The demand signal is strong and specific. Across the wider tech market, businesses took a cautious approach to hiring through a subdued 2025, but there were clear demand hotspots for specialist skills including AI, data, enterprise applications and cyber security Computer Weekly (tech recruitment outlook 2026). Those are exactly the skills a modern controls team needs.
AI skills are pulling the market forward. 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 The Register (Accenture data). For integrators, that concentration matters when you plan where to recruit and how to reach people outside the capital.
In manufacturing, the shift is reshaping jobs. 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 – 2030 Skills: Closing the Gap. Controls work is no longer just wiring and ladder logic: it is problem-solving around data and automated systems.
Start with the systems design layer. IT business analysts, architects and systems designers (193k workers) are among the occupations in critical demand, with 3 out of 5 indicators in critical demand in 2025 Occupations in demand 2025, Explore Education Statistics, GOV.UK. These are the people who turn a client brief into a working control architecture.
Engineering recruitment is tight across the board. 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). When three in four employers compete for the same controls and automation talent, speed and reach decide who gets the hire.
The AI adoption gap is partly a skills gap. 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. Integrators who can supply the people to close that gap win the projects.
Because your best engineers are already being approached. 79% of UK technical professionals plan to change employers in 2026, according to a survey of over 500 employers and 1000 candidates Engineering and Technology Jobs (IET) / Rise Technical. If four in five technical people are open to a move, every hiring plan needs a retention plan beside it.
Upskilling is one answer. 40% of manufacturers are looking to upskill their existing workforce, specifically for redeployment as a result of automation and digitalisation, and that figure increases for firms with more than 1,000 employees Make UK Executive Survey 2026. Growing your own controls talent protects you when the external market is this competitive.
Be precise about the blend. A strong controls hire today pairs core engineering (PLC programming, SCADA, systems design) with industrial data skills and an awareness of cyber security, the specialist areas the market is chasing Computer Weekly (tech recruitment outlook 2026). Write the brief around the problem the person solves, not a list of acronyms.
Widen your search beyond the obvious hotspots. With London accounting for 80 percent of AI-related job postings The Register (Accenture data), integrators elsewhere need to reach engineers who never appear on a single job board.
When demand is this sharp, reach and speed matter. We search a database of 15 million candidates to surface controls and automation people, ranking a shortlist you can act on quickly. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost, through Reed.ai. Tell us the role and we'll start building your shortlist today.
