Ongoing M&A activity in the financial sector, combined with regulatory pressures, means that the boom times for technologists with change management and integration experience are likely to continue for years to come.

Anyone who thought that the flurry of financial M&A activity in the immediate aftermath of Lehman’s collapse represented a short window of opportunity for IT professionals with change experience is sadly mistaken.

During the first quarter of this year financials accounted for 18% of all M&A deals, according to figures from Thomson Reuters. A side affect of this activity is the need to integrate of the firm’s disparate IT systems. Add in the fact that RBS, among others, is still firmly embroiled in its change projects and it’s easy to see why demand for such technologists remains high.

Project managers, change professionals and business analysts were all highly sought after in the first quarter of 2010, due to these integration projects and “rapidly evolving financial services requirements”, according to recruiters Robert Walters.

“We expect the increase in recruitment activity witnessed in quarter one to continue as banks compete for these highly sought-after skills,” says Peter Milne, manager of Robert Walters’ projects recruitment division. “New multi-year programmes launched during quarter one started to generate momentum and in some cases project implementation is underway.”

As we’ve alluded to earlier, people with these integration and change management skills are not in plentiful supply and the roles are facing something of a skills shortage. But what does it take to work in a change role?

Bradley Wood, partner at capital markets consultancy firm GreySpark Partners, says that technologists need “front to back knowledge”, which means techies with more focused skills don’t have what it takes to fulfil an integration or systems migration role.

“Technologists involved in integration projects need to understand everything from exchange connectivity through to back office functions like settlements or the operational impact on reconciliations,” he says. “On top of this, there’s a need for a deep understanding of regulatory, legal and tax issues. These skills are key, and not easily sourced.”