The UK software hiring market is cautious at the top line and sharp underneath. Through 2025, businesses took a careful approach to hiring against a subdued economy, yet clear demand hotspots opened up for specialist skills in AI, data, enterprise applications and cyber security Computer Weekly's tech recruitment outlook for 2026. That split matters: the market isn't quiet everywhere, it's concentrating.
Zoom out and the wider labour market is best described as 'low hire, low fire', with weaker recruitment but only slight rises in redundancies, and vacancies now below pre-pandemic levels the Low Pay Commission's 2025 report. Even so, professional, scientific and technical activities saw the largest volume increase in vacancies over August to October 2025, up by 5,000 the ONS vacancies bulletin for November 2025. Demand is real. It's just landing in specific places.
Nowhere is the shift starker than at the bottom of the ladder. Adzuna has recorded a 30% drop in UK entry-level job postings since ChatGPT launched, with graduates facing the toughest market since 2018 techUK's analysis of entry-level and graduate jobs. In tech specifically, graduate jobs fell 46% in a year, with a further 53% drop projected figures from the Institute of Student Employers, reported by The Register. When agents can handle routine coding tasks, the generalist starter role is the first thing to move.
Follow the demand and a clear picture forms. IT business analysts, architects and systems designers, roughly 193,000 workers, sit among the occupations in critical demand, flagged on three of five indicators in 2025 GOV.UK's Occupations in Demand 2025 data. These are exactly the roles an agent-ready codebase leans on: people who design systems, set standards and decide what good looks like.
AI skills are the other magnet. Demand for AI skills rose nearly 200% in a year, with London accounting for 80% of AI-related job postings and nearly two-thirds of all UK technology vacancies Accenture data reported by The Register. Security sits right beside it. The UK cyber workforce is around 143,000 people, with growth accelerating from 2% in 2022 to 5% in 2024 GOV.UK's 2025 cyber security skills report, and 70% of cyber firms reported at least one hard-to-fill vacancy the AI Labour Market Survey 2025. More agent-written code means more code to review, secure and govern.
The route into these teams is changing too. Apprenticeships have climbed from 3% of AI hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025 DSIT's AI Labour Market Survey 2025. As the classic graduate pipeline narrows, employers are building the specialists they need rather than waiting to buy them fully formed.
Start by rewriting the job, not just the job ad. If agents handle the routine, the human role shifts to judgement: system design, code review, testing strategy, and security. Hire for the ability to specify a problem clearly, evaluate what an agent produces, and own the outcome. That's a different assessment from a whiteboard syntax test.
Next, take skills gaps seriously as a build, not only a buy. With apprenticeships now a fifth of AI hires DSIT's 2025 survey, the teams that grow their own specialists are hedging against a thin senior market. Pair that with a wider search. Some roles reach far beyond the local pool; the Migration Advisory Committee notes top technology firms pay sizeable wages to skilled migrants, pushing pay well above threshold for the scarcest skills its review of professionals in IT and engineering.
Finally, move quickly when you find the right person. In a low-hire market, hesitation costs you the specialists everyone else wants too. Define the must-have skills, keep your process short, and be ready to make a decision. The KPMG and REC monthly data is the pulse to watch on how fast demand is turning the KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs.
This is where we fit. We search a database of 15 million people to surface the architects, AI engineers and security specialists an agent-ready codebase needs, then rank a shortlist and handle the process end to end so you can focus on the interview. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. If you're planning your next software hire, tell us the role and we'll get started.
