UK manufacturers are keen to automate, but the people side is holding them back. 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 The Manufacturer and Make UK's AI, Skills and the Future of UK Manufacturing report. That gap between ambition and capability is where new roles are born.
The automation wave is already reshaping job needs. Six in ten (59%) manufacturers cited automation and half (50%) cited wider digitalisation as trends changing jobs and skills, and 74% expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to increase by 2030, per Make UK's 2030 Skills: Closing the Gap report. As more machines connect, the question of who keeps those connections safe gets harder to ignore.
There is room to grow. 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, according to Make UK's Making it Smarter report. The government's own analysis found the UK used only 101 robots per 10,000 workers in 2020, GOV.UK's Smart Machines Strategy 2035 reports. More robots on the floor means more operational technology to protect.
Operational technology, or OT, is the hardware and software that runs physical machines: the controllers, sensors and systems on the factory floor. For years, OT security sat quietly inside general engineering or IT. Now, as automation connects once-isolated machines to networks, a breach can stop a production line, not just leak data. That raises the stakes and makes ownership explicit.
The talent to fill these roles is scarce. There are approximately 143,000 individuals in the UK cyber security workforce, with growth moderately accelerating from 2% in 2022 to 5% in 2024, according to GOV.UK's Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2025 report. A workforce that size, growing at that pace, cannot stretch to cover every connected factory without clearer roles and planning.
Many firms are responding from within. 40% of manufacturers are looking to upskill their existing workforce, specifically for redeployment as a result of automation and digitalisation, with the figure higher among firms with more than 1,000 employees, per Make UK's Executive Survey 2026. Naming OT security as a capability gives those upskilling plans a clear target to aim at.
Start by writing the role down. If OT security is an assumption spread across three people, no one owns it. Define whether you need a dedicated hire or a named responsibility within an existing automation engineer's remit, then describe the systems they will protect in plain terms.
Look for people who bridge two worlds: the physical realities of plant and machinery, and the discipline of cyber security. Given the workforce is only around 143,000 and growing at 5% a year, as GOV.UK's 2025 cyber skills analysis notes, pure specialists are hard to find. So weigh transferable skills. An automation engineer who understands networks, or an IT security professional who learns the factory floor, can both grow into the role.
Pair hiring with upskilling. With 40% of manufacturers already planning to redeploy staff through automation, per Make UK's Executive Survey 2026, the fastest route is often a blend: bring in one experienced hire to set the standard, then train your existing team around them. And move quickly, because the demand for these skills is rising, not falling.
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