Hiring Activity in Q2: Is The Market in Paradox?

Hiring Activity in Q2: Is The Market in Paradox?

As we approach the end of the financial year, focus inevitably shifts to EOFY reporting, long-range strategic planning (3–5 years), and immediate tactical priorities for the year ahead. Given the recent market volatility and uncertainty about whether those conditions will persist, many businesses are also revisiting near-term adjustments. At the same time, a number of firms are entering the cycle of year-end performance reviews and compensation discussions.

After what has been a challenging year—and a notably sluggish few months—we thought it timely to reflect on how Q2 this year compares with the same period across the past three years.

The general sentiment in the market is one of paradox: it’s been an undeniably busy few months, yet things feel slow. Search processes are becoming more protracted. While shortlists are being delivered on schedule, the journey from interview to offer, resignation, and onboarding is dragging. For senior hires, this can be attributed to multiple stakeholder engagements and limited availability—both understandable. But why are we seeing similar slowdowns with junior roles? Is broader market caution seeping into every level of hiring?

Data suggests that hiring activity in Q2 2025 has dropped significantly compared to the same quarter in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Investment Banking remains relatively resilient, showing only a modest decline of 11%. Notably, Global Markets have defied the broader trend with a year-on-year increase in hiring. In contrast, Real Asset investment and Corporate Banking have taken a more pronounced hit, with hiring volumes down by roughly 50% year-on-year.

Private Equity and Private Credit continue to attract strong interest. As one of our sophisticated investor clients put it, “Who isn’t doing Private Credit these days?”

And since we’re talking end of year comparisons to previous years and compensation —if you're curious to see how your compensation stacks up against your peers, we invite you to participate in our newly launched remuneration benchmarking survey here.

“Movers & Shakers”

BANKING & MARKETS

Investment Banking / Advisory

• Sam Prentice has departed Rothschild for Jarden, joining as Senior Managing Director, Corporate Finance. Terence Yong most recently with McGrathNicol, & Jamie Glanz most recently with Moelis & Company New York, have both joined Jarden as Directors. Whilst Sam Murphy joins the general industrials team as a Senior Associate from Evercore New York.

• Bank of America has appointed Ian Taylor (formerly of Goldman Sachs & APM) as Head of ECM.

• Rob Jenkins, Managing Director of Grant Samuel has been appointed as a Partner with Barrenjoey.

• Jonathon Platt of UBS will be joining Deutsche Bank in July as Head of Infrastructure & Utilities, ANZ.

• Cameron Nicholls Head of Financial Sponsors ANZ with JP Morgan has joined Nomura as a Managing Director.

• Aaron Lamshed has been appointed as Head of Corporate Finance, NSW for Morgans Financial, he joins after 10 years at Goldman Sachs.

• Alvarez & Marsal has added Sam Roberts to its team, previously a Partner from Deloitte’s M&A transaction services team in Brisbane.

• Kara Price formerly with RBCCM, has joined MA Financial Group as Managing Director, Power, Utilities & Renewables. Sameen Khalid has also joined the firm from QIC as a Vice President. Whilst Jad Mouait (ex Grant Thornton) & Rory Ackerman (ex EY) have joined as Investment Banking Analysts.

• Luke McAlpin has joined Morgan Stanley as a Vice President from Deutsche Bank.

• Nahum Adeel has joined Macquarie Group as an Investment Banking Analyst in the TMET team from Bank of America’s infrastructure team.

Corporate Banking / Debt Products / Risk Management

• David McCombe has joined Mizuho as Managing Director & Head of Client Coverage from SMBC.

• Mario Saia & Andrew Hazell both previously with CBA, has joined HTL Property Group’s newly established debt advisory business as Co-Founder / National Director and Director respectively.

• Philip Hodgkinson has joined JP Morgan as an Executive Director, Global Corporate Banking from Westpac where he was Director, Energy, Infrastructure & Resources.

• Josh Witts who was previously with MUFG, has joined CIBC as Executive Director, Syndications.

• Lauren Griffiths from NAB’s Portfolio, Customer & Insights for Banks and NBFIs team has joined Credit Agricole as a Director.

Global Markets (FICC & Equities) / Capital Markets / Treasury

• Matt Chalmers, Co-Head of Natural Resources Research with Bank of America, has jumped ship to JP Morgan’s natural resources team.

