The picture is tight, and it has been for a while. Skills shortages are the top barrier to growth for 75% of manufacturers, ahead of recruitment at 36% and talent retention at 32%, according to Barclays Corporate's analysis of the UK manufacturing skills shortage. That is a lot of firms fighting over the same people.
The cost of those gaps is real. In 2025 there were 55,000 unfilled long-term vacancies in UK manufacturing, costing the economy £6bn in lost output every year, as reported by Make UK's Industrial Strategy Skills Commission Report 2025. Engineering feels it sharply: 76% of engineering employers struggle to recruit for key roles, with technical and specialist sustainability skills topping the list, according to the Institution of Engineering and Technology.
So the question for plant leaders isn't whether to compete for talent. It's how to win the right people and keep lines running while they do it.
Automation is reshaping the factory floor, and that changes who you need on the team. Six in ten (59%) manufacturers cited automation and half (50%) cited wider digitalisation as trends changing jobs and skills needs, while 74% expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to increase by 2030, according to Make UK's 2030 Skills: Closing the Gap report. As more equipment runs itself, keeping it running becomes the job that matters most.
There is plenty of headroom. 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 scale of the gap shows up in the numbers too: the UK used only 101 robots per 10,000 workers in 2020, substantially lagging internationally, as set out in the government's Smart Machines Strategy 2035.
More machines mean more to maintain, predict and optimise. Reliability engineers sit at that junction: they cut unplanned downtime, extend asset life and turn maintenance from a reactive cost into a planned advantage. That's why they're moving from a support function to a seat at the plant team table.
The workforce is shifting to meet it. 40% of manufacturers are looking to upskill their existing workforce, specifically for redeployment as a result of automation and digitalisation, a figure that rises for firms with more than 1,000 employees, according to Make UK's Executive Survey 2026. And the skills gap is now holding back technology itself: over 50% of manufacturers cite skills shortages as the main barrier to AI adoption, with only 2% saying AI is widely embedded across their operations, as reported by The Manufacturer's coverage of a Make UK report.
Start by defining the role around outcomes, not just job titles. A reliability engineer who can read condition data and act on it is not the same as a maintenance technician, so be clear about the mix of hands-on and analytical work you need.
Do these well and you widen the pool, shorten the wait and give the best people a reason to choose you over the firm down the road.
We built Reed.ai to make that specialist search fast and simple. We search a database of 15 million candidates to surface and rank people who match your reliability role, so you spend your time talking to the right engineers rather than sifting CVs. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Tell us about your plant role today and we'll get started.
