London at the epicentre of AI talent boom
New Accenture research shows a sharp rebound in UK tech hiring – with London leading a national surge in demand for AI talent. The trend presents an opportunity for the UK to snaffle up tech talent from other leading markets, where hiring freezes persist.
Hype and reality are often disconnected when it comes to talking about the technology industry. After a sustained period of hype around a succession of new ‘innovations’, which brought in historic levels of investment, continued hypothetical excitement around that might lead casual observers to believe that Silicon Valley and the Bay Area were enjoying a golden age.
But stories of continued layoffs at the largest firms, and a sustained hiring freeze, tells a different story. The number of office jobs in San Francisco’s metro area – the key hub of America’s tech sector – hit record levels in July 2022, but in the years since, that has tumbled by 9.2%. While the difficulties of finding a tech job in the world’s leading market persist, however, other key hubs look to be making a play to hoover up that apparently unwanted talent.
New research from Accenture has shown that there has been a surge in demand for AI professionals in the UK, which has helped tech job vacancies across the UK to grow by 21% in a year. As the country continues to expand its tech talent pool, it has hit its highest level since 2019.
Opportunity to lead
Accenture's UK Tech Talent Tracker tracks the UK’s technology sector vacancies and skills – and witnessed a nearly 200% year-on-year increase in demand for AI skills across UK cities. However, this has not been evenly spread throughout the country – and despite efforts to promote other regions, the lion’s share of roles are still based in the capital.
Even as tech innovation in the likes of Salford and Birmingham are backed by government publicity, 65% of technology vacancies were found in London. The city also accounted for 80% of demand for AI skills across all UK cities.
Other UK cities still showed promising growth in demand for AI skills. This included Glasgow hosting a 150% growth in demand, ahead of Liverpool and Leeds on 150% and 125% respectively. But demand is growing at a slower pace in the Oxford-Cambridge tech corridor, where the cities saw 54% and 62% growth.
Emma Kendrew, Accenture’s technology lead in the UK, commented, “The UK has a golden opportunity to establish itself as a global AI leader, and London is at the epicentre. The UK is seeing hotspots of tech talent emerge which we expect to grow as AI is more widely adopted. However, to fully capitalise on the economic potential of AI, regions outside of London will also need to compete for talent and infrastructure to achieve sustainable growth and unlock opportunities. The disparity in regional upskilling in AI raises concerns about a growing digital divide in the UK and could hurt long-term competitiveness.”
