Automation is now the single biggest force reshaping manufacturing jobs, and tyre plants sit right in the middle of it. Six in ten (59%) manufacturers cited automation and half (50%) cited wider digitalisation as the trends changing jobs and skills needs according to Make UK's 2030 Skills report. That shift is creating new engineering routes faster than many plants can fill them.
The appetite to invest is there, but so is a brake. Over 50% of manufacturers cite skills shortages as the main barrier to AI adoption, and only 2% say AI is widely embedded across their operations as The Manufacturer and Make UK reported in 2026. In other words, the machines are ready before the people are, and that gap is where the opportunity lives.
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 Make UK estimates. The UK used only 101 robots per 10,000 workers in 2020, substantially lagging international peers according to the government's Smart Machines Strategy 2035. As that number climbs, demand for the engineers who install, program and maintain those systems climbs with it.
Automation does not just remove tasks, it rewrites job descriptions. A clear 74% of manufacturers expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to increase by 2030 Make UK found in its 2030 Skills report, which points to roles built around problem solving, data interpretation and systems thinking rather than repetitive manual work. For tyre plants, that means controls engineers, robotics technicians and digital maintenance specialists.
Engineering is also a national priority. Occupations in Digital, Adult Social Care, Construction and Engineering have the greatest additional employment demand between 2025 and 2030 according to Skills England's assessment of priority skills to 2030. Digital, engineering and construction occupations appear most commonly among priority roles, many already facing high recruitment demand and expected to keep growing strongly the Skills England annual skills report 2026 confirms.
The pressure is real today. In 2025 there were 55,000 unfilled long-term vacancies in UK manufacturing, costing the economy £6bn in lost output every year Make UK's Industrial Strategy Skills Commission reported. And 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. One worrying signal: in Engineering, entry-level hiring has fallen to -19% while senior hiring sits at -10%, a 9-percentage-point gap a government snapshot of entry-level hiring shows. If the entry door narrows, the future pipeline narrows with it.
Start by growing talent you already have. 40% of manufacturers are looking to upskill their existing workforce, specifically for redeployment as a result of automation and digitalisation, and that figure rises for firms with more than 1,000 employees according to the Make UK Executive Survey 2026. An experienced plant technician who learns robotics or controls often adapts faster than a brand-new hire, because they already understand the process.
Then plan your external hiring around the market you actually recruit in. For the Engineering profession, the vast majority of new hires come from the resident labour force, indicating low reliance on international recruitment the government's review of professionals in IT and engineering notes. That makes domestic competition intense, so speed and a clear role definition matter. Manufacturers already rank recruitment (36%) and talent retention (32%) among their top barriers to growth, just behind skills shortages (75%) Barclays Corporate found.
Practical steps help. Reopen the entry-level door with apprenticeships and trainee technician routes to rebuild the pipeline. Write job specs around skills and aptitude, not only years of experience, so you reach people retraining from adjacent roles. Move quickly once you find the right person, because in a resident-heavy market the best people do not stay available for long.
When you are ready to hire for an automated line, we help you move at the speed the market demands. We search 15 million candidates to find the engineers, technicians and controls specialists your plant needs, and we manage 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. Tell us the role today and we will start building your shortlist.
