Big Four giant EY set to bolster AI recruitment
Big Four giant EY is moving to hire a new team of senior AI recruits across the UK and Ireland to work directly with clients, in a push to meet “growing demand” to use tech across the board.
EY said the new hires, known as ‘forward deployed engineers’, will be working within client teams at the firm to “design, build, and operationalise AI across client engagements.”
The engineers will be given the option to be based in EY’s offices in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh or Belfast, and work to help clients apply AI in areas such as claims processing, insurance underwriting, and risk mapping.
Sayeh Ghanbari, consulting managing partner at EY UK and Ireland, said the roles are “part of a firmwide commitment” to “lead clients through a rapidly evolving era.”
“These dedicated engineering roles are part of that firmwide commitment and reinforce our ability to support our clients to transform their businesses – quickly, responsibly and with confidence in what comes next,” Ghanbari added.
The Big Four firm said introducing the new roles aims to “close the gap” between the firm’s approach to using AI and its actual deployment and use, spearheaded by the engineers working directly within client delivery teams, whilst also “embedding governance, regulatory compliance and risk controls from the outset.”
This move comes as EY, like the rest of the Big Four giants, has made several rounds of redundancies, including dozens of senior partners in March 2025, as the firms face a slowdown.
AI shaking up the industry across the board
The professional services industry is changing in a number of ways because of AI, which is a double-edged sword as it grapples with keeping its revenue streams afloat whilst integrating the technology amid economic instability and fierce competition.
AI is also a hot topic among the Big Three, the management consulting giants, which are Boston Consultancy Group (BCG), Bain & Co, and McKinsey.
EY’s announcement follows news last Thursday that AI-and-tech-focused services make up to 40 per cent of BCG’s revenue and that AI streams grew by 25 per cent year-on-year.