Demand is strong and set to grow. Skills England finds that occupations in Digital, Adult Social Care, Construction and Engineering have the greatest additional employment demand between 2025 and 2030 GOV.UK - Assessment of priority skills to 2030 (Skills England). The pressure is already here. The Skills England annual skills report 2026 notes that 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.
That demand is hard to fill. 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). For infrastructure-focused work like tunnel and highway control, where safety systems and specialist technical skills matter, that gap is felt keenly.
Two dynamics stand out. First, the pipeline is thinning at the start. 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. That means experienced control-systems and infrastructure engineers are in short supply, and fewer juniors are coming through to replace them.
Second, people are on the move. Engineering and Technology Jobs reports that 79% of UK technical professionals plan to change employers in 2026, drawing on recruitment firm Rise Technical's 2025/26 Insights Report surveying over 500 employers and 1000 candidates Engineering and Technology Jobs (IET) / Rise Technical. For employers hiring into tunnel and highway control, that churn is both a risk and an opportunity: good people are open to the right move.
The talent is largely home-grown. 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. The Migration Advisory Committee adds that pay for engineering professionals on the Skilled Worker route is broadly in line with the UK average Professionals in IT and Engineering (Migration Advisory Committee), GOV.UK / publishing.service.gov.uk. So winning here is mostly about reaching UK-based engineers well.
Start with the real skills, not the job title. Tunnel and highway control blends control systems, safety-critical engineering and infrastructure experience, and the IET points to technical and specialist skills as the hardest to find Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). Write your role around the specific systems and standards you use, so the right people recognise themselves in it.
Above all, respect people's time. When experienced control-systems engineers are scarce and mobile, a slow or unclear process loses them to a faster employer.
We built an AI recruitment agent to help you reach UK engineers fast. 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. 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 hiring into tunnel and highway control, start your search with Reed.ai today.
