The wider UK hiring picture is cautious, and automation sits inside it. Early estimates for April to June 2026 point to a decrease of 7,000 vacancies to 712,000 compared with the previous quarter, with total vacancies down by 18,000 (2.5%) on the year, according to the ONS Vacancies and jobs in the UK bulletin. Professional, scientific and technical activities, the grouping that covers much automation engineering, recorded one of the largest decreases.
That does not mean hiring has stopped. The labour market is best described as 'low hire, low fire', with weaker recruitment but only slight increases in redundancies, as set out in the Low Pay Commission Report 2025. For aftermarket teams this matters: firms are keeping the people who maintain and service installed systems, and they compete hard for the specialists who can join them.
Demand is concentrated rather than broad. Businesses took a cautious approach to hiring across 2025, but there were clear demand hotspots for specialist skills including AI, data, enterprise applications and cyber security, as noted in Computer Weekly's tech recruitment outlook for 2026. Aftermarket service, with its blend of hands-on engineering and connected, data-driven diagnostics, sits right where that specialist demand concentrates.
Aftermarket service covers the work that happens after a system is sold and installed: commissioning, preventive maintenance, breakdown response, spare parts support, retrofits and remote monitoring. The roles in demand are field service engineers, maintenance and reliability engineers, controls and PLC specialists, and the growing group who run remote diagnostics and predictive maintenance from connected data.
Two dynamics shape the talent pool. First, the pipeline of new engineers is thin. In engineering, entry-level hiring has fallen to -19% while senior hiring sits at -10%, a nine-percentage-point gap, according to a GOV.UK snapshot of entry-level hiring. That gap makes experienced service engineers harder to replace and slower to grow from within.
Second, the graduate route into technical work has narrowed sharply. Adzuna has seen a 30% drop in UK entry-level job postings since ChatGPT's launch, with graduates facing the toughest market since 2018, as reported by techUK. When the bottom of the funnel shrinks, firms lean harder on apprenticeships and on hiring proven mid-career engineers, and that raises competition for anyone with real service experience.
Apprenticeships are picking up some of the slack. In the AI workforce, apprenticeships have risen from 3% of hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025, according to the DSIT AI Labour Market Survey 2025. Automation aftermarket teams are following the same logic: build technical talent through structured on-the-job training when the ready-made pool is tight.
Start by being precise about the work. An aftermarket service role is not a generic engineering vacancy. Spell out the systems the person will support, the mix of on-site and remote work, the travel involved and the diagnostic tools they will use. Precision helps you reach the small group who genuinely fit, rather than a long list who do not.
Move quickly once you find them. With senior engineering hiring down only slightly while entry-level hiring falls faster, experienced service engineers have options and are rarely on the market for long. A slow process loses good people. Set your interview stages before you advertise, agree who decides, and keep the loop short.
Widen the net beyond the obvious sources. The professional, scientific and technical sector has seen real movement in vacancies, with a 5,000 volume increase reported in one recent quarter by the ONS, so competition for the same names is intense. Consider apprenticeships to build reliability and controls skills over time, and look at adjacent sectors where field service and maintenance experience transfers cleanly.
Finally, weigh pay against the wider picture. For engineering professionals, pay on the Skilled Worker route is broadly in line with the UK average, according to the Migration Advisory Committee. Aftermarket service is often about retention as much as recruitment: clear progression, modern tools and sensible on-call arrangements keep the engineers you already rely on.
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