Every few months our sister site Work in Startups takes an in-depth look at what’s happening with hiring in the world of start-ups and scale-ups. These are some of the most exciting workplaces in the UK and it’s brilliant to see both unicorns and smaller companies hiring at pace.
The latest research found that the top UK tech companies and startups are hiring at record rates with a 128% increase in jobs on offer since September 2020. This makes up 4,895 advertised vacancies.
Part of the driving force behind this record hiring is the switch to online services that accelerated during the pandemic. This has been fuelling the industry, creating an abundance of opportunities right across the UK. When you consider that the Office of National Statistics reported almost 20,000 new tech companies had registered on Companies House during the pandemic, the record growth in tech jobs comes as no surprise.
Which tech companies are hiring?
The UK FoodTech scene remains very well positioned and has continued to show the largest growth in hiring. The pandemic has notably accelerated the online food delivery business, with London fast becoming a global hub for FoodTech innovation. Foodtech giants Deliveroo (239 vacancies), Gousto (117 vacancies) and HelloFresh (41 vacancies), continue to flourish post-pandemic with huge increases in advertised vacancies compared to this time last year.
Citypantry, the UK corporate catering marketplace who were acquired by Just Eat in 2019, has seen the largest growth in number of vacancies (75 vacancies), indicating employees returning to the office is now in full swing.
Amazon remains the highest advertiser (1,571 vacancies) amongst the top UK tech firms with its number of jobs doubling from last September.
Deliveroo is notable for a further reason, which it shares with FTSE 250 cyber security AI business Darktrace: both were among the thirty tech and consumer internet companies to list their shares on the London Stock Exchange so far this year and both raised money when doing so. They therefore have enhanced funds to drive expansion, including by recruitment. Darktrace is actively recruiting across all roles, with over 70 vacancies in the UK and over 250 globally. The growing popularity of the tech IPO has demonstrated the vital link between strength in stock markets and the real economy.
What tech jobs are in demand and where are they?
Tech vacancies have been analysed by the most popular searched job titles within the industry to indicate where the demand is. With online presence being more important than ever, it’s no surprise that SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) has seen the largest year-on-year growth, at 274% and a creation of 6,997 jobs.
Programming and Developer jobs continue to lead the way with 74,000 vacancies currently on the market. This growth has continued right through the pandemic and isn’t showing signs of slowing.
London and South West England remain the strongest regions in terms of the number of tech jobs available. However, Eastern England and the West Midlands have seen similar growth (130%) since September last year, with an additional 10,000 jobs on the market between them.
In March 2021, we celebrated the milestone of hitting 1 million vacant jobs in the UK after seeing a real low last May, with just 350,700 on the market. There are now over 1.2 million jobs on the market with tech jobs making up 13% (150,000) of the total UK vacancies according to our Adzuna data. Comparing this to May 2020, that is a 348% increase.
Table 1: Vacancies & growth rate by job type
| Job Type | September 2021 vacancies | YoY % Change |
|---|---|---|
| SQL | 31,695 | 146.7% |
| Product Manager | 26,405 | 114.1% |
| Digital Marketing | 17,900 | 127.3% |
| Java | 16,251 | 124.2% |
| IT Support | 14,813 | 174.6% |
| Data Scientist | 10,408 | 151.5% |
| SEO | 9,545 | 274.6% |
| Web Developer | 8,585 | 77.6% |
| PHP | 6,907 | 106.3% |
| Front End Developer | 5,348 | 121.5% |
| Social Media Manager | 4,071 | 133.4% |
| IT Sales | 3,433 | 208.7% |
| Web Designer | 3,243 | 128.4% |
| Ruby | 2,832 | 117.5% |
| CTO | 2,381 | 113.9% |
| Perl | 1,212 | 67.2% |
| DBA | 991 | 87.3% |
Table 2: Tech job vacancies, growth rate and average salary -- by region
| Region | September 2021 tech vacancies | YoY% change | Average advertised salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | 147,671 | 142% | £60,315 |
| London | 49,145 | 141% | £75,085 |
| South East England | 25,298 | 153% | £59,722 |
| North West England | 11,588 | 105% | £49,430 |
| South West England | 9,843 | 76% | £50,222 |
| Eastern England | 8,797 | 135% | £49,450 |
| West Midlands | 8,943 | 132% | £50,222 |
| Yorkshire & Humber | 5,389 | 105% | £47,411 |
| Scotland | 6,299 | 114% | £51,827 |
| East Midlands | 4,361 | 94% | £59,722 |
| Wales | 2,238 | 97% | £42,212 |
| North East England | 2,386 | 114% | £43,154 |
| Northern Ireland | 1,831 | 70% | £45,969 |
Vicky Vitkay, general manager at Work in Startups, comments: “It’s exciting to see UK tech unicorns and startups continuing to thrive. We can certainly celebrate the UK being the global capital of innovation, however efforts and focus need to go into ensuring diversity and inclusion are fulfilled within this huge ecosystem and importantly, we need to be providing more entry level job opportunities for graduates who are entering the market.”
For the full lowdown on the tech companies and start-ups hiring now, check out Work in Startups’ ‘Who’s Hiring’ list.
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