The market is cautious, but it isn't quiet everywhere. Against a subdued 2025 backdrop, businesses took a careful approach to hiring, yet clear demand hotspots remain for specialist tech skills including AI, data, enterprise applications and cyber security, according to Computer Weekly's tech recruitment outlook. That split matters. The people with hard-to-find, specialist skills are still moving; the generalist middle is where things have slowed.
The wider labour market backs this up. The Low Pay Commission's 2025 report describes a 'low hire, low fire' economy: weaker recruitment but only slight increases in redundancies, with vacancies below pre-pandemic levels. So employers are hiring selectively, and they're spending their budget on roles that protect delivery. There are bright spots too. The Office for National Statistics reported in November 2025 that professional, scientific and technical activities saw the largest volume increase in vacancies, up by 5,000 in the three months to October.
At the same time, AI is reshaping what teams need. Demand for AI skills rose nearly 200% in a year, with London accounting for 80% of AI-related job postings and nearly two-thirds of all technology vacancies in the UK, The Register reported using Accenture data. As AI writes more code and more tests, the ability to verify quality at speed becomes a competitive edge, not a nice-to-have.
The entry-level squeeze is the story that surprises people. Adzuna has seen a 30% drop in UK entry-level job postings since ChatGPT launched, with graduates facing the toughest market since 2018, techUK reported. In tech specifically, graduate jobs fell 46% in the past year with a further 53% drop projected, according to The Register, citing Institute of Student Employers figures. Engineering shows the same shape: entry-level hiring has fallen to -19% while senior hiring sits at -10%, a nine-percentage-point gap, per a GOV.UK snapshot of entry-level hiring.
So teams are hiring fewer juniors and leaning on experienced specialists. A test automation engineer sits right in that sweet spot. They build the frameworks and continuous testing that let smaller teams ship confidently, which is exactly what a 'low hire' market rewards. There's a route in for newer talent, too: apprenticeships have risen from 3% of AI hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025, the DSIT AI Labour Market Survey 2025 found.
One more dynamic worth planning around: for the engineering profession, the vast majority of new hires come from the resident labour force, which points to low reliance on international recruitment, GOV.UK notes in its IT and engineering review. In practice, you're competing for UK-based talent, so speed and a clear pitch win offers.
Start with the outcome, not the tool list. A strong test automation engineer reduces release risk, cuts flaky tests and gives developers fast feedback. Write the role around those results, then name the skills that deliver them: framework design, CI/CD pipelines, API and end-to-end testing, and the judgement to know what not to automate. Make the assessment practical. A short, paid exercise on a real (anonymised) codebase tells you more than a whiteboard puzzle ever will.
Widen the pool, then move quickly. Since juniors are scarce in this market, consider apprenticeships and internal moves alongside experienced hires; the apprenticeship growth in AI roles shows that route is now mainstream per DSIT's 2025 survey. And plan for change: automation and digitalisation are reshaping skills needs, with the Make UK 2030 skills report finding 74% of manufacturers expect demand for cognitive and higher-order skills to rise by 2030. Hire for how someone thinks, not just the frameworks they list today.
Finally, protect your process against a slow, selective market. The KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs tracks the pace of hiring across the country month by month, and the headline is consistent: good people don't wait. Tighten your interview loop, give feedback fast and keep candidates warm.
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