Hiring for Defence and Space: A Practical Guide for Recruiters

A recent global sector review by Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and McKinsey & Company found that attrition in the aerospace and defence (A&D) industry reached roughly 15 per cent in 2024, more than twice the average across other sectors.

For recruiters this means you are working in a high-risk environment: hires will leave faster, the pool is shallow, and the cost of getting it wrong is significant.

Market size and structural demand underpin the urgency

The European A&D sector reported turnover in excess of €290 billion and supported approximately 1.03 million direct jobs in 2023, according to Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD). Demand is real, sustained, and escalating. For you, staffing cannot be treated as a back-office obligation. It is a strategic enabler of defence industrial capacity.

Space skills are among the hardest to source

In the European space ecosystem, 61 per cent of organisations surveyed in 2024 reported skills gaps in software, data analytics or systems engineering roles according to sector intelligence. This means that when you hire for avionics, mission software, or secure communications, your candidate pool is competing not just with defence primes but with tech companies, satellite firms and even automotive disruptors.

The hiring engine must reflect programme reality

The same McKinsey study calculates that a median-size A&D company could avoid up to $300 million per year in lost productivity if it closed its talent gaps.

For you this is not HR rhetoric. It means your sourcing, screening, selection and onboarding processes must be tightly aligned with the programme lifecycle, not generic corporate hiring.

How to source and screen for the right traits

Candidates who succeed in defence-space meet three criteria: delivered subsystem or mission outcome; familiarity with secure supply-chains; and clearance or regulatory experience.

Use screening methods that ask about hardware-software integration, test and qualification journeys, and supplier interfaces. The AIA‐McKinsey survey reports that only 24 per cent of engineers said they valued long-term roles in established firms, so turnover is baked in.

Building your talent pipeline is non-negotiable

Given the scarcity, you must operate as if you are building infrastructure - not just filling jobs. Establish university partnerships, talent pools and apprenticeships aligned to systems engineering, avionics, and mission-critical software.

The European defence-tech ecosystem raised more than €600 million in 2024 signalling growth in start-ups, but the talent to seed them remains constrained. You want to be first in the queue.

EVP and recruitment messaging that matters

Top candidates are motivated by impact, autonomy and mission. Defence recruiters must move beyond “competitive salary” to emphasise national strategic importance, dual-use technology, rapid career development and cross-discipline work. Retention correlates with a meaningful role, not just job title.

The McKinsey review found that A&D firms with higher organisational-health scores deliver significantly superior outcomes.

From hiring to retention: next-gen plus deep-tech

Once you bring talent in, look at onboarding and upskilling as key differentiators. McKinsey’s 2025 insights emphasise that firms which accelerated time to productivity through structured development and cross-functional capability saw meaningful performance gains. For recruitment this means you sell the career as well as the role.

The short version

In Europe’s defence and space ecosystem you are not just filling roles. You are enabling national capability. The talent pool is narrow, the stakes are high and the cost of failure is material.

Your recruitment strategy must therefore combine deep technical sourcing, mission-driven EVP, long-term pipeline building and retention-focused development. If you get this right you will win the talent war.

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