Demand is moving fast, which is exactly why a brief built on last year's assumptions goes stale. Demand for AI skills rose nearly 200 percent in a single year, with London alone accounting for 80 percent of AI-related job postings and nearly two-thirds of all UK technology vacancies The Register (Accenture data). That concentration tells you where competition is sharpest and where a controls brief needs the most precision.
The direction of travel is bigger than one busy year. Across AI-related occupations, projections show a net change ranging from roughly 696,000 jobs in an automation scenario to 1,072,000 in a technological opportunities scenario, with replacement demand of between 3,077,000 and 3,193,000 jobs AI Skills for Life and Work: Labour market and skills projections - GOV.UK. Read as live data, those numbers mean the work behind a role keeps shifting, so the brief has to describe the work, not just the title.
The talent pool is broadening, and that changes who you can realistically brief for. Apprenticeships have risen from 3 percent of AI hires in 2020 to 19 percent in 2025 GOV.UK / DSIT – AI Labour Market Survey 2025 report. A controls brief that only screens for a decade of senior experience now ignores a fast-growing part of the market.
Supply is responding too. During London Tech Week 2025, the UK government announced a partnership to upskill 7.5 million workers in essential AI skills by 2030, equivalent to around 20 percent of the UK workforce techUK. For a controls brief, that means separating the skills you must hire for today from the skills a motivated person can build, and writing each group into the role with clear priority.
Start with the decisions the hire will own. List the real tasks, the risks they manage and the calls they get to make, then map each one to an observable skill. That turns a vague controls title into a brief you can actually screen against.
Next, read the demand signal before you set must-haves. With AI demand up nearly 200 percent in a year and London holding 80 percent of postings The Register (Accenture data), a brief loaded with rigid requirements can shrink an already tight pool. Tie location and seniority to the work, not to habit.
Then plan for growth. With apprenticeships now 19 percent of AI hires GOV.UK / DSIT – AI Labour Market Survey 2025 report and millions of workers being upskilled by 2030 techUK, split your brief into skills you hire and skills you grow. Keep the document live: revisit it as the market data moves, so the brief stays current rather than becoming a fixed wish list.
Once the brief reflects the real work, we help you act on it fast. We search a database of 15 million candidates and run recruitment end to end, matching people to the tasks and skills in your brief rather than a generic title. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Ready to turn your live role data into a sharper brief? Start with Reed.ai today.
