The Defence Tech Skills Race

The UK defence sector is going through a significant period of change.

AI, autonomous systems, robotics, uncrewed platforms and increasingly software-led capabilities are moving quickly from development into real-world defence applications.

That is having a direct impact on the skills defence organisations need.

The traditional engineering disciplines haven't gone away. Systems, electronics, software, integration and test remain as important as ever. What is changing is the combination of skills employers are looking for.

Take an autonomous platform. A single programme could require experience across C++, embedded software, robotics, computer vision, sensor fusion, navigation, control systems, AI and systems engineering.

None of those skills is particularly easy to recruit in isolation. Once you start combining three or four of them, then add defence experience, location and security clearance into the mix, the available talent pool can become very small, very quickly.

It's the combination of skills that's causing the challenge

We are seeing this increasingly across the Defence Tech market.

An organisation might need someone with C++, embedded systems, robotics and safety-critical experience. Another might be looking for FPGA and RF experience within electronic warfare. Others need engineers who understand AI and computer vision but have also worked with autonomous platforms.

There are people with these skills. The challenge is finding people with the right combination of them.

We tend to think of this as intersection scarcity. Individually, each skill has a talent market. The point at which those skills overlap is where recruitment becomes much harder.

And Defence isn't competing for these people on its own.

Engineers working in AI, robotics, embedded software, electronics and autonomous systems are also being recruited by aerospace, automotive, semiconductor, telecoms and technology businesses.

Skills England's 2026 Defence Skills Needs Assessment gives an indication of the scale of the wider challenge. It estimates that employment demand across 14 priority defence occupations could increase by around 53,000 workers between 2025 and 2035, with total demand of approximately 82,000 when replacement demand is included.

Twelve of those 14 occupations are also needed by other priority sectors.

What does that mean for recruitment?

For us, it starts with the brief.

We're making sure our teams are taking detailed, quality briefs and properly understanding the job description before starting a search. With some of these specialist roles, that initial conversation can make the difference between running a realistic search and spending weeks looking for someone who may barely exist in the market.

Part of our job is also to advise clients on what the market is telling us. That includes being open about the genuine chances of finding someone who meets every element of a specification.

We're increasingly using talent insights and market data at the outset of a search to help clients understand the size and shape of the available talent pool. How many potential candidates are there? Where are they based? What businesses currently employ them? What adjacent sectors could we look at? And what happens to the talent pool when another mandatory skill or requirement is added?

That information can lead to a much better conversation before the recruitment process starts.

Sometimes the answer is that the candidate population exists and we need to go and find it. Sometimes we need to challenge the brief. Could someone from aerospace, automotive or robotics make the move into Defence? Which skills genuinely need to be there from day one? Does somebody need to hold security clearance already, or could they go through the clearance process?

This also needs to be a two-way process throughout the search.

If we're working on a particularly difficult role, regular and honest feedback from both sides is essential. We need to tell clients what we're seeing and hearing in the market, and we need feedback on the candidates we're presenting so that the search can be adjusted where necessary.

Without a tight brief at the beginning and that two-way feedback throughout the process, the chances of successfully filling an already difficult role become significantly lower.

For specialist Defence Tech recruitment, the quality of the search is often determined before the first candidate is even approached.

The Defence Tech market is developing quickly

CBSbutler has worked across the UK Defence and Security sector for more than 30 years, supporting major defence organisations and complex engineering programmes.

What's particularly interesting at the moment is the growth of Defence Tech businesses working across areas such as AI, autonomy, UAS/UAV, robotics, computer vision, mission systems, electronic warfare, secure communications and advanced aerospace.

Many are growing quickly and need engineering teams that combine traditional defence knowledge with skills coming from newer technology markets. That creates a different recruitment challenge.

As Defence becomes more digital, autonomous and software-led, understanding where these engineers are, what motivates them and which skills can transfer from adjacent industries is going to become increasingly important.

Ultimately, however sophisticated the technology becomes, somebody still has to design it, build it, integrate it and make it work.

And those people are going to be in increasingly high demand.