The number of IT jobs at hedge funds and investment management firms doubled in the second quarter of 2008, according to a survey by IT recruitment web site The IT Job Board.

Demand for testing roles increased by 8.3 per cent between the first and second quarters of the year, while IT support, business analysts, networking and programming roles remained stable throughout the period.

The number of project manager and IT manager roles fell five per cent over the two quarters, while the number of developer roles decreased very slightly.

The has been general stability across IT positions, said Adam Stokes, operations manager at www.theitjobboard.co.uk.

“Surprisingly we are seeing a surge in demand for financial IT workers, but this could be due to the work being put in to develop systems that allow for better risk," he said.

"The good news is that we are seeing stability across IT positions as a whole, with no further significant drops since the beginning of the year – in fact an increase in networking positions is a positive sign that infrastructure projects are still going ahead.”