AI is reshaping finance jobs — here's what that means for your child's future

A recent Forbes article by Luciana Paulise spells out what many parents already sense: the world of work is changing faster than schools can keep up. In finance alone, Wall Street banks are projected to cut up to 200,000 jobs over the next few years as AI takes over routine tasks like data entry, basic reporting and financial modelling.

The roles most at risk are entry-level and junior positions — exactly the first rung on the ladder your child might one day want to climb. Bookkeeping, transactional accounting and manual data verification are being automated. That first job that used to teach graduates how a business really works? It may not exist in the same form.

But — and this is the critical bit the headlines often miss — AI is also creating entirely new roles. And they pay well. Very well.

These are 'hybrid' jobs: part finance knowledge, part AI fluency. An AI Automation Engineer in finance earns between £100,000 and £145,000. An AI Governance and Compliance Manager can make £95,000 to £160,000. An AI Quantitative Portfolio Strategist? £125,000 to £200,000 and beyond. These aren't coding jobs for computer scientists. They're finance jobs that now require you to understand, direct and question AI tools.

The article names five emerging roles: AI Automation Engineer, AI Financial Planning & Analysis Manager, AI Governance & Compliance Manager, AI Revenue Operations Analyst and AI Quantitative Portfolio Strategist. What they all share is this: they need humans who can interpret AI output, spot its errors, explain it to leaders and make ethical judgments machines cannot.

The skills that matter now are a mix of technical and human. Hard skills: data literacy, understanding analytics platforms, knowing how to verify what AI produces. Soft skills: assertiveness, curiosity, the ability to ask the right questions and the confidence to present ideas to senior leaders. AI can generate a report. It cannot explain the truth behind the numbers or persuade a board to act on it.

This is why we built FITinAI. Not because we want every child to become a coder, but because we want every child to be ready. The gap between what schools teach and what employers need is widening. Computer science lessons are still new in many schools. Coding clubs are often extras at premium schools most families cannot afford.

Think back to the 1990s. The internet arrived. Mobile phones arrived. The people who embraced them early had a head start. The people who ignored them spent years catching up. AI is moving even faster. In five to ten years, when today's primary school children enter the job market, AI fluency will not be a bonus. It will be the baseline.

The good news? You do not need to be an expert to help your child get there. You just need to start. One conversation. One small step. One level at a time.