse range of skilled professionals. AI specialists, data scientists, software engineers/developers, infrastructure engineers, and product managers are becoming the most sought-after roles, each contributing uniquely to growth and innovation.
AI Specialists: The Future of Decision Making
AI specialists are increasingly integrated into professional services, automating administrative tasks, augmenting decision-making, and enhancing client deliverables. With the demand for AI skills rapidly rising, firms are leveraging AI to improve efficiency and service quality, offering a significant wage premium [1].
Data Scientists: Driving Business Intelligence
Data scientists analyze and interpret complex unstructured data using machine learning techniques, enabling firms to derive business intelligence and make informed decisions critical for innovation and competitiveness [2][3].
Software Engineers and Developers: Building the Digital Future
Software engineers and developers design and build scalable software platforms and applications. Their role extends beyond coding to integrating advanced technologies like AI while maintaining performance and security, essential for digital transformation in professional services [2][5].
Infrastructure Engineers: The Backbone of Digital Transformation
Infrastructure engineers maintain secure and scalable IT systems, focusing on security and network architecture, which are foundational to supporting remote work, hybrid IT environments, and cloud adoption—all trends shaping service delivery models [2][3].
Product Managers: Strategic Leaders for Tech Innovation
Product managers provide strategic leadership, aligning technology initiatives with business goals, prioritizing features, managing teams, and driving innovation beyond pure technical development [2].
Together, these roles help professional services firms accelerate business growth, transition to digital-first, AI-powered workflows, adopt composable, modular technology stacks, implement sustainable, green IT strategies, ensure compliance with data security and privacy regulations, and much more [1][2][3][4][5].
The New Normal in Professional Services
The use of technology to analyze and serve clients better is becoming the new sector status quo in professional services. With the industry's increasing digitalisation, UX designers are needed to create intuitive navigation menus and design elements for professional services firms' websites and clientele projects.
Remote work is here to stay in the professional services industry, with roughly 12-19% of all management consulting jobs currently remote in the US and UK. Professional service firms with remote workers use digital meeting, messaging, productivity tools, and custom portals, and need talent that can help maintain these systems.
The Tech Priorities in Professional Services
According to a recent survey, tech priorities in professional services include client/customer relationship management, analytics and business intelligence, enterprise resource planning, IoT and machine learning, connected field service, apps, and portals. Nearly half (45%) of all professional services firms cite "effectively using data" as a prevailing challenge [9].
In response, the industry places a high emphasis on data capability, as they aim to help their clients gain a competitive edge. Talent in the professional services industry focuses on empowering business leaders to succeed through data-powered creativity and cost-cutting technology.
The Future of Professional Services
The global market for professional services automation (PSA) is forecast to reach $1679.72 million by 2026. The professional services industry was worth $6,382.56 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5% to top $7 billion by 2027 [10].
Business consultants are increasingly using legal tech software to automate pre-execution contract review, ensure compliance, and guide negotiations, freeing up time for company strategy and client relationship building.
With the increasing need to combine internal and external data sets in strategic planning, data analysts are needed to develop one single source of truth for organizations, scrap inaccurate data, make sense of inconsistencies, devise quicker ways to pull reports, and help create more functional teams empowered by the best possible information.
GA bootcamps can have individuals employment-ready in as little as three months, and offer all the support needed to transition into tech. The professional services industry is a top employer of tech talent in the increasingly digital world.
- With the increasing demand for AI skills, data scientists and AI specialists are playing crucial roles in leveraging AI to improve efficiency and service quality in the professional services industry, offering significant wage premiums [1].
- To maintain secure and scalable IT systems essential for digital transformation, infrastructure engineers are focusing on security and network architecture, supporting remote work, hybrid IT environments, and cloud adoption [2].
- Tech skills, such as data science, software development, and product management, are highly sought after in the professional services industry as firms prioritize integrating technology to drive growth, innovation, and business development [2].
- Education-and-self-development programs like tech bootcamps can help individuals transition into tech careers in the professional services industry, where there is a strong demand for tech talent [11].
