Technology employers have spent years competing for people with scarce technical skills. Software Engineers, Cybersecurity specialists, Data Engineers, Cloud Engineers and other technology professionals remain essential to organisations across the UK.
The next technology skills shortage, however, may look different.
As artificial intelligence changes how technology work gets done, employers may increasingly need people who can combine technical expertise with judgement, problem-solving, communication and adaptability.
Technical skills are not becoming less important. The challenge is that employers may need a broader combination of capabilities from the people who use them.
For hiring teams, that changes the question from “Which technical skill do we need?” to “What capabilities does this role actually require?”
Why Are Technology Skills Changing?
The UK technology workforce is still expected to grow significantly.
Skills England’s 2026 Sector Skills Needs Assessment projects that employment across 30 priority occupations within the digital and technologies sector will grow by 239,000 jobs, or 27%, between 2025 and 2035. It also estimates 249,000 replacement workers will be needed over the same period, bringing total estimated demand to around 488,000 workers.
The assessment also highlights how AI could change the nature of technology work. As AI-enabled tools become more capable, some routine coding and testing tasks may shift towards activities such as oversight, assurance, verification and judgement.
That does not remove the need for technical expertise. Instead, it changes where that expertise creates value.
A Software Engineer may spend less time completing routine coding tasks but more time reviewing generated code and making technical decisions. A Cybersecurity professional may use AI to identify potential threats while remaining responsible for assessing whether those findings are accurate. A Data professional may automate parts of a workflow while still needing to understand data quality and context.
The technology changes the workflow. The need for people who understand the work remains.
Which Skills Will Technology Employers Need?
Technical knowledge increasingly sits alongside broader capabilities.
Skills England’s 2026 Annual Skills Report highlights communication, critical thinking and analytical skills as important capabilities as workers adapt to AI. It also stresses the need for workers to develop the skills needed to use AI effectively as its role in the workplace grows.
For technology employers, these are not simply generic soft skills.
Judgement matters when an engineer needs to decide whether AI-generated code is safe to deploy. Communication matters when an Architect needs to explain a technical decision to senior stakeholders. Problem-solving matters when an AI-enabled system produces an unexpected result.
As more routine activity becomes automated, the ability to understand context and make sound decisions can become more important.
That means hiring teams may need to assess how candidates apply their technical knowledge, rather than focusing only on the technologies listed on their CV.
Could Human Judgement Become More Valuable?
AI can produce an answer quickly. That does not necessarily make the answer correct, appropriate or useful.
This makes the ability to evaluate information increasingly important.
UK Government research published in 2026 found that AI skills span both specialist technical expertise and broader workplace capabilities. The research identifies different levels of AI users, from AI experts and specialists to professionals who implement AI in their existing roles, highlighting the need for people to develop the skills required to use and evaluate AI effectively.
This reinforces the importance of looking beyond technical keywords.
A candidate may have extensive experience with a particular programming language or platform, but employers also need to understand how that person approaches unfamiliar problems, evaluates information and responds when a technology does not behave as expected.
The strongest candidate will not always be the one with the longest technical checklist.
Are Skills Shortages Becoming Capability Shortages?
A traditional skills shortage suggests that employers cannot find enough people with a particular skill.
The emerging problem may be more complicated.
An organisation might be able to find Software Engineers with strong coding experience but struggle to find people who can combine software development with AI-assisted workflows, quality assurance and effective communication.
It could find Project Managers with extensive delivery experience but fewer candidates who can manage technology programmes involving AI, changing processes and uncertain requirements.
The organisation does not necessarily have a shortage of people with individual skills.
It may have a shortage of people with the right combination of capabilities.
That distinction matters because it changes how employers should define vacancies.
Instead of continually adding requirements to an existing job description, hiring teams should identify which capabilities genuinely determine success in the role.
Should Employers Hire for Potential?
Hiring for potential can help employers respond to changing skills requirements, but it should not become an excuse to overlook genuine technical requirements.
The right balance depends on the role.
A highly specialised position may require significant expertise from day one. Other roles may allow an employer to hire someone with strong technical foundations and develop more specific skills over time.
This approach can also widen the candidate pool without compromising the capabilities the role genuinely requires.
The same principle applies to existing employees. If a capability can realistically be developed internally, reskilling may be more practical than competing for a small pool of candidates who already possess every emerging skill.
What Should Employers Look For?
Technology employers should increasingly assess how candidates apply their knowledge, not simply how many technologies they can list on a CV.
Technical assessment remains important. Candidates still need to demonstrate the expertise required for the role.
However, employers should also consider how candidates approach unfamiliar problems, explain technical decisions, evaluate information and work with people outside their immediate specialism.
The ability to learn matters too. Technology tools and workflows can change quickly, making adaptability increasingly valuable.
Someone who has worked with one particular technology may not always be the strongest long-term hire. A candidate with strong technical foundations, sound judgement and a demonstrated ability to learn may adapt more effectively as the technology environment changes.
The Next Technology Skills Shortage May Be About Capability
Technical skills shortages are not disappearing.
The UK will continue to need people who can build software, secure systems, manage infrastructure, analyse data and deliver technology change. What is changing is the combination of skills employers need from those people.
AI can automate parts of technical work, but organisations still need professionals who understand the underlying technology, evaluate outputs, solve unfamiliar problems and take responsibility for results.
