After over a year in the doldrums, fund management recruitment is positively buoyant again and the emphasis has shifted away from the middle office and towards investment talent.

To name just a few people moves in recent weeks, Schroders has lost Nick Purves and Ian Lance to rival RWC Partners, Nick Mustoe has joined Invesco Perpetual as chief investment officer, March Gestion has recruited José Antonio as head of European funds, Investec has unveiled Ian Vose as portfolio manager and Martin Currie has lifted a team of four from Scottish Widows Investment Partnership into its global emerging markets function.

A recent poll of 20 top fund managers by PRPi Consulting, which specialises in compensation and HR issues within asset management, revealed that 75% are intending to hire in 2010.

While much of the recruitment in 2009 was focused on risk management and compliance professionals, investment and sales staff in the front office are experiencing a new-found popularity.

“There has been a big increase in front office positions across all asset classes,” says Jalpa Chandarana, manager of investment management recruitment at Joslin Rowe. “A lot of firms are expanding, and we’re getting close to levels of recruitment last seen in 2007.”

A number of fund managers including BlackRock, New Star Asset Management, Schroders and Fidelity Investments were forced to cut jobs over the last 18 months. Many people have simply been waiting for an uptick before taking the opportunity to move, suggests Nina Gilbert, founding partner of asset management recruit Fisher Barrie.

“Redundancies have left many fund managers with extra responsibility and without the remuneration to reflect it,” she says. “And in some cases a whole tier of middle management has been taken out, which means those below have nothing to aspire to. Key strategic decisions have been badly handled, and many people feel now is the right time to move.”

While the general sentiment around asset management recruitment is upbeat, it would be unwise for firms indulge in a hiring spree suggests Amin Rajan, chief executive of investment management think-tank CREATE.

“Recruitment has definitely picked up, with a greater focus on investment, sales and distribution roles. However, the current wave of fiscal uncertainty means a lot of firms are still nervous about expanding too rapidly,” he says.