The Challenge
The Capital Markets division of a Top 5 Canadian bank had launched a complex, multi-year initiative to rebuild its Risk IT system from the ground up, replacing multiple stand-alone legacy systems with a single Front-to-Back integration. It was an industry first, highly visible across North American financial services, and required transformation on both the IT and business sides of the organization.
Delivering it demanded rare talent: PhDs and financial mathematicians for modelling, sensitivities, and stress testing, alongside software engineers who could build and maintain institutional-grade risk systems. Engagements ran three months to five years for the most specialized subject matter experts.
The incumbent staffing provider was a well-known generalist firm without the specialization the project required. The client was experiencing:
- Inaccurate candidate matching against highly technical quant and risk-systems profiles
- A decentralized, ad hoc hiring process that slowed decisions and frustrated hiring managers
- Limited market intelligence around compensation benchmarks for niche capital markets talent
- Weak partnership and communication between the provider, hiring managers, and contractors
Robertson was brought in as a specialist partner—one that lives inside financial services and understands, at a practitioner level, the calibre of talent required to build, validate, and operate complex risk models and systems.
Robertson’s Solution: Expertise-Led, Hands-On Delivery
Robertson’s differentiation on this engagement was not process—it was knowledge and proximity. Our team understood the work the bank was trying to do, could speak credibly to the professionals being hired, and stayed close to the project day-to-day. That combination is what drove every outcome that followed.
Applied Market Expertise in Capital Markets Talent
Robertson brought specialized knowledge of the capital markets risk talent market—what PhDs in financial mathematics and senior risk-systems engineers actually do, what they are paid, and where they are. We translated that expertise into practical guidance for the client: calibrated compensation benchmarks, realistic timelines to source scarce profiles, and candid feedback on which requirements were driving the market and which were limiting the candidate pool.
This depth let the client budget with confidence and make selection decisions with a clearer view of the market. Stronger matching meant fewer misfires, less rework, and a higher standard of hire on a project that couldn’t afford either.
A Streamlined, Partnered Hiring Process
Hiring had been ad hoc and decentralized, spread across locations and hiring managers with no consistent rhythm. Robertson partnered directly with the client’s senior project manager to redesign the workflow—introducing recurring, same-day on-site interview blocks that brought all hiring managers together on a predictable cadence.
Decisions that used to drift for weeks now happened in days. Candidates stayed engaged, hiring managers stayed aligned, and the project kept its momentum on roles where a slow “yes” is effectively a “no.”
Hands-On Contractor Care
Highly skilled professionals have options. To keep them, Robertson stayed close—with named, local points of contact who could resolve pay, timesheet, and contract questions quickly rather than escalating them through a call centre. Contractors felt supported, which kept them focused on the work.
The combination of a high-profile project and responsive support produced unusually strong retention: professionals completed their contracts, many extended, and some stayed for years.
Results
Robertson’s hands-on, expertise-led delivery produced measurable outcomes across the life of the engagement:
- ~135 specialized professionals placed over the course of the program, with 30+ on contract at any given time across a three-year run
- Engagements up to five years for the most senior subject matter experts, reflecting both talent quality and retention
- Faster, more predictable hiring through a streamlined, partner-led interview and decision process
- Stronger candidate-to-role matching driven by practitioner-level understanding of quant and risk-systems talent
- Cost savings as a byproduct of expertise—more accurate market pricing, better fit, and higher retention replaced the mark-ups and churn of a generalist model
- A trusted, long-term partnership with the client’s HR team and hiring managers that extended well beyond the initial mandate
The Difference
On a project with no precedent, the client didn’t need a staffing vendor—they needed a partner who understood the work. Robertson’s in-depth knowledge of capital markets risk talent and hands-on approach to delivery were the difference. The cost savings, the retention, and the hiring velocity all flowed from that.
