DSEI 2025 - Daily Talent & Workforce Highlights

At DSEI 2025, the message was loud and clear: defence technology cannot deliver without the people behind it. Across four days in London, leaders from government, primes, SMEs, and academia returned to the same theme: talent is the decisive factor.

The UK used the show to launch the new Defence Industrial Strategy, anchored by a £182 million Defence Skills Plan. This investment will fund five new Defence Technical Excellence Colleges, expand STEM university courses, provide thousands of short training programmes, and create a Defence Skills Passport to make mobility easier between forces, industry, and academia. For employers, this signals a new pipeline of graduates, apprentices, and reskilled veterans. For candidates, it means clearer entry points into a sector where demand outstrips supply.

Defence shows usually showcase platforms. This year, leaders openly admitted that without the right workforce, programmes stall. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin called for re-imagining “how we prepare our people, how we integrate technology, and how we work with allies.” Panels on ISR, autonomy, and UAV operations stressed persistent gaps in engineering and digital skills.

The NextGen Day brought in students and early-career professionals and sent a blunt message: the sector needs you now. HR leaders reinforced that culture and mission are as important as pay when it comes to retention. Candidates today want purpose, and employers who fail to articulate it will continue to lose talent to adjacent sectors like cyber or renewables.

The UK Government confirmed £250 million in Defence Growth Deals across five regions - Wales, Plymouth, South Yorkshire, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. These are targeted hubs for UAV innovation, maritime autonomy, cyber, and advanced manufacturing. The message is simple: defence jobs will no longer cluster just in the South East.

International announcements added to the momentum. Ukraine’s Ukrspecsystems committed £200 million to build UAV facilities in Suffolk, creating 500 jobs. US-based Saronic Technologies announced it would expand in the UK and “build and train a local workforce” for unmanned systems. Together, these deals are expanding opportunities for candidates and intensifying competition for employers.

Every major technology theme at DSEI creates new workforce demand:

• Autonomy & AI: software developers, AI engineers, swarm tacticians.
• Cyber & digital transformation: DevSecOps specialists, cloud architects, cyber analysts.
• Advanced manufacturing: additive manufacturing technicians, CNC operators, data analysts.
• Skilled trades 2.0: electricians, welders, machinists now trained with AR and digital twins.

Leonardo executives called it an 'intense search for new hires'. The reality is that if you can code, maintain, or integrate systems, you have a future in defence.

The lessons from DSEI for employers are clear:

• Streamline processes. Candidates will not wait six weeks. Competitors hire in ten days.
• Plug into pipelines. Engage with Defence Technical Colleges and apprenticeships early.
• Sell the mission. Salaries can’t always match tech firms, but purpose wins.
• Retain smarter. Offer career mobility, leadership pathways, and strong culture to cut attrition.

For candidates, this is a market full of opportunity. Build cross-domain skills in UAVs, AI, and cyber. Look beyond London: new roles are opening in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Use apprenticeships, graduate schemes, and the forthcoming Defence Skills Passport to enter. Above all, recognise that employers need you as much as you need them.

DSEI 2025 proved what many already know in operations: talent is tempo. The UK and its allies are investing heavily to close gaps, from £182m in skills to £250m in regional growth. For employers, the challenge is to act fast, simplify hiring, and retain people with culture as well as pay. For candidates, there has never been a better time to join aerospace and defence.

At UAV Talent, we’ve seen it on the ground: when the right people are in the right seats, programmes accelerate and missions succeed. That’s the lesson from DSEI - people win the contracts, people win the missions.