The picture is cautious but far from flat. The wider labour market is best described as 'low hire, low fire', with weaker recruitment and vacancies sitting below pre-pandemic levels Low Pay Commission Report 2025, GOV.UK. Yet demand hasn't disappeared, it's concentrated. Against a subdued 2025 backdrop, businesses took a careful approach, but clear hotspots stayed hot for specialist skills including AI, data, enterprise applications and cyber security Computer Weekly (tech recruitment outlook 2026).
Some corners of the market are even growing. Between August and October 2025, the largest volume increase in vacancies came from the professional, scientific and technical activities sector, up by 5,000 ONS – Vacancies and jobs in the UK: November 2025. AI skills alone rose sharply, with demand up nearly 200% in a year and London accounting for 80% of AI-related postings The Register (Accenture data). So the story isn't a shortage of jobs, it's a shift towards specialists who can do specific, hard work.
That shift is squeezing the bottom of the ladder. Entry-level postings in the UK have dropped 30% since ChatGPT launched techUK – What's actually happening with entry-level and graduate jobs?, and the UK tech sector cut graduate jobs by 46% in the past year The Register. The lesson for anyone building a security team: proven, specialist skills are where the competition is fiercest.
An identity and access engineer decides and enforces who can reach which systems and data. That means the practical machinery of security: single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, joiner-mover-leaver processes and least-privilege access. When an organisation grows, moves to the cloud or tightens compliance, this role stops being a nice-to-have and becomes the backbone of how everything stays safe.
The demand signals are strong. The UK cyber security 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. Crucially, the talent is scarce relative to need: 70% of cyber firms reported at least one hard-to-fill vacancy AI Labour Market Survey 2025 (Gardiner & Theobald), GOV.UK / publishing.service.gov.uk. Add to that the broader pull on IT architects and systems designers, with 193,000 workers and three of five indicators in critical demand Occupations in demand 2025, Explore Education Statistics, GOV.UK, and the case for hiring early is clear.
There's also a route-to-talent point worth knowing. For engineering roles, the vast majority of new hires come from the resident labour force, which points to low reliance on international recruitment GOV.UK - Professionals in IT and engineering. In plain terms: for an identity and access engineer, your best bet is usually a strong, well-run search of the UK market.
Start with the work, not the wishlist. Write the role around the systems and outcomes you actually need protected, then test for those skills directly. In a scarce market, a tidy interview loop that shows candidates real problems beats a long list of certifications every time. Remember that engineering pay on the Skilled Worker route is broadly in line with the UK average, while top firms can stretch far above threshold for the most in-demand people Professionals in IT and Engineering (Migration Advisory Committee), GOV.UK / publishing.service.gov.uk, so define your must-haves before you go to market.
Move fast, and don't ignore emerging talent pipelines. Apprenticeships have grown from 3% of AI hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025 GOV.UK / DSIT – AI Labour Market Survey 2025 report, a reminder that you can build capability as well as buy it. With entry-level engineering hiring down 19% against senior hiring at 10% GOV.UK - A snapshot of entry-level hiring in the UK, a blended approach, hiring an experienced lead and growing juniors underneath, keeps you resilient.
Finally, look beyond the obvious sectors. The defence sector remains an active, attractive employer, with surveyed recruitment growing 17.8% in 2022 Defence sector continues contributing significantly to UK economy - GOV.UK and MOD spending supporting 272,000 direct jobs in 2023/24, up 11% year on year MOD supported employment estimates 2023/24 - GOV.UK. Security skills travel well across sectors, so widen your net when you search.
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