Talent Radar · May 2026 — GCC hiring slows in BFSI, AI roles up 14%.

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Issue 41 · May 2026

Hiring velocity is up 18%, but the role mix has shifted — and most plans haven't caught up.

The headline number reads like recovery. What the data underneath actually shows is a quiet reshuffle: VP roles up sharply, IC4–IC5 down for the fourth month running, and the AI/ML salary band reopening at the top. This month's edition unpacks what that means for hiring plans built before December — and the five corrections most TA teams should be running this month.

SR
Sachith Rai
MD & Founder · 2 May 2026

Updated May 2026

Key Findings

What the May data is actually saying.

Five findings worth surfacing this month. The full report has the underlying tables, the methodology notes, and the role-by-role breakdowns — these are the ones we'd flag in a leadership conversation.

01
Velocity is up — but only at the top.
VP-level mandates are running 18% above the trailing six-month average across all four sectors. IC4–IC5 hiring is down 4% in the same window. The headline obscures a clear bifurcation.
+18%
VP velocity δ
02
AI/ML pay has reopened at the top.
Director-level AI/ML offers up 22% YoY in Bengaluru. The gap to the next sector down is wider than it's been since 2022 — and the gap inside the role family is wider still.
22%
Director YoY
03
Notice periods are extending.
68 days is the new average across the senior cohort, up from 54 a year ago. Most pipeline plans still assume 45 — which means the May offer doesn't land until August at the earliest.
68d
Avg senior notice
04
Counter-offer rates held high for the fifth straight month.
31% of senior offers triggered a counter from the candidate's current employer. The acceptance rate of those counters is the number that's actually moving — up to 47% from 39% a year ago.
47%
Counter acceptance
Chart of the month

VP-level hiring is running ahead of IC-level — for the fourth month running.

Monthly mandates opened by level, indexed to the trailing six-month average. May is the widest the gap has been since we started tracking it.

Mandates opened by level — indexed to trailing 6-mo avg
VP & above
IC4–IC5
+30% +15% 0 −15%
Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May
Source: Recruise Talent Radar · 880+ GCC sample · Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, NCR · Indexed to Aug 2025–Jan 2026 baseline
Inside this issue

The full table of contents.

Twelve charts and the data tables behind them, sequenced so a CHRO can read it in fifteen minutes and a TA leader can use the back half that afternoon.

01 The observation, in one page p.2
02 Velocity index — by sector p.3
03 Velocity index — by city p.4
04 Role mix shift — IC vs VP+ p.5
05 AI/ML pay deltas — Director and up p.6
06 Notice periods — senior cohort p.7
07 Counter-offer rates and acceptance p.8
08 Data tables — the numbers behind every chart p.9–12
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More from the Talent Radar

Other recent issues.

Browse the full archive
Issue 40 · April 2026
April 2026
Q1 closed soft. What the velocity number was hiding.
Read issue 40
Issue 39 · March 2026
March 2026
Counter-offer rates hit a five-year high — and what's actually driving it.
Read issue 39
Issue 38 · February 2026
February 2026
The hidden cost of slow offer cycles, in three charts.
Read issue 38