Demand for AI and automation skills is climbing fast, even while the wider jobs market stays cautious. Demand for AI skills rose 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. That concentration tells you where the competition for automation leads is sharpest today.
The backdrop matters too. Against a subdued 2025 economic picture, businesses took a cautious approach to hiring, but there were demand hotspots for specialist skills including AI, data, enterprise applications and cyber security a 2026 tech recruitment outlook from Computer Weekly. The labour market is currently described as 'low hire, low fire', with weaker recruitment and vacancies below pre-pandemic levels the Low Pay Commission Report 2025. In short: fewer roles overall, but intense pull for the specialist skills that drive automation.
There are early signs of stability. Permanent placements have finally stabilised, ending a decline in place since Liz Truss's premiership 45 months ago, while temporary billings increased for a fourth consecutive month the REC and KPMG Report on Jobs. So the environment is challenging, but it is opening up for employers who move with good data.
Specialist technical roles sit at the centre of automation work. IT business analysts, architects and systems designers, a group of around 193,000 workers, are among the occupations in critical demand, with three out of five indicators in critical demand in 2025 the Occupations in Demand 2025 release on GOV.UK. These are the people who design and connect the systems automation depends on.
The supply side is shifting, which changes who you can realistically hire. Apprenticeships have risen from 3 percent of AI hires in 2020 to 19 percent in 2025 the AI Labour Market Survey 2025 on GOV.UK. That means a growing route to build automation skills in-house rather than competing only for finished senior talent.
Hiring difficulty is easing in parts of the market but remains acute in adjacent skills. The proportion of employers struggling to fill vacancies has declined, yet 70 percent of cyber firms reported at least one hard-to-fill vacancy the AI Labour Market Survey 2025 report. Because automation and security overlap, that pressure spills into automation hiring too.
Watch the vacancy trend to time your search. Vacancy estimates decreased on the quarter, with early estimates for April to June 2026 suggesting a decrease of 7,000 vacancies to 712,000, and there were 2.5 unemployed people per vacancy in March to May 2026 the ONS Vacancies and jobs in the UK bulletin. Yet professional, scientific and technical activities, where many automation roles sit, saw the largest volume increase in vacancies, rising by 5,000 in August to October 2025 the ONS November 2025 vacancies bulletin. The pool is thinner overall, but technical demand holds firm.
Start with the data, not the job title. Because demand is concentrated in London and in professional and technical sectors Accenture data reported by The Register, decide early whether you compete in that hotspot or widen your reach to remote and regional talent. A clear, current picture of where the skills live saves weeks of guesswork.
Build, don't only buy. With apprenticeships now making up 19 percent of AI hires the AI Labour Market Survey 2025 on GOV.UK, a blend of one senior automation lead plus developing talent underneath often beats chasing several scarce experts. Define the three or four skills that genuinely matter, and treat the rest as trainable.
Move quickly once you find the right person. In a market where permanent placements have only just stabilised the REC and KPMG Report on Jobs, the strongest automation candidates don't sit around. Shorten your process, book interviews early and keep the offer stage tight.
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