The appetite for digital tools is real, but the capability to run them is thin. 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, according to a Make UK report covered by The Manufacturer. That gap matters when digital twins, which are live software models of physical assets and processes, depend on people who can build, feed and interpret them.
The scale of the opportunity is hard to ignore. 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, Make UK's Making it Smarter report found. The starting point is low: the UK used only 101 robots per 10,000 workers in 2020, the government's Smart Machines Strategy 2035 reports, citing the International Federation of Robotics. Closing that distance is as much a hiring question as a technology one.
Digital twins pull engineering towards data. They need people who can model physical behaviour, connect sensor feeds, run simulations and act on what the model shows. That shifts the skills employers chase. 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, according to Make UK's 2030 Skills: Closing the Gap report.
The response is not only external hiring. 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, the Make UK Executive Survey 2026 shows. So the roles around digital twins are a blend: new simulation and data specialists hired in, plus existing engineers retrained to work alongside the model every day.
Start with the problem, not the job title. A digital twin project needs someone who understands the physical asset and someone who can handle the data behind it, and sometimes that is one person, sometimes a small team. Write the brief around outcomes: what the model should predict, which systems it connects to, and how decisions will change once it runs.
When you need these skills now, speed and reach decide the outcome. We search a database of 15 million candidates and rank a shortlist in under 30 seconds, contact matched people in under a minute and can book an interview in under three minutes, so you spend your time with the right people rather than sifting CVs. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Ready to build your digital twin team? Start your search with Reed.ai today.
