Demand for design-led technical skills is high and still climbing. IT business analysts, architects and systems designers, a group of 193,000 workers, are among the occupations in critical demand, with three out of five indicators flagged as critical in 2025 Occupations in demand 2025, Explore Education Statistics, GOV.UK. Architecture sits at the centre of that pressure.
The cyber workforce is growing too, but not fast enough to meet need. There are around 143,000 individuals in the UK cyber security workforce, with growth moderately accelerating from 2% in 2022 to 5% in 2024 Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2025 - GOV.UK. That tells us the talent pool is expanding, yet the gap between supply and demand remains wide.
Hiring appetite reflects this. Against a subdued 2025 economic backdrop, businesses took a cautious approach to hiring, but there were demand hotspots for specialist tech skills including AI, data, enterprise applications and cyber security Computer Weekly (tech recruitment outlook 2026). In defence and security, secure architecture is where several of those hotspots meet.
The shift is simple to describe and hard to staff. Security can no longer be a late review handled by a small specialist team. It needs to be part of how every architect and engineer designs a system from the first sketch. That means threat modelling, data handling and resilience become shared expectations across technical roles, not the job of one person at the end of the line.
The hiring data backs this up. A comparison with the Cyber Security Skills 2024 report showed 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. When specialist supply is tight, employers spread the capability wider. Asking architects, developers and analysts to own secure design is both a defensive necessity and a practical response to a thin market.
It helps that the architect role already carries weight. With architects and systems designers in critical demand Occupations in demand 2025, Explore Education Statistics, GOV.UK, folding security into that remit raises the bar for an already sought-after skill set rather than inventing a brand-new one.
Start by writing the role around outcomes, not a long checklist of tools. Describe the systems the person will design, the threats they need to design against and the standards they will work to. In a market where specialist cyber skills are in short supply Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2025 - GOV.UK, a narrow wish list will shrink your pool further. A clear outcome brief widens it.
Look for transferable thinking. A strong systems architect who models risk well can learn your security standards faster than a pure specialist can learn your domain. Given that IT architects and systems designers already sit in critical demand Occupations in demand 2025, Explore Education Statistics, GOV.UK, weigh design judgement and curiosity alongside named certifications.
Move quickly and be clear about clearance and timelines. With 70% of cyber firms reporting at least one hard-to-fill vacancy AI Labour Market Survey 2025 (Gardiner & Theobald), GOV.UK / publishing.service.gov.uk, the best people rarely wait long. Set out the security requirements early, keep interviews focused and tell people exactly where they stand at each stage.
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