The shift to software-defined vehicles is landing at the same time as a wider engineering talent squeeze. Right now, 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 not easing. In 2025 there were 55,000 unfilled long-term vacancies in UK manufacturing, costing the economy £6bn in lost output every year Make UK – Industrial Strategy Skills Commission Report 2025.
Retention is part of the same story. A striking 79% of UK technical professionals plan to change employers in 2026 Engineering and Technology Jobs (IET) / Rise Technical. For automotive suppliers, that means the people who can build vehicle software are both hard to find and easy to lose. Skills shortages sit at the top of the barrier list too: 75% of manufacturers name them as a barrier to growth, ahead of recruitment at 36% and talent retention at 32% Barclays Corporate – Skills shortage in UK Manufacturing.
Software-defined vehicles change what a supplier's team needs to look like. The pull is towards code, data, connectivity and systems integration rather than hardware alone. That direction shows up in the wider data: six in ten (59%) manufacturers cite automation and half (50%) cite 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.
The pipeline is thin at the start too. In engineering, entry-level hiring has fallen to -19% while senior hiring sits at -10%, a 9-percentage-point gap GOV.UK - A snapshot of entry-level hiring in the UK. Fewer juniors coming in today means fewer software-fluent engineers ready to lead tomorrow. That makes it even more important to grow the skills you already have alongside the ones you buy in.
Start by widening where you look. For engineering, 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. So the UK pool is where most of your competition is fishing too, which makes speed and a sharp brief matter more than ever.
Build, don't just buy. 40% of manufacturers are looking to upskill their existing workforce, specifically for redeployment as a result of automation and digitalisation, a figure that increases for firms with more than 1,000 employees Make UK Executive Survey 2026. Pair targeted external hires for genuinely new capabilities, such as embedded software or over-the-air update engineering, with structured upskilling for the people who already know your products. And with most technical professionals open to a move, treat retention as part of your hiring plan: clear progression, real software work and fast, respectful processes.
When you know the role you need, we move fast. Our AI recruitment agent searches 15 million candidates to surface people with the software, data and systems skills your vehicle programmes rely on, then ranks a shortlist and handles the process end to end. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost, through Reed.ai. Tell us the role and let's build your software-defined vehicle team together.
