Demand is high and the talent is hard to find. The Institution of Engineering and Technology reports that 76% of engineering employers struggle to recruit for key roles, with technical and specialist sustainability skills topping the list Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). That pressure is set to continue. Skills England names digital, adult social care, construction and engineering as the occupations with the greatest additional employment demand between 2025 and 2030 GOV.UK - Assessment of priority skills to 2030 (Skills England).
The direction of travel is clear in the latest figures too. Digital, engineering and construction occupations appear most commonly among priority occupations, many already experiencing high recruitment demand and expected to keep growing strongly GOV.UK - Skills England annual skills report 2026. For hospital pharmacy automation, that means the engineers you want are the same people other sectors are chasing.
Automated dispensing systems need people to install the hardware, keep it running and refine the software and data that drive it. These are robotics, controls, mechatronics and maintenance roles, plus the digital skills that sit alongside them. The wider automation push explains the appetite: in manufacturing, six in ten (59%) employers 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 Make UK – 2030 Skills: Closing the Gap.
There is plenty of headroom for growth. 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 Making it Smarter: Global Lessons for Accelerating Automation and Digital Adoption in UK Manufacturing - Make UK. Government data puts the gap in sharper terms, noting the UK used only 101 robots per 10,000 workers in 2020, substantially lagging other countries Smart Machines Strategy 2035 - GOV.UK. As hospitals adopt automation, the engineering roles follow.
One dynamic to watch is the shape of the pipeline. In engineering, entry-level hiring has fallen to -19% while senior hiring sits at -10%, a nine-percentage-point gap GOV.UK - A snapshot of entry-level hiring in the UK. If you only hire experienced engineers, you compete in the tightest part of the market.
Start by building rather than only buying. Many employers are already doing this: 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 Make UK Executive Survey 2026. Look at the technicians and estates staff you already have and ask who could grow into a robotics or controls role.
Second, open the door to early-career talent. With entry-level engineering hiring down sharply GOV.UK - A snapshot of entry-level hiring in the UK, the employers who invest in apprentices and graduates now will have the senior engineers they need in a few years. Third, plan for home-grown recruitment: for the engineering profession, the vast majority of new hires come from the resident labour force, indicating low reliance on international recruitment GOV.UK - Professionals in IT and engineering. Write clear role descriptions, define the specialist skills precisely, and move quickly once you find the right person.
We help you find the right engineer and manage the hire end to end. We search 15 million candidates, 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 move before the market does. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. If you are building an automation team, start a role with Reed.ai today and see who we surface.
