Demand for engineering and digital talent is rising, and airport automation sits right in the middle of it. Skills England reports that 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. The scale is significant: demand for key occupations will grow by nearly 25% in the next decade, with 1.8 million new priority jobs expected by 2035 GOV.UK - Landmark report sets out action to address key skills gaps (Skills England).
There's a catch, though. Engineering employers are already finding these roles hard to fill. The Institution of Engineering and Technology found that 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). So the opportunity for airport operators and system integrators is real, but so is the competition for people.
Automated airports run on control systems: the software and hardware that move baggage, manage security lanes and coordinate stand and gate operations. That means steady demand for control systems engineers, automation technicians, integration specialists and maintenance engineers who keep these systems running safely. These sit squarely inside the occupations with the greatest growth. Skills England names digital, adult social care, construction and engineering as having the greatest additional employment demand between 2025 and 2030 GOV.UK - Assessment of priority skills to 2030 (Skills England).
Where will these people come from? Mostly from within the UK. 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. That makes your home-grown pipeline the priority. It's worth watching the entry end closely: 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.
Start by widening your view of who qualifies. With 76% of engineering employers struggling to recruit for key roles Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), a narrow must-have list shrinks your pool fast. Focus on the core control systems competencies and plan to train the rest. Build your own junior pipeline too. The gap between falling entry-level hiring and steadier senior demand GOV.UK - A snapshot of entry-level hiring in the UK is a signal to invest in apprenticeships and graduate routes now, so you're not fighting for the same senior engineers in five years.
There's also a wider productivity story worth noting. The UK substantially lags internationally on automation uptake, using only 101 robots per 10,000 workers in 2020 Smart Machines Strategy 2035 - GOV.UK. As that gap closes, control systems skills become even more valuable, so move early and give every role a clear development path to keep good people.
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