UK space sector skills shortage: How can organisations develop talent?

We've written recently about retaining the space sector staff that organisations already have – but how do you ensure you recruit the people with the right skills to start with? We explore how to recruit and train those with promise, using the Astroscale Graduate scheme as a case study.

The current situation

The latest space sector income report shows that the growth of the UK space sector is a rapid success story – space sector income grew by almost £1billion into 2021 and the number of space organisations has grown by nearly 300. The sector growth is projected to keep climbing over the next five years.

Employment in this sector is consequentially up, with almost 1,800 more jobs. The successful growth in this sector has however outpaced the personnel available. The Space Sector Skills Survey 2023 shows a critical skills shortage with companies reporting difficulties with recruitment, and retention issues that are inhibiting company growth, productivity, and quality.

The UK Space Agency is taking steps to address this; investing £15million through its Inspiration Programme to deliver education, skills, and outreach interventions over the next two years. Whilst useful to build pipeline of personnel this will not address the immediate needs of the sector.

The Skills Survey shows that 80% of companies faced recruitment difficulties. Two thirds (72%) of roles were difficult or very difficult to recruit for. The average role took a median of 10 weeks to hire for.

The overall effect is that nearly every space organisation (95%) has experienced skills-related challenges in the last 12 months.

Finding the right people

Ineffective job adverts hamper recruitment efforts. Space sector businesses could consider asking for skills rather than degrees or years of experience – a regular lament is that graduate starters can be academically excellent but lack technical skills.

Making it easy for career changers to move into the space sector has the dual advantage of increasing the number of possible applicants, and potentially recruiting employees with a wealth of experience. Many of the skills needed are transferable and the space element can be taught. Recruiting people with non-traditional backgrounds opens a new pool of potential recruits.

Programmes such as Redeployable are a possibility to consider; helping career changers from the services transition to civilian employment. 

Being open to recruitment methods and talent pools that are not the standard greatly increases the chances of finding the right employees in a competitive field.

Growing the skills you need: apprenticeships and placements

An option for businesses struggling to find employees with the exact needed skillsets is to provide apprenticeships, placements, internships, and graduate schemes to grow the required skills in the right people.

This is a time, cost, and labour-intensive option. The cost of the training involved may well equal the salary being paid. Programmes range in length from a few weeks to over five years and require managing throughout.

In this field Airbus offer a Level 6 Space Systems programme which leads to a BSC in space engineering from the University of Leicester. QinetiQ also offer a Level 6 Aerospace Apprenticeship which leads to an engineering bachelor's degree. Thales offers apprenticeships at various levels, although these do not run every year in all areas.

For those unable to offer multiple yearlong apprenticeships that lead to bachelor's degrees one option is to consider a shorter-term internship or placement. The year in industry supports Space Placements in Industry (SPIN). This programme is managed by the UK Space Agency and supported by Satellite Applications Catapult.

SPIN is actively encouraging enquiries from potential host organisations who have a short-term project (circa eight weeks duration) and who want to offer students the opportunity to gain new skills and an insight into business. Grant funding may be available from the UK Space Agency to support a SPIN placement and there is also general funding available through a competitive grant process.

Our advice

Applicants should heed the advice from space organisations to "get your hands dirty" in internships, societies, clubs, and any opportunity to complete hands on technical work. Space sector businesses should consider how they recruit, and whether there is the potential to offer schemes that would grow the talent they need. Our employment team has a wealth of knowledge to share regarding business immigration (sponsorship and visas) which may be relevant to your recruitment process, how to recruit in a compliant way and how to legally take positive action and aim for diversity in your recruitment process.