Global defense groups are hiring at the fastest pace in decades amid record orders

Global defense companies are recruiting workers at the fastest pace since the end of the Cold War, as the industry strives to achieve order books near record highs.

A Financial Times investigation into the hiring plans of twenty large and medium-sized American and European defense and aerospace companies shows that they want to recruit tens of thousands of people this year.

Three of the largest U.S. contractors — Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics — have nearly 6,000 positions to fill, while 10 companies surveyed are trying to increase their positions by a total of nearly 37,000, or nearly 10 percent of their total. workforce.

“This is the most intense period for the defense sector since the end of the Cold War, with the highest increase in order volume in a relatively short period,” said Jan Pie, Secretary General of ASD, the European aerospace and defense organization. industry association.

Governments around the world have increased military spending since Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine and amid widespread geopolitical tensions. The sudden spike in orders after decades of low volumes, combined with competition for digital skills from tech groups and a labor market still dealing with Covid-era workforce shortages, are among the factors driving the hiring boom in the drive the entire sector.

Companies said they are looking to fill positions across the board, from interns to executives late in their careers. Engineers, software developers and cybersecurity analysts, as well as welders and mechanics, are in high demand.

Antonio Liotti, chief people officer at Italian defense champion Leonardo, said there was “an intense search for new hires, even more intense than during previous conflicts such as Iraq or Afghanistan”.

The contractor, which is part of the tri-national program with the UK’s BAE Systems and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to build a new fighter jet, aims to hire 6,000 new workers, including replacements, by the end of 2024. for 8,000 to 10,000 new jobs between 2025 and 2028, mainly industrial and software engineers.

The search for new hires, Liotti added, was driven not only by conflict, but also by greater competition from neighboring industries such as “high-tech companies and consulting firms.” Other factors, including people looking for a better work-life balance and ‘slow quits’, also played a role.

Ammunition-producing companies, notably Rheinmetall and Nammo, which have had to significantly increase production to replenish government stockpiles, are among those with the most aggressive hiring plans.

Nammo said it had “never seen a situation like this before.” The company, which is partly owned by the Norwegian and Finnish governments, has expanded its workforce by 15 percent from 2,700 in 2021 to 3,100 in 2023. It currently employs around 3,250 people and is said to be “doubling the company size”. [by the end of] 2030 seems reasonable.”

Germany’s Rheinmetall said on Friday it was looking to hire hundreds of workers from leading auto parts maker Continental, which is facing weak demand in the auto sector.

France’s Thales, which makes the shoulder-fired Starstreak missile donated to Ukraine from Western government stockpiles, said it has recruited 9,000 people in the past three years – 11 percent of its current workforce of 81,000 – for its defense operations .

BAE significantly ramped up recruitment last year, but had already ramped up recruitment to deliver long-term programs such as the Global Combat Air Program and the Royal Navy’s Type 26 frigates.

In Britain, “we have doubled our early career intake over the past five years and are recruiting around 2,700 apprentices and graduates this year, as well as thousands of more experienced professionals,” said Tania Gandamihardja, the company’s HR director.

European rocket champion MBDA, owned by BAE, Airbus and Leonardo, which makes the Storm Shadow and Scalp air-launched missiles that have wreaked havoc in Ukraine, plans to hire more than 2,600 people this year – 17 percent of the current workforce. 15,000.

Dassault Aviation, which builds the Rafale fighter jets, has not seen an immediate increase in orders from Ukraine but has been hiring consistently given the length of production cycles in the sector.

Nuclear defense manufacturers, especially those involved in the trilateral Aukus submarine program between Britain, the US and Australia, are among those seeing the highest spike in skills shortages.

Several companies, including Rolls-Royce and Babcock International, have recently opened their own nuclear skills academies, while Thales UK, which supplies sonar for all Royal Navy submarines, has launched a sonar academy.

The British government has separately launched a nuclear skills task force to train the tens of thousands of workers needed for the country’s civilian nuclear and military programs.

Recruitment and training efforts have been “unprecedented in recent times,” says Beccy Pleasant of the Nuclear Skills Delivery Group, who predicts that more than 30,000 additional roles will be needed in the nuclear defense sector between now and 2030.

Companies have also increased collaboration with universities and other organizations to build a future workforce.

Cranfield University, which has close links with the sector, is offering new courses, particularly in digital forensics, to help people learn to attribute cyber attacks, among other things.

“It is recognized that you cannot simply assume that academia will produce the people you want to recruit. . . companies are now moving up the people supply chain,” said Cranfield defense director Heather Goldstraw.

A specific challenge for the industry is that some positions require additional security clearances. RTX, owner of missile and sensor manufacturer Raytheon, said earlier this year that it “continued to experience difficulties hiring highly qualified personnel, including engineers, skilled workers and security clearance holders.”

Others, like Germany’s Renk, said they might have to look abroad. CEO Susanne Wiegand said: “We also need other qualified good people from abroad, because in Germany, all of us together as a defense industry, we cannot find enough people for the jobs.”