The Nova Recruitment Insights & Salary Guide 2026 reveals which white-collar industries on the Islands are increasing employment or cutting back on hiring.
The report, which is based on a survey of recruitment agency Nova’s candidates and clients, plus analysis of its job placements and Cayman Compass classified adverts, shows that automation, outsourcing and economic growth are some of the major factors shaping employment patterns in the Cayman Islands.
The sectors that are hiring
Hiring sentiment in 2026 points to “cautious optimism”, said the report produced by Nova, which is part of CML Group. Only 8% of surveyed employers expect to decrease hiring in 2026, down from 16% the previous year.
Corporate services was one of the standout sectors in 2025, with an 81% increase in total advertised roles, which included a 74% rise for permanent positions. The expansion of permanent positions matters, said the report, because it “suggests a degree of longer-term confidence among employers, with firms investing in stable teams to support ongoing client mandates, regulatory obligations, and increasing operational complexity.”
In further good news for corporate service professionals in the Cayman Islands, the report noted that demand for experienced corporate administrators and senior corporate administrators “continues to outpace supply, contributing to longer hiring timelines and heightened competition for proven candidates.”
Marketing, business development and sales also outperformed in 2025. The overall increase in positions for these roles was 52%, but permanent roles only saw a rise of 6%. Most of the growth came from the 333% jump in advertised temporary jobs.
“This suggests organizations are using interim specialists to execute campaigns, cover short-term capacity gaps, support events and launches, or test new initiatives before committing to permanent headcount – making speed, portfolio evidence and immediate impact especially important for candidates,” said the report.
The final sector to demonstrate hiring growth was compliance. The total number of compliance jobs advertised in 2025 grew by 59%, which was driven by an 80% jump in permanent positions, accompanied by a 14% rise in temporary roles.
But employers highlighted an affordability gap, with the report noting that “salary expectations typically exceed advertised ranges by approximately $20K–$30K”.
Sectors shedding jobs
One of the biggest job losers highlighted in the report is the secretarial category, which saw the total number of employment vacancies drop by 70%. That included a 78% fall in temporary roles and a 64% drop in permanent jobs.
The report notes the secretarial downturn seems structural, unlike other sectors where negative numbers represent a blip. “Many organizations appear to have reached a point where existing secretarial capacity, combined with technology, workflow redesign and role consolidation, is sufficient to meet operational needs. As a result, fewer new roles are being created, and replacement hiring has become more selective.”
Another category where automation seems to be hitting job creation in the Cayman Islands is legal support and administration. There was a 54% drop in total jobs offered, which was driven by a 75% fall in permanent roles and mitigated slightly by a 29% increase in adverts for temporary positions.
Outsourcing is also having a negative impact on Cayman job creation in this sector. “While demand for legal services remains strong, the way support work is delivered has changed materially. A larger share of process driven and document heavy activity is being restructured, centralized, automated, or moved offshore, and the 2025 figures suggest these models are now embedded, with limited evidence of roles returning to the local market at scale.”
Other sectors, such as fund administration and fiduciary jobs, also showed a downturn in advertised roles in 2025, but the report noted this was down to consolidation after increases in 2024, “rather than a weakening of underlying activity”. Indeed recent Compass reporting shows continued growth in Cayman’s fund sector.
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