The talent pool is real, and it's growing. There are approximately 143,000 individuals in the UK cyber security workforce, with growth moderately accelerating from 2% in 2022 to 5% in 2024 the GOV.UK Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2025 report. That's a healthy base to recruit from, but the base alone doesn't tell the full story.
Demand still outpaces supply in the specialist corner. A comparison with the Cyber Security Skills 2024 report showed 70% of cyber firms reported at least one hard-to-fill vacancy the GOV.UK AI Labour Market Survey 2025. So while hiring has steadied, the roles that matter most in defence and security remain the hardest to fill.
Looking ahead, specialist skills are what will move the market. Against a subdued 2025 economic backdrop, businesses took a cautious approach to hiring but there were demand hotspots for specialist tech skills including AI, data, enterprise applications and cyber security Computer Weekly's tech recruitment outlook for 2026. If you hire in this sector, the competition is sharpest exactly where you need people most.
AI fluency is becoming a baseline, not a bonus. Demand for AI skills increased nearly 200 percent in a year, with London accounting for 80 percent of AI-related job postings and nearly two-thirds of all technology vacancies in the UK Accenture data reported by The Register. For security teams, that signals a shift: analysts who can work alongside agentic tools will be in demand across the country, not just the capital.
The skills gap is being met with national effort. During London Tech Week 2025, the UK government announced a partnership to upskill 7.5 million UK workers in essential AI skills by 2030, equivalent to around 20% of the UK workforce techUK's reporting on jobs and skills. That's a signal to employers: the people who pair security expertise with AI literacy are the ones to build teams around.
Here's the dynamic worth naming. Agentic tooling handles the high-volume, repetitive layer of security work: sifting alerts, correlating logs, gathering context. When that layer is automated, analysts get back the hours they'd otherwise lose to triage, and they spend them on investigation, threat hunting and the judgement calls a machine can't make. The role doesn't shrink. It deepens.
Start by hiring for judgement, not just certifications. With 70% of cyber firms reporting at least one hard-to-fill vacancy the GOV.UK AI Labour Market Survey 2025, you'll compete hardest for senior specialists. So widen the net: look for people who show curiosity, strong reasoning and the ability to learn fast, then build the tooling knowledge around them.
Above all, be clear about what the human does best. When you tell someone looking for work that agentic tooling will free them for the deeper, more interesting problems, you're offering a better job, not a threatened one. That's a strong story to recruit on.
We built Reed.ai to take the weight of recruitment off your desk. 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 hiring security analysts who'll do deeper work alongside agentic tooling, start a search with us today.
