The UK has a lot of room to grow when it comes to automation, and that gap is shaping hiring. The International Federation of Robotics found UK utilisation of industrial robots substantially lags internationally, using only 101 robots per 10,000 workers in 2020 a GOV.UK Smart Machines Strategy 2035 analysis. The UK also ranks just 24th in global robotics density, yet targeted innovation and digital investment could add £150 billion to the UK's GDP by 2035 Make UK's Making it Smarter report.
Cold storage and logistics sit right in the middle of this shift. Sectors like retail and logistics were already actively integrating AI to improve customer insights and streamline functions such as inventory management and supply chains GOV.UK AI adoption research. As warehouses add robotics, conveyors and automated handling in temperature-controlled environments, they need engineers to design, run and fix it. That is where the new routes open up.
Engineering is one of the clearest areas of growth. Occupations in Digital, Adult Social Care, Construction and Engineering have the greatest additional employment demand between 2025 and 2030 Skills England's assessment of priority skills to 2030. Digital, engineering and construction occupations appear most commonly among priority occupations, many already experiencing high recruitment demand and expected to keep growing strongly the Skills England annual skills report 2026.
The pressure is real. 76% of engineering employers struggle to recruit for key roles, with technical and specialist sustainability skills topping the list the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Automation is reshaping the work too: six in ten (59%) manufacturers cited automation and half (50%) cited wider digitalisation as trends changing jobs and skills needs, and 74% expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to increase by 2030 Make UK's 2030 Skills report.
For cold storage specifically, think controls and automation engineers, robotics technicians, maintenance engineers and refrigeration specialists who understand digital systems. These are the people who keep an automated site running when temperatures and uptime both matter.
Start by fixing the skills pipeline, not just the vacancy. 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 and Make UK. If you wait for the perfect ready-made hire, you may wait a long time.
Build from within where you can. 40% of manufacturers are looking to upskill their existing workforce, specifically for redeployment as a result of automation and digitalisation, and this figure increases for firms with more than 1,000 employees the Make UK Executive Survey 2026. Pair that with targeted external hiring for the specialist skills you cannot grow quickly enough.
Watch your entry-level pipeline too. In Engineering, entry-level hiring has fallen to -19% while senior hiring sits at -10%, a 9-percentage-point gap a GOV.UK snapshot of entry-level hiring. If you only hire senior engineers, you starve the next generation of controls and robotics talent. Open apprenticeship and junior routes alongside experienced roles, write job adverts around real skills rather than long tick-lists, and move quickly once you find the right person.
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