The demand for technical people in UK manufacturing is real and growing. In 2025 there were 55,000 unfilled long-term vacancies in UK manufacturing, costing the economy £6bn in lost output every year Make UK – Industrial Strategy Skills Commission Report 2025. That gap is felt most keenly in engineering, where 76% of engineering employers struggle to recruit for key roles, with technical and specialist sustainability skills topping the list Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
Skills are the wall most firms hit first. Over 50% of manufacturers cite skills shortages as the main barrier to AI adoption, and only 2% say AI is widely embedded across their operations The Manufacturer / Make UK – AI, Skills and the Future of UK Manufacturing. Recruitment sits high on the list of growth barriers too, with skills shortages (75%), recruitment (36%) and talent retention (32%) named as the top three Barclays Corporate – Skills shortage in UK Manufacturing. For agri-tech producers building automated lines and smart machinery, that competition for engineers is only sharpening.
Automation and digital work are reshaping what manufacturers need. Six in ten (59%) manufacturers cited automation and half (50%) cited wider digitalisation as trends changing jobs and skills needs, while 74% expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to increase by 2030 Make UK – 2030 Skills: Closing the Gap. That plays directly into agri-tech, where robotics, sensors and data run the production floor.
There is headroom to grow. The UK ranks just 24th in global robotics density, and targeted innovation and digital investment could add £150 billion to the UK's GDP by 2035 Making it Smarter: Global Lessons for Accelerating Automation and Digital Adoption in UK Manufacturing - Make UK. The UK used only 101 robots per 10,000 workers in 2020, substantially lagging international peers Smart Machines Strategy 2035 - GOV.UK. As producers automate, the engineers who design, install and maintain those systems become central hires.
Government forecasting backs this up. Occupations in digital, adult social care, construction and engineering have the greatest additional employment demand between 2025 and 2030 GOV.UK - Assessment of priority skills to 2030 (Skills England). Digital, engineering and construction occupations appear most commonly among priority occupations, many already experiencing high recruitment demand and expected to keep growing strongly GOV.UK - Skills England annual skills report 2026.
There is a catch worth watching. In engineering, entry-level hiring has fallen to -19% while senior hiring sits at -10%, a 9-percentage-point gap GOV.UK - A snapshot of entry-level hiring in the UK. Firms are chasing experienced engineers while opening fewer doors for new ones, which tightens the pool further. And most of that talent is home-grown: for the engineering profession, the vast majority of new hires come from the resident labour force, indicating low reliance on international recruitment GOV.UK - Professionals in IT and engineering.
Start by widening how you find people, not just how you screen them. With experienced engineers in short supply and mostly recruited from the resident labour force GOV.UK - Professionals in IT and engineering, the firms that win reach further into the market and move quickly when the right person appears.
Build a route in for newer talent too. Given the gap between falling entry-level and senior hiring GOV.UK - A snapshot of entry-level hiring in the UK, an apprenticeship or trainee track protects your pipeline for the automated roles coming next.
Pair hiring with upskilling. 40% of manufacturers are looking to upskill their existing workforce, specifically for redeployment as a result of automation and digitalisation, a figure that increases for firms with more than 1,000 employees Make UK Executive Survey 2026. Hire for the skills you cannot grow in-house, and develop the ones you can.
We help manufacturers and agri-tech producers find the right engineer without slowing down. We search a database of 15 million candidates and manage recruitment end to end, from a ranked shortlist through to a booked 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 are hiring engineers for automated production, start hiring with Reed.ai today.
