Registered investment advisers plan to keep hiring client-facing staff but have paused back-office roles. Cerulli Associates and Vista Equity Partners surveyed 68 such firms in May and June. Junior advisers, client associates and senior advisers top the hiring lists. Administrators, marketers and compliance specialists rank far lower. Asher Cheses of Cerulli said firms want to see which tasks AI can automate before hiring. The two firms also scored firms on AI maturity, from governance to revenue impact. Half are experimenting without written policies or training. Only a small share use AI across advisory and back-office work. Firm size showed little link to adoption; smaller firms with clear ownership led. Advisers mostly use Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini, plus adviser notetakers from Zocks and Jump.
What changed
Back-office and administrative hiring at advisory firms proceeded without an AI pause.
What it unlocks
Benchmarking an advisory firm's AI governance and hiring plans against peers.
- 68 firms surveyed, May-June 2026
- 73% to hire junior advisors
- 23% to hire administrators
- average AI maturity score 32 of 100
Sources