More than 50,000 public job listings in US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland from Big Four consulting companies Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC were for engineers with ...
The world’s largest professional services networks are undergoing a massive recruitment shift, prioritiing artificial intelligence (AI) expertise over traditional corporate skills, The Financial Times has said in a report. Citing its analysis of more than 50,000 public job advertisements across the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, the publication says that the “Big Four” firms: Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC, collectively posted more job listings for AI specialists than for corporate auditors last year.
The findings, which are compiled using data from corporate intelligence provider PredictLeads, show that roles requiring AI knowledge made up nearly 7% of all English-language job postings by these firms in 2025, the report noted. This represents a significant increase from 2022, the year ChatGPT debuted, when less than 2% of vacancies listed AI as a core requirement. By comparison, traditional audit roles accounted for just under 3% of the total listings over the same period.
Push for data science experts and machine learning engineers
The hiring data implies the impact of generative technology and changing dynamics of global consulting. Many of the analysed listings target highly technical positions, including data science experts, machine learning engineers, and specialists tasked with using autonomous AI agents to handle corporate workflows.
The technical baseline for these corporate consulting roles has also risen. In 2025, about four-fifths of the AI-focused job advertisements required formal coding skills, up from three-fifths in 2021. For example, a recent job posting from KPMG sought a manager specialising in chatbot prompt engineering to build automated workflows.
EY, meanwhile, advertised for a senior associate in London to implement generative AI frameworks within customer tax departments, and Deloitte posted a vacancy requiring eight years of AI strategy experience.
The report added that this recruitment wave is driven by twin commercial pressures:
The first is that the Big Four are currently investing billions to embed automated tools into their own corporate infrastructure
The second is that they are simultaneously building up teams to advise external corporate clients on how to execute their own AI transitions.
How AI is restructuring the working at The Big Four
According to FT report, this technological adoption is resulting in a restructuring of the traditional professional services business model. Historically, firms relied on a strict pyramid hierarchy, where a small group of senior partners managed vast layers of less-experienced, junior staff who performed routine data verification.
Due to the explosion of generative models, they can now automate these entry-level tasks and firms are forced to pivot toward tech-heavy hiring.
Interestingly, the data shows that a notable segment of the job advertisements are seeking hybrid professionals, such as product managers and developers capable of building customised AI tools specifically for the corporate accounting sector.
The findings, which are compiled using data from corporate intelligence provider PredictLeads, show that roles requiring AI knowledge made up nearly 7% of all English-language job postings by these firms in 2025, the report noted. This represents a significant increase from 2022, the year ChatGPT debuted, when less than 2% of vacancies listed AI as a core requirement. By comparison, traditional audit roles accounted for just under 3% of the total listings over the same period.
Push for data science experts and machine learning engineers
The hiring data implies the impact of generative technology and changing dynamics of global consulting. Many of the analysed listings target highly technical positions, including data science experts, machine learning engineers, and specialists tasked with using autonomous AI agents to handle corporate workflows.
The technical baseline for these corporate consulting roles has also risen. In 2025, about four-fifths of the AI-focused job advertisements required formal coding skills, up from three-fifths in 2021. For example, a recent job posting from KPMG sought a manager specialising in chatbot prompt engineering to build automated workflows.
EY, meanwhile, advertised for a senior associate in London to implement generative AI frameworks within customer tax departments, and Deloitte posted a vacancy requiring eight years of AI strategy experience.
The report added that this recruitment wave is driven by twin commercial pressures:
The first is that the Big Four are currently investing billions to embed automated tools into their own corporate infrastructure
The second is that they are simultaneously building up teams to advise external corporate clients on how to execute their own AI transitions.
How AI is restructuring the working at The Big Four
Due to the explosion of generative models, they can now automate these entry-level tasks and firms are forced to pivot toward tech-heavy hiring.
Interestingly, the data shows that a notable segment of the job advertisements are seeking hybrid professionals, such as product managers and developers capable of building customised AI tools specifically for the corporate accounting sector.
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