The picture is mixed, and that's the first thing to get right. Overall demand has softened: early estimates for April to June 2026 suggest a fall of 7,000 vacancies to 712,000, and the professional, scientific and technical activities sector, which houses much engineering work, saw one of the largest decreases at 4,000 fewer vacancies ONS - Vacancies and jobs in the UK. There are now 2.5 unemployed people for every vacancy, a ratio that has held steady since mid-2025 ONS - Vacancies and jobs in the UK.
Yet that same sector was recently the growth story. In the three months to October 2025, professional, scientific and technical activities posted the largest volume increase in vacancies, up 5,000 ONS – Vacancies and jobs in the UK: November 2025. So the market is cooling from a high point, not collapsing. For employers, that means less frantic competition on volume roles and a sharper fight for scarce specialists.
Hiring confidence still matters here. The monthly picture of permanent placements and starting salaries is tracked in the KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs June 2026, which is the go-to read for spotting whether the engineering market is tightening or easing month to month.
AI is where demand is running hottest. Demand for AI skills rose nearly 200% in a year, and London alone accounts for 80% of AI-related job postings and nearly two-thirds of all UK technology vacancies The Register (Accenture data). If you're hiring machine-learning or AI engineers outside the capital, expect a smaller pool and stronger competition.
Cyber security is the other structural shortage. The UK cyber workforce sits at roughly 143,000 people, with growth accelerating from 2% in 2022 to 5% in 2024 Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2025 - GOV.UK. Demand is outpacing supply, which keeps salaries for experienced security engineers firm even in a cooler market.
There's also a quieter dynamic at the entry point. UK tech cut graduate jobs by 46% in the past year, with a further 53% drop projected The Register, and entry-level job postings have fallen 30% since ChatGPT launched techUK – What's actually happening with entry-level and graduate jobs?. Fewer juniors coming through today means a thinner mid-level pipeline in two to three years, so the shortage is being stored up, not solved.
Start by widening how you build talent, not just how you buy it. Apprenticeships have grown from 3% of AI hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025 GOV.UK / DSIT – AI Labour Market Survey 2025 report, a sign that employers are training scarce skills in-house rather than waiting for the perfect finished hire. If graduate routes are shrinking, apprenticeships and internal upskilling become your pipeline.
Second, look beyond the private sector for talent and for signals of where demand sits. MOD spending with industry supported 272,000 direct jobs in 2023/24, up 11% on the year MOD supported employment estimates 2023/24 - GOV.UK, much of it engineering. Defence, digital and infrastructure programmes are all competing for the same skills, so knowing where those jobs cluster helps you target.
Third, move quickly. With 2.5 unemployed people per vacancy ONS - Vacancies and jobs in the UK, there's more choice on generalist roles, but the best specialist engineers still go fast. A slow process loses them. Write clear role scopes, shortlist within days rather than weeks, and keep people warm with quick, honest updates.
When you need to move fast on a scarce role, the size and speed of your search matter. We search a database of 15 million people and rank a shortlist in under 30 seconds, then contact matched people in under a minute. In a market where AI and cyber engineers disappear quickly The Register (Accenture data), that speed is the difference between a hire and a miss. Reed.ai charges 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost, and it's free for the people you're hiring. Post a role today and see your first ranked engineers.
