Anyone who has been looking for a new job in Electronics, Photonics and Semiconductors over the past year will recognise that the market is tough. Plenty of experienced and capable people are missing out on jobs they could very well do due to high competition and exacting requirements from hiring teams.

One of the most interesting things I’ve seen across UK deep tech over the last 18 months is a contradiction in the market. There is growth but not so much in terms of recruitment and headcount expansion. In fact, few companies are currently hiring to grow teams.

For companies operating in photonics and semiconductors, that distinction matters. I’m seeing companies become much more selective about headcount. Whilst there are more candidates available in parts of the technology market, most companies I see recruiting are looking for genuinely scarce technical talents. This is leading to many people that are looking for a new role missing out on opportunities that they are very well suited to but the expectations and competition is very high. Rather than hiring ten engineers because the business is growing, companies and R&D teams are hiring the two or three people who can solve very specific problems.

The result is a shift from headcount growth to capability acquisition and that makes certain people exceptionally valuable.

People who have experience taking technology through the difficult middle ground between R&D and commercialisation. That experience is increasingly important.

Deep Tech companies are being asked to achieve more with relatively small teams.

UK photonics provides a good example. Industry data shows employment growing by 8.4% between 2022 and 2024, while revenue grew by more than 16%. In other words, companies are growing without simply adding people at the same rate. That puts a premium on productivity.

That productivity puts a premium on experience, technical breadth and ownership.

An engineer who can design a system is valuable. An engineer who can design it, test it, work with manufacturing, understand the customer requirement and help get it into production can be transformational for a small deep tech business.

This is also why I think recruitment processes need to change. If you are hiring a scarce technical specialist, advertising a long list of requirements and waiting for applications probably isn’t enough. You need to understand the problem you are trying to solve.

Then identify the people who have solved something similar before. Increasingly, those people are passive candidates who aren’t necessarily looking for a new job. They may not even have considered leaving but they might be interested in the right technology, the right challenge or the opportunity to have a genuine impact.

That is the recruitment market I’m seeing.

For UK deep tech, that is both a challenge and an opportunity. We have an enormous amount of technical capability. The challenge is getting the right people into the businesses that can turn that capability into commercial success. I think that will become increasingly important as the next phase of growth in photonics and semiconductors gathers pace.

I’m Ben Hanley, Director of Enigma People Solutions, a specialist recruitment partner to the UK’s deep tech sector.

I work across photonics, semiconductors, electronics, quantum, sensing and connectivity, helping companies secure the technical leaders and specialist engineers they need to grow.

For critical appointments, our retained search service is different from conventional contingency recruitment. We work exclusively and proactively on your behalf mapping the market, identifying exceptional people who may not be actively looking, approaching them directly and managing the process through to appointment.

We stand behind the appointments we make with a clear 12 months 100% guarantee of the placement fee giving our clients additional confidence that their investment in a critical hire is protected.

If you’re scaling a deep tech business and have a key technical appointment on the horizon, let’s talk.

Enigma People Solutions is an award-winning technology recruitment consultancy. We find technical leaders for the emerging and enabling technology industries. Visit our services page for more information. Visit our job search page for the latest vacancies in photonics, electronics, semiconductor, software and IoT in Scotland and the UK. Check out our blog page for the latest in the technology industry. You can get in touch with us hello@enigmapeople.com or call us on + 44 131 510 8150