• Mark Wilson has joined RBCCM as a Managing Director & Head of Equity Research. Mark was previously with Star Entertainment in business development & investor relations and earlier with Deutsche Bank as Head of Research.

• Paul Buys of Canaccord Genuity, has taken on the role of Head of Research with Citi, succeeding Paul McTaggart. Laura Sutcliffe will also be joining Citi as Head of Healthcare in July. Laura was previously with UBS.

• Fiona Gaal has been appointed as Head of Securitisation, Oceania with MUFG from ANZ where she was Executive Director, Structured Capital Markets.

• Moray Clowes has been appointed as Head of Cross Asset Sales, Institutional with ANZ Bank from NAB.

• UBS research analyst Lee Power leaves the firm to lead JPMorgan’s Industrials Coverage.

• Goldman Sachs nabs analyst Brendan Sproules from Citi where he was Head of Australian Banks Research.

• Alex Sutton of Morgan Stanley, has joined RBCCM as Director, Hedge Fund Sales.

• Toby Boettcher, ex EY & PwC has joined ING as Director, DCM.

• Kuvesh Pather has joined SMBC as Executive Director, Structured Credit from Credit Suisse where he was Head of Trading.

• Mimi Gregg previously with Bentham Asset Management, has joined NAB’s capital markets origination team.

• Tom Tepaa has joined Morgan Stanley block trading desk from UBS where he was an Executive Director.

• Matthew Gardiner has joined ING as Director, Financial Markets Sales from NAB.

• James Ding has joined Societe Generale as Vice President, Securitisation, joining from NAB’s securitisation team.

• Omar Ayubi has joined MUFG’s DCM team as an Associate from Westpac’s syndications team.

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS

Private Equity / Family Office / Venture Capital

• Jonathan Jorcin has joined family office EFG as Chief Growth Officer from Guardian Childcare & Education where he was Head of M&A and Corporate Development.

• Daniel Kearns who was Managing Director for Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities Fund, has joined KKR as a Director reporting to David Lang. KKR also sees the addition of Nick Taylor from Affinity Equity Partners as Vice President, as well as Noah Derwent prior an Investment Banking Analyst from Jarden.

• Matt Helman most recently with Jarden as Director, Investment Banking, has joined TPG as an Investment Director for the secondaries team.

• Bill Litsas, ex Jefferies, has joined Pacific Equity Partners’ private equity team as an Associate.

• Monica Aggarwal-Kerr has joined Pemba Capital Partners as an Associate Director from Inflexion in London. Luke Allen has also joined the team as an Origination Analyst from QuarterFive.

• Jonathan Brennan has joined Warburg Pincus as a Vice President, Private Equity covering the Australian market. He returns to Australia from Goldman Sachs in New York.

• Fred Macdonald formerly Associate Director with CPE Capital, has joined Affinity Equity Partners as Vice President.

• Rebecca Rosenberg, ex Barrenjoey, has joined Adamantem Capital as an Investment Associate.

• Alaina Warwick previously Investment Associate with Adamantem Capital, has joined EQT Group as an Associate.

• Jillin Yan, ex McKinsey & Company, has joined Mercury Capital Investments as an Associate.  

• Paul Han has joined Teoh Capital as an Investment Analyst from Stanton Road Partners.

• Sarah Taylor has joined Potentia Capital as an Investment Analyst from Citi.

• Kushal Patel prior with The Carlyle Group in London, has joined Vantage Asset Management in Sydney as an Investment Analyst.

• Jason Cugola from Goldman Sachs is joining General Atlantic’s growth equity investment team in Singapore.

• Matthew Carolan has joined Partners Group as an Investment Analyst from Equis.

Private Credit / Special Situations

• Rahim Chunara of Brookfield, is set to join Bain Capital in September as Managing Director, Asia Special Situations.

• Jay Ditmarsch of Carlyle’s credit opportunities fund, has joined Point72 to lead its private markets strategy.

• Mark Weingarth previously with EG Funds as Director, Business Development, has joined Goldman Sachs as an Executive Director.

• Rob Chretien has joined HPS Investment Partners as a Vice President from Liverpool Partners.

• Matthew Lo previously with Deloitte, has joined QIC as an Associate, Private Credit.

