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H1 2026 Review: What We Learned and Where We're Headed

Mathijs Visser22 June 20267 min read

A Personal Look Back

The first half of 2026 was a period of growth, learning and deepening for MVPeople Group. We grew from 5 to 7 team members, launched new services and contributed more than ever to the cybersecurity labour market. Here is our honest review.

MVPeople in Numbers H1 2026

Placements: 47 cybersecurity professionals placed (interim + permanent). Average time-to-fill interim: 12 working days. Average time-to-fill permanent: 28 working days. Client satisfaction: 9.1/10. Candidate satisfaction: 8.8/10. Team: grown from 5 to 7 consultants.

Top 3 Market Trends

1. NIS2 as Growth Engine

NIS2 compliance was the biggest demand driver. GRC and security governance roles grew by 35% compared with H2 2025.

2. AI Security Emerges

From niche to mainstream. We saw the first structural vacancies for AI Security Engineers, LLM Red Teamers and AI Governance specialists.

3. Permanent Makes a Comeback

After years of interim dominance, we see a shift: organisations are investing in permanent security teams again. The launch of MVPermanent played perfectly into this.

Lessons Learned

Speed beats perfection in a tight market. Organisations that shorten their hiring process from 6 to 3 weeks catch the best candidates. We help with that.

H2 Outlook

We expect further growth in AI Security and OT Security. Harry Vidler leads our new executive search practice for permanent CISO and security director positions. MVPrentice is scaling to close the junior talent gap. The market remains tight, and that's exactly where MVPeople makes the difference.

Mathijs Visser

Founder & Lead Consultant, MVPeople Group

Regularly writes about cybersecurity recruitment trends, market analyses and the unique approach of MVPeople Group.

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