Growth of defence vacancies continues in Europe

Ongoing wars drive the defence industry job market, which is growing faster than average, according to the Indeed portal in Europe. At the outset, it must be said that we are talking about a niche sector, but an analysis of the job offers of 25 of the largest European defence companies, listed in the Sipri Top 100 ranking (among which are Airbus, Atomic Weapons Establishment, Babcock International, BAE Systems, CEA, Dassault Aviation, Diehl, Fincantieri, Hensoldt, KNDS, Kongsberg, Leonardo, MBDA, Melrose Industries, Naval Group, Navantia, PGZ, Qinetiq, Rheinmetall, Rolls-Royce, Saab, Safran, Serco Group, Thales, ThyssenKrupp), it emerges that in April 2025, although slowing down, job vacancy growth was 45% above 2021 levels.

After a drop in advertisements due to the pandemic in 2020, vacancies increased markedly, both in the defence industry and in the market as a whole. From 2022 onwards, however, trends developed differently. The market as a whole peaked in July 2022 - at plus 47 per cent compared to the 2021 average - and has been declining ever since. In contrast, growth in the defence industry has continued: by November 2023, companies in the sector had advertised around twice as many vacancies as the 2021 average. Since then, although they have been declining, still in April this year, they were 45% above 2021 levels, while the market as a whole has recently fallen 2% below this benchmark.

The Italian market is partially affected by this phenomenon. Italy registers a minority share of job advertisements, amounting in April 2025 to 9% of the total number of advertisements by defence companies on Indeed. In recent years, however, searches for positions in the defence area have seen a 3.6-fold increase between January 2022 and May 2025. Professionals also sought in Italy include experts in the fields of tech and engineering, particularly software development (16.5%) and industrial engineering (14.1%).

France has the largest share of vacancies in major defence companies with around 46% in April 2025, down from 57% in early 2020. Germany and the United Kingdom each account for 17% of the vacancies. Meanwhile, the share of vacancies in other EU and NATO European countries increased from 6% to 21%, with searches focusing on profiles with technical and engineering or IT backgrounds. Candidates' interest in defence professions varies from country to country but is overall a niche area. In the UK, interest increased slightly after the start of the war in Ukraine.