• William Douglass, ex Goldman Sachs has joined Ares as an Associate in their Alternative Credit team in Sydney.

Real Assets - Infrastructure / Renewables / Energy / Real Estate

• Kate Herfort has been appointed as Partner & Head of Group Capital with AGP Sustainable Real Assets, joining from Macquarie where she was Global Head of Real Estate Client Solutions Group.

• Blackstone Group’s Real Estate Managing Director Issa Chehab has departed the firm to join Wentworth Capital.

• Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has appointed Ryan Gordon of QIC as Managing Director and Head of Fundraising & Relationships APAC.

• Fiona McIntyre has been appointed as Chief Financial & Investments Officer with RWE Renewables Australia. Fiona joins from PwC where she was Partner, Energy Transition.

• Mark Zukerman has been appointed as Head of Funds Management at Vado Private.  Prior, he held roles with Carson Capital & Centennial Property.

• Emma Wyndham-Smith has joined Baza Capital as an Investment Consultant from River Capital.

• Georgio Khoury previously with EY as Manager, Capital & Debt Advisory, has joined Gresham Partners as Manager, Property.

FUNDS MANAGEMENT

Investments & Distribution

• Michael Clancy has been appointed as CIO at Rest. He was previously CEO for Qantas Super.

• Kristian Zimmermann has joined COI Capital Management as a Senior Adviser. Prior, he held roles with MLC Asset Management & Temasek.

• Peter Mermelas, ex Morgan Stanley, joins Mason Stevens as their Chief Strategy Officer.

• Mary Xu who was Managing Director with Bank of America, has been appointed as COO with East Coast Capital Management.

• Sue Brake (ex Future Fund) & Grant Smith (ex Macquarie) have joined Aware Super’s Investment Committee.

• Harry O’Neill has joined Five V Capital as a Head of Investor Relations from EQT Group where he was Director, Client Relations & Capital Raising.

• Simon Scott, ex Morningstar, has joined Genium Investment Partners as a Senior Research Analyst.

• Alexander Ordon, formerly of L1 Capital, joins Coller Capital as Director, Australia & New Zealand.

• Victoria Macarthur-Stanham previously with Potentum Partners as a Client Development Manager, has founded Clemgobert, an IR & Distribution advisory firm.

• Sophie Gibbons previously Head of Distribution, Product & Marketing with Octopus Investments, has been appointed as Director, Capital Formation with Potentum Partners.

• Matthew Thomson, ex Firetrail Investments has joined Crescent Capital’s newly created listed equities division.

• Sarah Robson has joined First Sentier Investors as a Senior Responsible Investment Analyst from LVP.

CORPORATE / GOVERNMENT / C-SUITE

• Jayne Hrdlicka formerly CEO of Virgin Australia was named Endeavour Group’s CEO.

• Fiona Griffin has been appointed as CRO with Export Finance Australia. Fiona was previously Global COO Infrastructure & Energy Capital with Macquarie.

• Ashley Conn, ex McMillan Shakespeare, joins First Sentier Investors as their Chief Financial & Strategy Officer.

• Simon Ling has been appointed as CEO with Queensland Treasury Corporation. He has earlier experience with TCorp & Commonwealth Bank.

• Simon Beissel who was a Senior Adviser for Ad Astra Corporate Advisory, has joined NRFC as Head of Debt Investments.

• Anthony Habis has joined FNZ Group as Group Head of APAC, he has prior experience with MA Financial Group as Managing Director.

• Kathryn Young previously Cambooya’s Head of Investment, has joined TCorp as Head of Client Advice & Portfolio Management.

• Brad Lewthwaite has joined University of Melbourne as Associate Director, Transactions. Brad has prior experience with Gresham Partners.

• Alix Boudet has joined Magellan Financial Group as a Corporate Development & Strategy Associate from Goldman Sachs.

• Joie Geng, ex Nomura has joined Endeavour Group as a Senior Strategy Associate.

• Ebony Chapman who has prior experience with Credit Suisse, has joined Computershare as a Corporate Development Associate.

• Tayla Stafford has joined Queensland Airports as a Corporate Finance Analyst from Wilsons Advisory.

We are keen to hear your feedback or should you require further information, please contact us on 02 9235 9400 or nfoster@jmes.com.au

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